[condor]

Cummins : synonymous with with engines, turbos & some power systems. But Batteries ?



The OE battery from SF has done a pretty good job in the Sumo for almost 4 yrs. This includes a few 5-6 week periods when the truck was not touched, but the engine always came alive at first crank. But been having some starting problems & lights that are not so bright inspite of being 90/100's.

Was looking at Amaron or Exide, as adviced by my SA. Tata Green went out of the window at the same time. Stopped by at one Exide outlet to check out the Exides, but got to see this.

I am not able to find much from Cummins India website about these batteries, but here's two links - both to Cummins India.


12V 32Ah is the one listed for the Sumo. The Sumo requires a 75A battery. So should I stick to the 12V 32Ah model as listed in the brochure, or should I go for a higher one ?

Features listed :
* Sealed Lead Acid Batteries.
* No top-ups required. maintenance free.
* A little lighter than other batteries (about 12.4 kg's compared to 14+ for other brands)
* Higher CCA.

They say they are using Pure Lead Tin plates inside which is supposed to give the higher CCA's.

Launch / media activity to start on 4th August, as per the dealer.

Dealer quoted about 5.1k for the Exide, and 4.3k for the Cummins. Both are with exhange of the old battery. Havent asked for a final price.

http://cumminsindia.com/cdss/pdf/mbd...ries_Final.pdf

http://cumminsindia.com/cdss/pdf/mbd...20Benefits.pdf

So, what do you say ?
Go ? Dont go ?

[condor]

Looking at the Cummins Shakti brochures, their product for the Sumo is the 12V 32Ah battery, giving a CCA of 500.

Amaron's application guide shows the recommended battery for the SUmo is the 75D31R - a 12V, 75Ah battery.

The Sumo's owners manual says 12V/ 75A is required.

Questions :
1. Is the CCA rating a sufficient guide to selecting the battery ?
2. If I go for a higher Exide Shakti (12V / 50Ah), then it would have a much higher CCA rating. Will this adversely affect the engine ?
3. If I do go for a 12V/50Ah Shakti, will it help - a higher capacity battery for a lower Ah rating ? (the alternatory is designed for the 12V / 75Ah battery).

[Hashim]

If Sumo manual says 75Ah then always go for 75Ah and nothing less than that. I have seen 35Ah mostly in petrol cars and being a diesel, Sumo will always need higher Ah battery to crank.
A 12v 75Ah battery of any make with any CCA rating can be used. Higher CCA means better quality battery and it will not affect engine / electrical system in anyway.

[condor]

@Hashim, thanks.

So if I go for a Cummins Shakti 12V/75Ah (or similar) battery, it will give me a CCA of approx 700. Against a required CCA of 400 (approx). Will this give me a longer battery life / better support the electrical system I have (also have an amp & sub in the Sumo).

And looking at things from the other side : The alternator can charge a 75Ah battery. Cummins Shakti's next model is a 12V/50Ah. So, will a 75Ah rated alternator damage a 50Ah battery during charging ?

Note:
Cummins Shakti has batteries with ratings of 12V/32Ah, 12V/50Ah, 12V/65Ah & 12V/80Ah, giving CCA's of 500, 620, 720, 820 respectively. Check the attachments in the first post here.

[Hashim]

From brochure it looks like these cumin batteries are of some different technology and their lower capacity (lower in AH) can be replaced with higher capacity regular batteries. I think you can go for 50AH and it will not be damaged, it should just get charged slightly faster than 75Ah by alternator.

[jinojohnt]

I would like to try this for my Alto's next battery change. Is it available for an Alto, what are the specifications?

[GTO]

Originally Posted by jinojohnt

I would like to try this for my Alto's next battery change. Is it available for an Alto, what are the specifications?

The reason what us Jeep / MUV / SUV owners look for heavy-duty batteries is because of higher wear & tear. Excessive diesel engine vibrations, rough roads and off-roading can knock the wind out of a regular battery. Take a look at my thread on the same topic.

