Hey guys im new to the forum, and ive got a few questions im hoping some of you regulars might be able to help me out.

Ive got a 97 TF Magna Advance model, bought it last year had alot of odd things done to it for the sake of my paranoia, either way my battery just shat itself so its time for a new one

Im wondering if any of you guys know of any good brands i might wana look at within a decent pricerange about $150 Maximum, or a good place to buy batteries? im in the South Western Suburbs of Sydney any information would be greatly appreciated

thanks in advance :cool:

Balkanite

Hey Balkanite,

I'm new to the forum too, so I'd like to say welcome but I don't think I've been a member long enough to welcome others, haha. Bugger about your battery, especially at Christmas, cars have great timing.

Hey I know I'll probably get howled-down for suggesting that you use anything but the proper standard Black-Diamond (or whatever the brand is) battery, but my advice to you would be "A battery is a battery is a battery". Honestly there is value in buying good quaility in most things: Engine Oil, Brake Pads, Tyres.......Red Wine, but in most cases if you go into K-Mart or Autobarn with a diagram of how your battery is setup (ie. where the terminal posts are located - front or back of the battery - and what side the negative and positive terminals are on) then find the battery of the same dimensions as your current one with the highest CCA rating (CCA is Cold Cranking Amps - this tells you what sort of power the battery can store and give-out when you switch the ignition from off to on.....I'm sure there is a more technical explanation of this but I don't know what it is, and quite honestly don't really need to) you can't go wrong.

There are battery charts at most of these places that tell you the code of the "correct" battery type for you car. The chart usually includes a "Base model" battery with fairly low CCA, a middle of the road battery with higher CCA for cars with "a few accessories" then a "Heavy Duty" battery with higher CCA and possibly a "Platinum" (or some other ridiculously named) high-end battery with super CCA rating, Maintenence Free cells (no adding water) a charge indicator, GPS locator, Coffee Perculator adaptor and a free set of steak knives.

But skipping all the "you must buy this because your owners manual says so" hype, as long as the battery fits dimensionally and has the right terminal pole setup then get the highest CCA rating that your $150 will allow. If you really find the checking of cell water level that much of a chore then try to get a maintenance free jobby, but you sound like the kind of guy who looks after his car and wouldn't give a rats about checking his battery every 4-6 weeks and topping it up with a bit of distilled water. In reality these you-beaut batteries are a case of trying to revolutionise something that didn't really need improving. There are also a lot of brands that are all made by the same company but marketed under different names.

Century, Yuasa, Marshall, RACV/NRMA branded batteries all have a 2 year warranty and then if you get more life than that out of them you can consider yourself lucky (normal battery life is about 3 years). There are cheaper alternatives like Maxx brand batteries that only have a 6 month warranty, but these are usually lower CCA batteries and will have extra strain placed on them when you start a car requiring maximum amps with a battery that stores minimum amps. They will probably let you down earlier than a stronger battery.

Apparently calcium plate, gel filled, maintenance free, anchor bonded, fire resistant, double-jointed, hybrid technology doesn't really make any difference to the life of a battery anyway, because they still only offer you a 2 year warranty on the buggers. (Yet curiously Yuasa describe their "Heavy Duty" Magna battery, the 55D23R, as an "extended life" battery but give it the same warranty as their other batteries....extended how??) My advice would be to find one that fits in the mysterious Mitsubishi battery box, with a high CCA (450 or greater), fill in your warranty card and be done with it. If you're going to pay more for a battery that lasts the same amount of time, I don't really see the value. you don't get extra power from calcium or gel (not that you could use any more even if the battery had it) and you don't get better performance or longer life out of it, so spend the savings on something worthwhile.....like red wine.

