Battery replacement

[JohnnyMug]

Hi I have toyota corolla 2006 1.6 VVTI. I would like to replace the Battery in it because atm the one fitted is very old Halfords Battery. Specs are 45Ah and 400 CCA HB012. Now I don't know if this is the correct Battery for it and I can't find any information about it in the manual I want to make sure that I will buy battery with recommended specs for this vehicle. 

[Mike169]

Hi.

If I were you as it's what I did, is just phone a Toyota main dealer as they do a fixed price Battery exchange and they were cheaper than Halfords. If they say the Battery costs XXXX and 15mins labour tell them they are wrong as they do a cheaper fixed price as their head office advised me.

Mike.

[Heidfirst]

The Toyota price for a Battery incl. fitting for a Corolla petrol is from £100. https://www.toyota.co.uk/owners/service-mot-maintenance/repairs

[DeTomato]

I have an Exide 12V Battery which has been excellent at starting over Winter and is sealed maintenance free. These are also relatively good value compared to other makes.

[Notoyboy]

Unable to say what Battery my Corolla originally fitted with, but just before I acquired the car in 2013, the present Varta 3 year Battery was fitted, & and still doing well.  It is a Type 027, 60 Ah & 540 CCA. I suspect it is the same physical size as the OP's, but of much higher capacity.

[oldcodger]

21 minutes ago, Notoyboy said:

Unable to say what battery my Corolla originally fitted with, but just before I acquired the car in 2013, the present Varta 3 year battery was fitted, & and still doing well.  It is a Type 027, 60 Ah & 540 CCA. I suspect it is the same physical size as the OP's, but of much higher capacity.

 

Exactly what I fitted last year, and the previous one was a Bosch, but they say Varta make the batteries for Bosch and this time the Varta were cheaper.

[JohnnyMug]

Thank you for all the replies. My current battery 45Ah and 400 CCA HB012 but I was afraid of putting more capacity Battery on as I have heard that alternator might struggle keeping it charged and decrease its lifespan. I shall however contact my local Toyota Dealer and ask about replacing the Battery as they will know best. Too be honest i thought that my Battery was bit small (not physically just capacity) as some website recommended much higher Ah and CCA. 

[oldcodger]

11 hours ago, JohnnyMug said:

Thank you for all the replies. My current battery 45Ah and 400 CCA HB012 but I was afraid of putting more capacity battery on as I have heard that alternator might struggle keeping it charged and decrease its lifespan. I shall however contact my local Toyota Dealer and ask about replacing the battery as they will know best. Too be honest i thought that my battery was bit small (not physically just capacity) as some website recommended much higher Ah and CCA. 

 

My original Battery was a small one like yours, which failed after 5 years,  I then replaced it with the 60ah Bosch one which lasted about 7 years and replaced with the above Varta 60ah brand last year

Never had any alternator or electrical  problems and starting even in the coldest weather is easy, so that dismisses your above possible charging problems, which would only happen if you increased the Battery capacity by an excessive amount.

The Bosch or Denso alternators used on the 2006 Corollas have an output  rating way above the 60ah of these larger batteries.

Don't forget on our older cars, the alternator is not that Smart, its adding load to the engine all the time

If you talk to any experienced  car electrical guys they always say go for the next size up (ah ) on older cars.

You can talk to Toyota but doubt they will recommend anything thats not within their original specification. ie 45ah.

[Bomber209]

JohnnyMug Hi, I wouldn't worry too much about your alternator being able to cope as it puts out at least 14 vdc and should have enough amperage if your not running all your ancillaries.

[JohnnyMug]

4 hours ago, oldcodger said:

 

My original battery was a small one like yours, which failed after 5 years,  I then replaced it with the 60ah Bosch one which lasted about 7 years and replaced with the above Varta 60ah brand last year

Never had any alternator or electrical  problems and starting even in the coldest weather is easy, so that dismisses your above possible charging problems, which would only happen if you increased the battery capacity by an excessive amount.

The Bosch or Denso alternators used on the 2006 Corollas have an output  rating way above the 60ah of these larger batteries.

Don't forget on our older cars, the alternator is not that Smart, its adding load to the engine all the time

If you talk to any experienced  car electrical guys they always say go for the next size up (ah ) on older cars.

