code58

Hi again Art- took a look at the battery in our '11 Camry today and it did state RM's on it. That is very unusual. Over the years this is the 1st time I REMEMBER seeing that rating on a starting battery, gonna have to pay more attention I guess. I still contend that that is not the standard you're looking for when rating a STARTING battery. Ideally, your alternator should keep the battery voltage up to full charge, though I realize stop and go winter driving with heater and other accessories on and summer S&G with A/C on it may not be able to keep it fully charged. The voltage being the water in the tank and CA's or CCA's being the size of the exit pipe, those are still the 2 most important things. If you use those reserve minutes down to their base very often, you're going to damage the battery. Most of the time your battery should be just getting a free ride for providing amperage to start and modulation for the juice flowing THROUGH from the alternator to keep all the electrical parasites happy.

When the battery in the Camry my brother use to have ('05) went bad, I tested it and it had 12.75V and 00.000 CCA's. All the voltage in the world won't do you any good if the "exit pipe" (CA's or CCA's) is "plugged solid" and won't let any of it out to do it's job. (just a word picture)

artbuc

Roger, I love your word picture. I am a chemical engineer and the first example used in my first class was water draining out of a tank. Believe it or not, that concept is the foundation of chemical engineering.

lexina

If you know about your car and battery, it is not too hard to tell the difference between a good and a weak battery when you start the car. Costco and Walmart have good batteries for a good price and possibly some of walmart models are made by the same manufacturer as costco. Don't waste money on optima, it is expensive, it is too heavy and they last as good as the conventional batteries. I have both red and yellow, and they failed little before or after 3 yrs period.

LA4Mead

Code58, you sound very knowledgable and I'm sure you are well-informed. I should have taken the time to cite my sources, however I'm only reporting my experience, and that is I sometimes look for a bit of overkill when it comes to the battery for the RX.

Nonetheless, the last (size group 36R, plenty of CCA's, much higher reserve than 24) gave me eight years of service and never stopped cranking; I simply replaced it as a precaution. Granted, CCA's are important but extra CCA's don't do a whole lot of good, unless perhaps as you pointed out, you live in a climate with severely cold winters. But extra reserve DOES come in handy, in my personal experience (granted I live in a mild-hot climate).

As far as the Kirkland-named batteries from Costco, my information was accurate when I did my search last month. Forgive me for repeating myself, but when I shopped last month I was disappointed they recently scaled-back on the battery groups they offered here in So Cal, but they used to offer a group 24 and 36, but they recently stopped. I didn't bother to write down the size group, CCA's or reserve minutes they did offer, (size group being the outer dimensions and not the number of plates or capacity) and what they offered was considerably less potent than what they previously carried. That's not to say it wouldn't work, just that it offered significantly less reserve. Batteries with smaller reserve have been shown to not last as long, and I've found that in my experience as well. Perhaps in other markets, Costco offers a wider selection. But I'd compare...

The 36R size group (a battery that is physically very slightly taller but rated at a good percentage higher reserve) fits in. If this is any help to anyone else, that was the purpose of my message. I don't consider myself an authority other than I shopped it and compared. Perhaps in another 8 years Costco will again carry a wider variety (or at least a group 24).

Best luck on your new battery purchase. Any of them will "work".

sktn77a

iTrader: (2)

Just to your original point, this is the first time I've heard this. Moreover, the RX300 gives you plenty of advanced warning of impending battery failure (clock resetting, radio presets/temperature resetting......). Unless you're going to spend time up in the mountains in the winter, I wouldn't worry until your car starts telling you the battery is on its way out!

code58

It's pretty much been that way for about 50 years or more. The 6V always gave you warning, the 12V most of the time don't give warning, except for the signs listed above. A 12V can get low enough on CA's that you can tell in the way the starter turns over that it's close to the big dirt nap time, but most of the time (if the starter is in good shape) it will be the typical "I don't know what happened, it just all of a sudden died". Most of the time it didn't just die, it was dying over the last year or more, you just didn't know it. I load test the batteries in everything I own about every 2-3 mo. You can see the decline over a long period of time and you know when the voltage hits about 12.0-12.1V and the CCA's have dropped to about 60-65% of rated, you better head to the store for a battery before it leaves you stranded, because it's going to any time now. I rarely ever get stranded that way because of load testing which keeps me informed of the decline. A battery CAN develop an open circuit even when load tested regularly and leave you stranded, but that doesn't happen very often. The nature of 12V batteries is that with a good starter (most of them are these days, as compared with the past), it will crank and start just fine when the battery is on it's death bed!
We're not talking about COLD country now, that's a different story.

code58

I'm a little puzzled about the info from Costco because the info I posted was from the day that I posted 2/5/11. I was at Costco so made a quick visit to T&B's. I DO live in So. Ca., Orange co. to be exact. I will have to check again because as I stated earlier, I am not use to seeing RM's posted on a starting battery. I did look at the Kirkland battery that I put in the truck about 3-4 mo. ago and it does not state RM's. I misidentified it as a 875 CCA, it is actually 850 CCA. In looking in the catalog at Costco to identify the correct battery, I didn't notice RM ratings in there either. The one battery that they offer in that application (fits many others) is definitely heavier duty than the ONE battery they DID offer, because my DIL's RX takes that battery and has had 2 of them so far in about 5 years, both being 585 CCA's, which the original Lexus battery was. I AM NOT advocating Kirkland batteries, I don't think they're anything special (I don't think it's possible to buy a "Special" battery anymore), it's just that they are easier to deal with than any other. I didn't even have to have the receipt for warrantee last time. They just took my Costco card, looked up in the computer when I had purchased it and gave me the paperwork for the refund.

Australian

Yes it sounds silly and is silly why don't you get a bipass whilst your at it just in case.


Here is some reality for you. Take your car in to be serviced to Joe Blogs maybe get some tires elsewhere and get it cleaned then one day look at your battery it is a different color, brand or size then wonder when it happened.

code58

?????????????????

artbuc

Some people MAKE things happen, some people WATCH things happen and some people say "WHAT HAPPENED?"

code58

That's me Art, did you understand that post... or did you pretend to understand it so you didn't feel all alone... or is it in a language I don't understand... or has the equinox thrown the planet of it's axis... or is it actually Tues. and I only think it's Sat... or does the Johnson rod really connect to the symbosian rectifier???? Just wondering if it's me or if there IS actually something bad about the air in the southern hemisphere? Just wondering, curious souls must know!

artbuc

Roger, I can see you have a difficult time grasping new ideas. Please watch this training video and report back to me what it means. I will give you a short quiz to make sure you understand everything clearly.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GDDhetij0I

code58

Art, I understood that video completely. I believe I remember seeing that guy campaigning for office last election. Something about "if you can't blind them with your brilliance, baffle 'em with your bulls**t". Scary part is, I'M SURE the Government WILL buy it!, and tell 'im to add a few zero's because that's not near enough money for something as useful and spectacular as that. NOW you can start worrying about ME!

BTW Art, thanks, I needed that!

Lexmex

What is everyone using for their battery right this very moment?

code58

Costco's Kirkland, but not because I think they're anything special, they're just easy to deal with. I think your choices are better.