EM1- battery/electrics question

[VAT05]

hey Guys,

just a question for everyone, i think i know the answer but would like opinions and expierances.

when i bought my car it came with a supercheap auto style battery. it doesnt seem to even fit in the stock battery holder (smaller)

ive always had a crap start and very dim lights. since owning it i installed a grounding kit with the aim to impove the start and brighter lights. the start has some what improved and the lights have seem to gone worse.

would it be because the battery isnt strong/big enough? i assume when the previous owner bought it he would made sure it was right for the car?? should i look at a different battery? or is the problem some where else?

thanks guys

[riruiz_88]

measure the voltage of the battery when the car is off, a healthy battery should be above 12.5ish volts. even then thats not a sure way of checking if the battery is still good. i had just changed my battery after 3-4years cause i wasnt getting good starts, but i still had good voltage.
you might have to look into the condition of your starter motor if you are still having troubles.

[mugen_ctr]

maybe wrong battery for your car, check the cca (cold crank amps), maybe its too low

[GenesisEG]

The dim lights... That, to me, suggests that it's not a battery problem. The lights shouldn't be using the battery, the alternator should be running the electrics in the car while it's running.

Check the voltage of the battery while the car is running, I think it's supposed to be somewhere up around 14.5-15V. If the alternator is not producing enough voltage, it might not be charging the battery properly. It would certainly explain the starts and the dim lights.

[VAT05]

thanks guys.

will measure voltage. if its running the at voltage it should be, where do we go from there?

[GenesisEG]

Well, the next step would be borrowing a battery and testing it. Without the proper equipment, you can't really test the quality of the battery.

I had a battery that was holding voltage, but the battery was completely stuffed. Multimeter wouldn't have helped me there, the auto electrician had some meter that tested the battery under load, and it revealed that the battery wasn't able to put out the current necessary to start the car, even with a full charge.

Anyways, lets cross that bridge when we come to it. A low voltage while the car is running is indicative of a buggered alternator. Lets start with that.

[m3ntAL_l2]

currently using 305CCA battery. but century's site recommended a 400CCA battery for honda. much difference between these 2?

[VAT05]

tested the battery with a multimeter- while it was on it came up with 12.67

[GenesisEG]

Sounds a tad low. My guess is the alternator is kaput.

[riruiz_88]

if you tested while the car was on, then yes your alternator is on its way out. just get it rebuilt "thumbsup"