Can I Put a Higher Ah Battery in My Car

My car battery is pretty much gone, It's the one it came out of the factory with. In terms of buying a new one does it need to be the same AH?

Ex my current one is 390A and 43AH but the one I'm looking at says 500CCA and 54AH

Sorry if this is a silly question, I've not had my car long

No expert, but I believe as long as it is the same voltage, a larger capacity battery is fine. Just make sure it'll fit in your car first! You don't want a battery that is bigger than the tray it sits on.

Higher AH rating is fine - just means your battery is over-spec'd for your application.
If you had a massive stereo then you'd be fitting a battery with a higher AH rating to cope with the extra current draw.

You'll probably find it spins over and starts much quicker!

I believe the first number is the number of Amps the battery will allow to be drawn from it. This number being higher means that, as JC says, it should crank faster given the starter motor will allow. The second number is a rating of how long the battery will last without being recharged (by the alternator, in a car). You shouldn't have to worry too much about this unless your alternator is on the way out. Cranking power (the first number) is far more important. So long as it's similar or a little higher, then you'll be fine.

AH stands for Amp-hours. For example, your current battery, given a drain of 43 Amps, will last one hour. If that number is higher, it can obviously give more amps in the given hour, but if you lower the drain to 43 Amps, it will last longer than an hour. The maths can be a bit tricky, but it's useful in every day life. All rechargeable batteries are rated in Amp-hours, for big batteries, of mAh (milli-Amp-hours) for small batteries like rechargeable AAs and phone batteries.

Not fine higher ah is no good your alternator can't keep up with the charging required for higher amperage,which will result to having battery dead after several uses and not be fully charged,battery amp hours are rated to the alternator in the car which could also lead to your relay going dead in the alternator which will need replacing.for reliability always go for the right amperage by factory specs +/- 5ah is allowed

(Original post by joepan)
Not fine higher ah is no good your alternator can't keep up with the charging required for higher amperage,which will result to having battery dead after several uses and not be fully charged,battery amp hours are rated to the alternator in the car which could also lead to your relay going dead in the alternator which will need replacing.for reliability always go for the right amperage by factory specs +/- 5ah is allowed

Thanks for bumping a 5 year old thread... Pay more attention next time.

(Original post by joepan)
Not fine higher ah is no good your alternator can't keep up with the charging required for higher amperage,which will result to having battery dead after several uses and not be fully charged,battery amp hours are rated to the alternator in the car which could also lead to your relay going dead in the alternator which will need replacing.for reliability always go for the right amperage by factory specs +/- 5ah is allowed

Please do check thread dates before posting in future!

Thread closed.

(Original post by IWMTom)
Thanks for bumping a 5 year old thread... Pay more attention next time.

Can I Put a Higher Ah Battery in My Car

Source: https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=2071001

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