Anybody who would care to correct my opinion if I've lead Balkanite down the wrong path, please feel free :D

if you can fit one in same space a marine / boat battery type
is another option
excellent for cranking and holding charge capacity and the current alternator can keep the charge up to it

Differnt types of batteries explained

http://www.pacificpowerbatteries.com/aboutbatts/Car%20Battery%20FAQ/carfaq7.html

Hmmm, yeah I guess you could use a deep-cycle battery, but again they are expensive and there should be no need for one in a Magna. I can see the use for them in a boat or 4WD because both will have equipment working off them when the vehicle is switched off (fridges, lights, stereos, etc) but a passenger car doesn't really need this option. They are also bigger physically than a standard 11-plate Lead-Acid battery and may not fit.

A Heavy Duty Century (same company that makes Yuasa and Maxx batteries) 11-plate battery - 55D23R - from Burson Auto Parts in Melbourne is $146. The same battery from K-Mart (again in Melbourne, but I'm guessing NSW pricing won't be much different) is $139.99. Basically this is the closest to original equipment, it falls within your $150 budget and it has a 2 year warranty. The last Deep Cycle battery I bought was for a 4WD and cost nearly $400.

The battery is a battery is certainly not the case

Some of the cheaper ones, like Apollo, use rubbish materials. When I had my workshop, I used to see a lot of battery's barely 15 months old give it up during colder months.

I would suggest one of the following

Yuassa, AC Delco (which is what I run in all my fleet) or excide. Marshall use re labled excide as did Mits (not sure if they do now) Kmart used to sell excide also but you are beter off going to a battery place, I know they are all over Melb and would assume same in Sydney. They will have the full range and also experience to show you what to use. A deep cycle can be good but often is not good in a car unless you are using high current devices like amps etc as they are made to cycle and not simply start a car.

Haha, was waiting for that MadMagna.......I did qualify that statement by saying to get a Heavy Duty, High CCA battery with a 2 year Warranty and to steer away from brands like Maxx (never heard of Apollo, but there is probably a good reason for that). Yuasa (the brand MadMagna suggested) and Century (The one sold by Burson in Melbourne) are the same battery made by the same manufacturer and usually go for about the same price. We've had a K-Mart Exide brand one in the other car (a Hyundai.....yuck!!) for about 4 years and never had an issue with it.

My comments were more referring to the range of maint-free, gel-filled or calcium-plated etc batteries. If these batteries were so much better than the standard ones then you would be able to get a better warranty on them. Point taken about cheaper battery brands though.....

call the racv - they delivered and installed a 600cca battery with a 3year warranty for $155 (was free for me - insurance),

Hey guys, just an update ended up getting the following battery:

Exide - Endurance 470CCA with 24 months warranty, had a few issues with the battery lugs fitting so did some alterations and yea fits fine, car started fine and i managed to get the engine oil replaced with Pennzoil as it was time for a service anyway, overall a very productive day

thanks to all those who helped with my query, great community we have here, very happy to be apart of :)

Exide is good, my usual choice - usually get 3-5yrs outta each one.

You must have bought the wrong one if it doesn't drop-in fit? the right one should.

Whatever the spec Magna its going into, i usually choose the "Verada" recommended
model of battery if its different to the Magna recommendation for same car year/shape.


Last time i looked, Mitsu BlackDiamond came outta same factory as Exide anyway;
so why buy the 'Lexcen' when you can get a real 'Commodore' (ugh) for less $$?

As for pricing... usually KMart or BigW is cheapest when you can take advantage
of a 15% off or $20off quite commonly... works out about $100 mark.


MORE IMPORTANTLY is, battery has shelf life & it pays to be able to read the Date Code.
Different brands use different codes, if you're in the know you can choose the
newest battery they have on the shelf.

When we order in our Bosch Batterys from work they arrive from "Century Yuasa" So they must be the same brand?

']When we order in our Bosch Batterys from work they arrive from "Century Yuasa" So they must be the same brand?

no they are made for bosch by bosch century is just a distributer of the batterys for supercheap auto and its the same with our crappy brand ones.