[gpa]

Originally Posted by Sawyer

Any recommendations? Approx price after taking back the 8 year old Exide?

I'd suggest you go with the Amaron Go. The only difference between the variants (like you've already said) is the warranty period. You can check with your friendly neighborhood battery guy or one of the online portals for the price before you decide to confirm on your purchase.

I currently have an Amaron Go in my Alto which is 5 years old and performing well. I just checked the specific gravity, static and cranking voltages and they are all well within the acceptable range.

[Sawyer]

I trust the shop has the Go! The small places, even authorised, can't keep all variants for all types.

[gpa]

Most dealers/shops will stock the Go variant as it is one of the base variants (apart from Amaron Black) and on the cheaper end of the scale compared to the Pro.

[comfortablynumb]

Originally Posted by comfortablynumb

Any suggestions which brand and specific model number would be the best fit?

Update on the above question - Finalised Amaron 105D31R 80 Ah (comes as OE for XUV500, I think). Cost me Rs.5500/- after exchanging the old one (Exide).

Cheers,
Vikram

[Sawyer]

35 Ah seems to be par for petrol engine cars of the Swift/Gypsy level though the Gypsy manual says 28 Ah. The extra Ah won't harm, I am guessing.

[comfortablynumb]

Originally Posted by Sawyer

35 Ah seems to be par for petrol engine cars of the Swift/Gypsy level though the Gypsy manual says 28 Ah. The extra Ah won't harm, I am guessing.

No it won't. My 2010 Scorpio's owner's manual says 72 ah, but as the current Scorpio model takes 65 ah, I didn't find any options that were rated at 72 ah. So, opted for the 80 ah one. As long as the new battery fits the tray in the engine bay without any jugaad, it should be fine.

Cheers,
Vikram

[R2D2]

Originally Posted by Sawyer

35 Ah seems to be par for petrol engine cars of the Swift/Gypsy level though the Gypsy manual says 28 Ah. The extra Ah won't harm, I am guessing.

A 32/35 AH battery is/was normal for most Maruti cars including the little M800 and 1.3L Esteem. Should work without any issues provided the battery tray, -ve post orientation (L/R) and clamps are of the required size.

Even my 9G Corolla had a 35 AH so the battery has got enough grunt to start even a mid sized petrol engine. The 10G and 11G petrol Corollas and the Honda Civic come with a 45 AH battery.

[Sawyer]

I picked up the most expensive version, Flo, seeing as the Gypsy will never be sold, so the "really long" thing will be used, if true. Rs 3700. The cheapest was also in stock for Rs 2800, with other two in slots in between. Small but well run set up in Balewadi, so convenient as well.

[Sawyer]

I was impressed just now to also read this about Amaron:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/anuragh.../#134375e797f0

[narayanang76]

Originally Posted by comfortablynumb

Update on the above question - Finalised Amaron 105D31R 80 Ah (comes as OE for XUV500, I think). Cost me Rs.5500/- after exchanging the old one (Exide).

Cheers,
Vikram

Originally Posted by comfortablynumb

No it won't. My 2010 Scorpio's owner's manual says 72 ah, but as the current Scorpio model takes 65 ah, I didn't find any options that were rated at 72 ah. So, opted for the 80 ah one. As long as the new battery fits the tray in the engine bay without any jugaad, it should be fine.

Cheers,
Vikram

Thanks! My 2010 Scorpio SLE's battery is now showing the signs of ageing. Still running on the original 7 year old battery BTW. I am considering to go with your suggestion of Amaron Go 105D31R 80 Ah for my Scorpio too. Hope you didn't encounter any issues with size-fitting in the battery tray or any specification/rating related issues so far?

Everywhere else I am getting suggestion for 65AH batteries, so wanted to confirm with someone who has recently done this. Your posts came timely for my queries.

Thanks in advance!

