Buying a Battery for Grants

I decided to write my article for this site about choosing a battery for my Lada Grants.

It was about a month ago, just during the period of severe frosts, so even then we managed to test the battery a little for cold and winter engine start.

Of course, many will think that the replacement of the battery is premature, since cars have recently begun to be produced, but to be honest, the native AKOM has already begun to spin quite frailly lately, this was especially true in severe frosts.

And the starting current power is not enough, but I wanted something more interesting.

Choosing a manufacturer's company

In general, I am not a fan of cheap parts and accessories, despite the fact that I drive a cheap domestic car. That is why I did not consider simple options up to 2 rubles. Of the imported rechargeable batteries that I sympathized with, there were such items on the showcases as:

• Bosch
• Varta
• Our Happy

As for the top two manufacturers, many of them have probably heard a lot of positive feedback on the forums and in various reviews. As for the third company, this is a Turkish company, as far as I know, and the batteries of this company can work up to 5 years, which I have verified from my personal experience of operating it on other cars.

But this time I wanted something more expensive and famous, and choosing from two Germans, I still chose Bosch. Of course, I will not argue with the fact that Varta is practically the standard in this case. But I think that there will be no special differences between the two companies, and Bosch comes out a little cheaper than Varta.

Selection by capacity and power of starting current

Since the native battery on the Grant is installed with a capacity of 55 Ah, then these requirements should not be violated. It won't get any better for two reasons:

• First, the battery will not fully charge, which can affect battery life.
• Secondly, the generator will work constantly at maximum in order to try to charge the battery, as a result of which its parts are overheated and even some of them fail.

From personal experience of using a battery with a capacity of 65 Ah, I can say that 3 diode bridges had to be changed in half a year. But as soon as I changed the battery to the 55th, there were no more similar problems.

So, of those considered with a capacity of 55 Amp * h, I liked Bocsh Silver, the price of which was 3450 rubles. The Silver class is batteries that can confidently start the engine even at the lowest possible temperatures. So, if the winters in your region are very severe, then I recommend that you take a closer look at just such models.

Regarding the starting current, I can say the following: at my native AKOM, this value was only 425 Amperes, which was clearly not enough in severe frosts. But on the Bosch I chose, the starting current was 530 amperes. Agree that the difference is simply huge. I tried to start after the purchase at -30 degrees, and there can be no hint of “electrolyte freezing”.

In general, I was satisfied with the choice, and I hope that the battery will work for its 5 years on my Grant. After all, such a period for a German manufacturer is far from the limit!