You can talk to Toyota but doubt they will recommend anything thats not within their original specification. ie 45ah.

Thank you so much oldcodger thats a lot of useful information. So my Battery is ore than likely same spec as the one that was new. Great I will look around now for one and replace it myself. I was looking at Bosch with slightly higher specs anyway so I will go for that. Or Varta if I can find one locally but both should be similar anyway coz Bosch batteries are made by Varta? 

So I can go for a higher CCA as well?

One last question will replacing Battery cause issues with radio and will I need the code? I read around the internet and apparently I shouldn't need it on 2006 corolla.

Also Bomber209 thank you as well for help. 

[oldcodger]

Everyone has there own choice of Battery Brand, I have chosen Bosch/Varta on price the 3 year warranty. .

I purchased the Varta online and it arrived well packed and ok, though was a bit nervous about doing so, usually buying locally, but the online price was too good.

The AH And CCA are usually similar across all makes, the more CCA, the more power it can give at start up,  find the 540 a great improvement.

What you need to look out for is the Battery "Type" which dictates the physical size, so ensuring it fits into your tray and the leads fit on ok; the Type 027 fits our cars fine.

No need for a Radio code, you will have to retune the preset stations and reset the ltrs / miles, if needed,  by pressing the menu on the right hand knob.

[JohnnyMug]

13 minutes ago, oldcodger said:

Everyone has there own choice of battery Brand, I have chosen Bosch/Varta on price the 3 year warranty. .

I purchased the Varta online and it arrived well packed and ok, though was a bit nervous about doing so, usually buying locally, but the online price was too good.

The AH And CCA are usually similar across all makes, the more CCA, the more power it can give at start up,  find the 540 a great improvement.

 What you need to look out for is the battery "Type" which dictates the physical size, so ensuring it fits into your tray and the leads fit on ok; the Type 027 fits our cars fine.

 No need for a Radio code, you will have to retune the preset stations and reset the ltrs / miles, if needed,  by pressing the menu on the right hand knob.

Thank you so much thats all I needed. Mine is 012 I believe but I will compare the measurements in the item description anyway.

[roks]

Hi guys,

I was think of 027 to up the AH (Exide Premium 027 Car Battery (64Ah) - 5 Year Guarantee (EA640) as my current Battery doesn’t last 2 days if I leave the Dashcam on in parking mode.

It would start OK if I turn off the dash, even when we had couple of weeks of little cold weather it just took couple of ticks longer but started.

So I was thinking of upping the AH but no gurantee it will cope with dashcams left on.

Would a 027 fit my 04 Tsprit? My original Toyota Battery is a 50AH 450CCA I think but not sure if its 012 or 027

[oldcodger]

1 hour ago, roks said:

Hi guys,

I was think of 027 to up the AH (Exide Premium 027 Car Battery (64Ah) - 5 Year Guarantee (EA640) as my current battery doesn’t last 2 days if I leave the dashcam on in parking mode.

It would start OK if I turn off the dash, even when we had couple of weeks of little cold weather it just took couple of ticks longer but started.

So I was thinking of upping the AH but no gurantee it will cope with dashcams left on.

Would a 027 fit my 04 Tsprit? My original Toyota battery is a 50AH 450CCA I think but not sure if its 012 or 027

That sounds a lot of current usage from your dash cam, assuming the screen is in Off mode ?

What make  /  model is it and have you got any spec sheet saying how much current it uses in parking mode , or can you measure the current with a meter.

If its got a cheap 12v to 5v converter that can often use more current than the actual camera, so using a better converter would help.

Also wondering whats best, assume you have the camera on all night for vandalism ?  but is having a camera in view likely to cause a break in to steal it ?

Plus would insurance or police be bothered with any video footage if the worst happened ?  - they would likely never go after anyone even with pictures of them.

Not aware of any difference in the Battery housing/tray/lead between any models 2002-2006 so a bigger and more powerful 037 type should work ok, as mentioned above

You could put the old one in the boot and wire just the camera up to it so it does not drain the main Battery too much and charge it up every few days ...