Your Alto doesn't need these kind of batteries. The regular range will do just fine.

[jinojohnt]

oh, ok. I was interested only because it appears to be cheaper than exide. As long as it serves the purpose, I would prefer a cheaper battery because of the following reason - Costlier batteries have not lasted longer or failed less (at least for me), even with regular maintenance such as topping up and checking alternator every month.

[mgh]

The Ah rating tells you the storage capacity of the battery. In any battery there is a drop in voltage when current is drawn, the more the current, more the drop. Obviously, for a given current, the 'bigger' the battery, less will be the voltage drop.As batteries in most common use are the regular lead acid types, car manufacturers will specify the 'size' accordingly.

When we were buying a 120 kVA UPS for the factory, we had a long discussion with the suppliers regarding the batteries. What they told us in a nutshell was as follows:

1. The Ah rating is for a load, which will discharge the battery in 20 hrs. i.e. (approx) 45 W load will discharge a 12 V 75 Ah battery in 20 hrs (capacity calculated as 12x75=900 watt hours). As the load is increased, not only the battery discharge time but also its capacity comes down.
2. A fully sealed maintenance free battery is much less affected by load. In effect for higher loads, a fully sealed maintenance free battery of a lower Ah rating can work just as well as a normal lead acid battery of higher Ah rating.

They said that as a result, for a desired backup time, they need lower battery capacity in terms of Ah with maintenance free batteries, compared to lead acid batteries, and that maintenance free batteries can withstand much higher discharge currents compared to normal lead acid batteries.

With improved plate technology, what Cummins is claiming, is not at all unreasonable.

[n.devdath]

I have installed it on Hariya and have been using it for the past 3 months now. I crank Hariya up only about once a week and yet this battery is going really strong by the surge that I feel. Also, it comes with:
1. A 36 month replacement warranty
2. Smaller in size and lighter in weight.
3. Completely sealed unlike Amaron and others which only claim that they are sealed.
4. Better finished and better built.
5. Gives me an 80AH Rating inspite of being smaller and lighter.

Highly recommended.

[Eddy]

^^ What is Hariya ?

[Hashim]

What mgh wrote about sealed battery is new to me but since its from supplier, there must be some truth in it.

Which car is Hariya? I would love to switch to cumin sealed battery (when my Amaron dies) if its giving good result however just 3 months of use cannot tell the real story.

[mgh]

We bought two UPSs. The second one was bought a couple of years after the first one. When we bought the first one, we had lead acid batteries. For the second, we got sealed maintenance free batteries. The battery size was almost half physically, do not remember exactly, but Ah rating was around half of the lead acid ones. Running load on the second one was about 20% more.

[whitemm550]

Originally Posted by condor

@Hashim, thanks.

So if I go for a Cummins Shakti 12V/75Ah (or similar) battery, it will give me a CCA of approx 700. Against a required CCA of 400 (approx). Will this give me a longer battery life / better support the electrical system I have (also have an amp & sub in the Sumo).

And looking at things from the other side : The alternator can charge a 75Ah battery. Cummins Shakti's next model is a 12V/50Ah. So, will a 75Ah rated alternator damage a 50Ah battery during charging ?

Note:
Cummins Shakti has batteries with ratings of 12V/32Ah, 12V/50Ah, 12V/65Ah & 12V/80Ah, giving CCA's of 500, 620, 720, 820 respectively. Check the attachments in the first post here.

there is no 'required CCA' in batteries, having a higher CCa always helps. and if my experience of batteries is anything to go by, then a older Sumo engine requires a minimum of 500 CCa to crank the engine, without any load on the starter.
preferably, stick to Amaron HCV 620, thats 620 CCA
Regards

[condor]

Originally Posted by whitemm550

there is no 'required CCA' in batteries, having a higher CCa always helps.

Thanks, but the Sumo gave way to a Storme five years ago. The Storme had a replacement of the OE battery too. Lot of current has flown since then !