what amp/hour battery for disco 1 300tdi?

right then, got a disco 1 300tdi cheap from a relative. it had a new battery 2 months ago but its only a 60 A/H??? (my little mx5 has a 65A/H!) cold weather now and it just turns over really slow, not enough to start. connect the booster pack and it starts first time. what A/H rating battery should be fitted to these?

cheers, steve.

Not sure what you should have, but my 300tdi has a 120A/H. It seems to work well.

Just get the biggest fecker that will fit in the hole, got to be at least 590cca to start it iirc, mine is 1000cca and never fails to start.

thanks for that people, i knew it was way too small, i just wonder how it managed to start the bugger before i had it!!!

scoobysteve1983 said:

thanks for that people, i knew it was way too small, i just wonder how it managed to start the bugger before i had it!!!

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If you live in a rural area go to your nearest agri suppliers and get a tractor battery, nice and cheap and v powerful

barmatt said:

Just get the biggest fecker that will fit in the hole, got to be at least 590cca to start it iirc, mine is 1000cca and never fails to start.

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sorry for asking a stupid question but what is cca? please forgive me, im a fitter by trade and not a fan of electrics since i had a lucky escape from a 415v shock!

cold cranking amps

it will say it on the battery somewhere near the A/H

thanks, the battery was supplied and fitted by a well known 4x4 dealer in cowbridge south wales to the previous owner so im curious as to know why they would fit an inferior battery???

scoobysteve1983 said:

thanks, the battery was supplied and fitted by a well known 4x4 dealer in cowbridge south wales to the previous owner so im curious as to know why they would fit an inferior battery???

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Don't know, maybe they didn't have the correct one in stock and wanted the sale???

in warm weather it doesn't take much to turn them over but when it's cold the bigger the better.

its a bit weird, they know their stuff, they even managed to get me a set of obsolete window seals in 2 days. like you say, warm weather is no problem but when its cold, a diesel engine is another story. they must have made a genuine mistake, my little mx5 1.6 has a 65A/H and my impreza has got a 90A/H so why the disco ended up with a 60A/H is a mystery lol!

have you got the receipt?

If so take it back and show them their mistake and ask for a replacement FOC.

If not, you've now got a spare for the Mazda.

yeah, ive got the invoice so will give them a shout in the morning. whats the deal with removing the battery with regards to the immobiliser, does the new battery need to be connected within a certain time?

Not as far as I know, what year is it? later models may have a more sophisticated alarm system but I don't think so.

its on an 'n' plate?

scoobysteve1983 said:

its on an 'n' plate?

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No issues with disconnecting the battery then.

tidy, thanks for your advice, much appreciated.

Hi Scoobie, with regard to batteries for starting diesel Disco's it's the CCA or MCA that counts much more than the amp/hr rating. This is because CCA is the rating which shows how much power the battery has - short term - to start the engine.

I used to have a TDi and I put in an Optima battery, only 50amp/hr rated but over 800CCA and that worked great even in the coldest weather - bit pricey though.

If you do a Google search for Tanya Batteries, they do a good battery at 1000 MCA (approx 850CCA) and 90amp/hr from memory, for about £70 delivered.


Good luck

Dave

Cca is what matters mate the guys are dead right I just changed from 720cca cos it was turning over real slow on these cold mornings just put an exide multi marine battery in there with 1070cca and it fly round and starts in a split second,, not cheap though,

When your disco left the factory it was fitted with a 70Ah 580cca battery, modern day batteries are much improved but the nearest appears to be a 72/610which is ok for me, I only need it to start the engine.

If you can fit a larger size battery then do it, I couldn't.

As far as I remember from my school days, amp/hr is the ammout of energy it will deliver at a constant rate before it reaches a voltage that is considered 'dead', for a 12v battery I beleive this is 10v.

So if a 100amp/hr battery ran a 3amp 'thingy' it would take 33.33hrs to go flat. CCA is the maximum ammount of current a battery can proved for 30 seconds at -18 degrees c without dropping below 7 volts.

So CCA is important to get you going, but once your going the alternator will keep the battery topped off so amp/hr is not as important. This is also why lots of start stopping will flatten a battery as the alternator does not get chance to replace the losses before stopping again.