 

[Notoyboy]

2 hours ago, roks said:

Hi guys,

I was think of 027 to up the AH (Exide Premium 027 Car Battery (64Ah) - 5 Year Guarantee (EA640) as my current battery doesn’t last 2 days if I leave the dashcam on in parking mode.

Quote

 

Unless you want to collect the new Battery yourself for convenience, I've seen good reports of Tayna in Abergele, with competitive prices, even with P & P.  That's a crazy Eurocarparts price, unless you can get a very good discount.  I've noticed in recent times that ECP Battery prices are way OTT.

[roks]

15 hours ago, oldcodger said:

can you measure the current with a meter. 

Yes screen off, I measure the current, its about 0.43amp when both cameras are recording and 0.32amp when on standby. I did the measurement before the adaptor so that includes the self consumption. Its a £5 job from eBay, I must measure the adaptor by itself and see how much its draining.

As you know I did some paint work on my car and it was scuff free untill about a week later I see bump marks scuffed corners. I have two cams covering front and rear. Not sad them on due to the draining issue.....and they are still scuffing, all corners are scuffe some more than others.

15 hours ago, oldcodger said:

You could put the old one in the boot and wire just the camera up to it so it does not drain the main battery too much and charge it up every few days ...

I bought a sealed 22AH Battery while I was experimenting but that only lasts just over 2 days. I work in the city so some times its 3-4 days before I get to the car. I've now made this Battery a jump start pack with crop clips from a dead jumpterter.

I am wondering how long the old Battery will last with just the cams as currently its powering the ecu and remote central locking etc..as well the cam.

 

15 hours ago, Notoyboy said:

That's a crazy Eurocarparts price, unless you can get a very good discount.

I know, if I get it, it will be when they have 50% discount code.

Cheers guys.

[oldcodger]

Roks  - your old Battery will probably not last that long as its not designed for full drain then charge, you need a Leisure Battery that is designed to be constantly drained and then re-charged. unlike a motors Battery.

If you have a soldering iron then you can use one of these little modern regulators which use a lot less power than some of the cheap adapters.

 

[roks]

Thanks OC, I think I may have one of these, I think I was lazy with it.

Where are those battries from?

[Mike169]

1 hour ago, oldcodger said:

Roks  - your old battery will probably not last that long as its not designed for full drain then charge, you need a Leisure battery that is designed to be constantly drained and then re-charged. unlike a motors battery.

If you have a soldering iron then you can use one of these little modern regulators which use a lot less power than some of the cheap adapters.

 

Hi OC.

These batteries seem a good price, dual type as well. Obviously their lifetime is unknown at present but they do seem a good buy.

Mike.

[roks]

I've found them but they are very long, I dont think they will fit in my car but I am going to take some measurements this weekend.

[Heidfirst]

3 hours ago, oldcodger said:

Roks  - your old battery will probably not last that long as its not designed for full drain then charge, you need a Leisure battery that is designed to be constantly drained and then re-charged. unlike a motors battery.

Even a (deep cycle) leisure Battery isn't designed for full discharge & recharge on a regular basis. Even going  past 50% discharge on a regular basis will noticeably shorten their life.

[roks]

Hmmmm....might just be able to squeeze in the Exide 242mm length otherwise it will hit the radiator pipe.

Ones I looked at are 175mm high, I'll have to prop it up with a thicker 25mm plank of wood to raise it so that its clamps down tight. 

[roks]

3 hours ago, roks said:

Thanks OC, I think I may have one of these, I think I was lazy with it.

Remembered why I did use it, its the cut off feature, the adapter has a cut off point of 11.75v and it does seem to do the job.

[oldcodger]

Hi Roks,

Afraid you and Mike169 have misunderstood me  - I was meaning to use a Leisure  Battery in the Boot for just powering your cameras as they should last the several days drain you need.

Leisure batteries are Not designed for use as the cars main Battery and should never be used as such.

 

 

[Mike169]

Gotcha OC.

If two batteries are used a split charger will charge 2 batteries, People that tow caravans often have one of these fitted to charge the caravan internal Battery so all that is needed is to contact someone who fits tow bars to wire one in, I know this as I used to fit tow bars, lol. The alternator will be able to cope with charging 2 batteries in much the same way as you can fit the biggest Battery that will go in the Battery tray for maximum storage of power.

Mike.