Stivo Battery

[E-Gene]

Hey guys,

I think that we'll all agree that the Stivo battery seems a little to underpowered for our car, especially after installing an amp with a sub. Any suggestions for a larger capacity battery that can fit in our cars?

Can someone say group buy?

[ZEEROLLA]

What about the Celica, Camry, Tarago or Landcruiser batteries? Are they higher in capacity and do they fit? Need them to be about the same size and weight though.

[E-Gene]

Hey sport1vo! Didn't you tell me about a particular brand of batteries that will fit well and are of a larger capacity?

[Pecker]

Hey egene, if your serious about a battery there is one that will fit in lenth but will need a little modifying to take its width.

Its the EXIDE orbital.

Its only L 225mm x W 175mm x H 203mm.

The sportivo battery is L 225mm x W 130mm.

But this battery has a wopping 680 CC!!! compared to the stock battery which believe is about 330CC (someone correct me if im wrong)

Although these batteries do cost about $300!!!!.

Here is a link to the EXIDE hope page

Hope that helps

[E-Gene]

Please correct me if I'm wrong. But does a bigger capacity battery means that it'll last longer if it's not been charged in a while, or if it's left to run without the engine going?

[Pecker]

Thats right EGENE

The more cranking amps, the less likely it is that your lights will flicker under load (ie. when you raise your windows, or pump the mucic)

And also it will last longer if you leave something on with the engine off, like your lights or stereo.

[kcorro]

i can live with small flickering of the head and tail lamps. if you guys upgrade your battery i will be interested in the original if you do not want it anymore :)

[Sport1vo]

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Edited May 8, 2005 by sport1vo

[oz_viking]

Isn't there an underlying problem also in that if the lights dim under load, then the alternator is supplying insufficient current. My understanding is that the alternator supplies the current when the engine is running, as once started the engine will run without a battery.

Logically, I guess a larger capacity battery will help though as it would supplement the current under high drain conditions. But will a pissy alternator be able to maximally charge the battery under all conditions?

[Blackzze]

I think personally, as much as an 'underlying problem' is toyota's 'average usage'

Although our alternator and battery could well be larger......... it is enough to do the job well.

Dimming lights are annoying, and a (significantley) bigger battery would alleivate some or most of these problems.

The alternator should be able to keep this size battery fully charged most of the time in normal usage ie, given a run after parking with the stereo and parkers on for 2 hrs.

[stauff]

Isn't there an underlying problem also in that if the lights dim under load, then the alternator is supplying insufficient current. My understanding is that the alternator supplies the current when the engine is running, as once started the engine will run without a battery.

Logically, I guess a larger capacity battery will help though as it would supplement the current under high drain conditions. But will a pissy alternator be able to maximally charge the battery under all conditions?

Much like amps, it's all to do with peak power delivery vs RMS power delivery .. well, cars are DC but the principle is the same.. particularly if you're running an amp ;)

A phat beat will require a big rush (peak) of current from the alternator/battery. Generally loud music and headlights require a strong but consistant (RMS style) current. This is why PMPO is a fairly bull**** measurement on amps/speakers, but that's another story.

That's the hand-wavey explanation anyway. You could get a considerably better result than using a big battery by inserting a MASSIVE capacitor between your amp and your power supply.

This will have the advantages of taking sudden loads off your alternator (better for it, phat beats will kill the alternator and battery as they're not really designed for high-speed charge/discharge cycles), helping supply phatter beats (clipping is less likely to happen because of power shortage), and under light load there's a good chance you could keep your stereo on while you start the engine :)

I vaguely remember Jaycar used to sell a 1F capacitor, but I can't find it on their website so maybe they don't stock them any more. The biggest they seem to have now is 10mF.. that's no good.

Ahh, here we go:

http://www.everythingav.com.au/product.asp?productid=1772

- Matthew

[Pecker]

man that is one giant capacitor...

but would i be right in saying you only really need something like that when you have a hefty system. Like maybe something with 2 x 10" subs and up....

[Rolla Boy]

I upgraded to an Optima Spiral Cell battery - 850CA and was only $300...

[Sport1vo]

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Edited May 8, 2005 by sport1vo