Cheers
narayanang76

[comfortablynumb]

Originally Posted by narayanang76

Hope you didn't encounter any issues with size-fitting in the battery tray or any specification/rating related issues so far

Nope, this new battery fit the existing tray just fine without any modifications. No specs/rating related issues thus far, touch wood!

Most battery shop owners gave me the same advice (fitting a 65 ah battery), but I just didn't want to take a chance with a lower rating again.

Cheers,
Vikram

[SS-Traveller]

Originally Posted by narayanang76

...Amaron Go 105D31R 80 Ah for my Scorpio too.

Funny that I came across this post on the day that my Amaron Go AAM-GO-00105D31R battery died unexpectedly on me. Here's what happened:

The Scorpio (VLX 4wd) was not used for about 3 weeks, and wouldn't start. The battery showed 12.0v exact, the headlights and horn sounded fine, the charging state eye showed green, everything was okay until I tried to crank - and the battery was unable to deliver the current to turn the starter. A jump start got the engine running, and I suspected the starter motor was drawing too much current. It hadn't been touched in the 8+ years since the car had been with me. Driving the car for about 20 km did not improve the situation - the meter was showing that the alternator was trickle charging the battery, indicating it was fully charged.

Had the starter opened up, and everything appeared just fine - the carbon brushes looked as good as new (there are 6 of them), and the commutator was clean as can be expected. No jamming either. Serviced the starter and installed it back again, and the story repeated itself - no cranking power. Yet, a different battery was starting up the car just fine.

Left with no choice, I went to replace the battery. The date of purchase was 16/12/2014, so the battery was technically just out of warranty - but I went to an Amaron Pit-Stop (N-10, Kalkaji) to have my battery checked up and replaced if required. The specific gravity was fine, and then they ran a load test, with the battery showing 11.9v unloaded. During the load test, the voltage crashed to 6.1v momentarily, and recovered to 12.0v immediately after the end of test.

What was wrong? It appears that one of the inter-cell connectors had cracked, and the cells could not deliver the required voltage at peak load. At low load, it was able to deliver 12v constantly, so there was no effect on the headlights and horn. An odd way for a battery to fail, considering that it had not been mishandled or dropped or hammered at any point during the time it had been in my car!

Replaced with another 105D31R for Rs.5500 including return of the old battery (Rs.7400 without return of old battery). They also recommend 105D26R, where the difference is supposedly that the 26R battery can deliver lesser peak current than the 31R.

Wrote off the weird battery failure to experience. Never seen something like this before. But then it has served me for 3 years exactly, and I shouldn't be complaining - though my previous battery (OE Exide) lasted me 5 years & 2 months.

[R2D2]

I don't think Exide should be bashed the way it has been for several years. In one of my cars, the Matrix battery lasted 3.5 years before it was proactively replaced and in the other, another Matrix battery lasted over 6 years before it died. The Matrix battery could have been recovered had it not been a factory sealed model.

My cars are sparingly used. I use Ola/Uber as far as possible since driving and finding a parking spot is a nightmare nowadays. And there's no way I'll give my cars to a driver.

The batteries are kept in good shape using 'smart' chargers. An Amaron cranked my car's engine after 5 months, which IMO is a testament to the low self-discharge & quality of the battery. I was impressed. I think an Exide would have died by then.

Honestly, either Exide or Amaron you won't go wrong. They are at the top of their game in auto batteries. Tata Green, a technical collaboration with GS Yuasa Japan, should be a good alternative but I have no personal experience with their products.

[Sawyer]

Given a battery semi discharged - say as in after a car has not been used for a month - how much approximate driving time in the daytime does it take for it to be fully charged again by the alternator?

[SS-Traveller]

Originally Posted by Sawyer

Given a battery semi discharged - say as in after a car has not been used for a month - how much approximate driving time in the daytime does it take for it to be fully charged again by the alternator?

After 40-45 minutes of driving on open roads (not stop-start traffic) without AC and accessories, I've noticed battery state change from not being able to crank the engine, to a specific gravity reading of ~1.2+.