Battery suppliers

Twister_Ken

Twister_Ken

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Following up on an earlier question, my problem has turned out to be 'duff battery'. This is the 'starter battery' although non-starter battery would be a more appropriate description.

A supplementary - apart from the price, is there any significant difference between a brand name battery bought from Halfords and one bought from a chandleratorium - given that i could buy two from Halfords for every one from a chandleripoff?
 
Costco will be cheaper still if you or anyone you know has a card. Last week they had Bosch marine/leisure batteries (probably not what you want I know) at £35 and £56 for 75Ah and 100Ah respectively.
 
If you're going through Southampton on your way to the boat, it may be worth calling at Towsure (near the Northam bridge) they do a couple of leisure batteries.
 
Ken
these people do an excellent delivered service. They do sealed traction batteries at a competitive price. Good site with plenty of info. Here is what I think you want:

Tayna battereis.
 
Re: Batteries for idiots

Oh tsk, all that looking out of the window in fizzix is really starting to bite.

Halfords batteries, air filters, bicycles and polishing cloths are all invariably twice as rubbish as the same things froim elsewhere costing twice the price. So, even things like distilled water is simply inferior distilled water, and not quite as skillfully distilled as a litre bottle from the swindlery. And even pp3 batteries from chandleries , like wierd pubs selling hardly-heard-of beer, will have been "kept better", somehow, and certainly not just hoiked out of a lorry and put on a shelf/cellar floor, but tended daily if not hourly with love and attention.

So obviously, the Halford's one. Although Halford's isn't a very pleasing shopping experience. So don't go there. Also, halfords might *seem* cheap but actuyally not be.

Hence my advice is to seek out some ghastly shop round the back streets of Southampton, probably called something like "Big Mart's Battery Mart" and have stickers that say "EXIDE" on the counter.

Take the old one along so they can check you're getting the right thing, and ask easy questions such as "will this one be more hesitant since it says "70 ah" on the side and mine is only "65 ah" " and so forth. You could also ask if they have a 13-volt battery so it's still ok when a bit knackered, that sort of thing.

When it works nicely, make a nice copperplate label in Word that says "Leclanché Piles For Gentlemen" which will be guaranteed to start a conversation, if not the engine.
 
Re: Batteries for idiots

completely with tcm on this

I went the route of deciding what I wanted first then finding a source. this turned out to be Varta (in my case) and a counter/garage in the local industrial estate that did batteries, mainly commercial / lorry/coach etc but batteries.

discussed size and terminal layout and the guy looked down his lists and quickly found what he considered the best value he could do.

I had tried most of the links already given in this thread and he had beaten them all on price plus I picked it up there and then.

but, adn there's always one, I really wouldn't spend a whole lot of time saving a £5 on the sort of battery I suspect you are looking for given it's only a £35 item.............
 
Re: Batteries for idiots

Costco also have some Bosch Silver 'something' starting batteries with around 700 - 900 CCA for about £70.
 
Hardway at gosport sell a half-decent battery ... but... take a voltmeter with you and test the voltage of the battery. If its >12.6 it is recent and fully charged. Buy a battery with a voltage <12.4 and you're asking for trouble. It's probably been in the shop for months (if not years) and is already well on its way to being sulphonated or batterey alkzheimer or whatever its called. You won't make yersel' populair wandering aroon wi' a voltmeter but worth it ....
 
But , to be fair, most have a manufactured date label, and last charged label, which I read avidly when selecting them from the breakers /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
Get the biggest tail-lift-truck or coach battery you can fit in the space. They can take a discharge happily THEN start a far bigger engine than your aux.

When you replace the domestic battery(s) get the same. That way all batteries will start the engine OR run the domestics AND you have built in redundancy.

Truck battery factors at about 50p / Ah.
 
Re: Battery suppliers ... Full Circle has my vote !

I have given up on "New" batterys ..... OK - last new one is still working at 8yrs + ... but now I buy from Breakers yards ... at about 5 - 10 quid a throw. For starting and nothing else a standard car HD job at 60a/hr or more is fine ... The Breakers yard will have a load tester and will check each one for you .... well they did for me ! Last one was a Bosch HD Diesel Start battery - £5. One year later still as good.

If you want to do both start and domestic - then the leisure job may do it ... I was "given" one by a close pal _ when he changed it out _ when he fitted his Merlin system - they advised he should have "good batterys" with the gear - of course they would - that added a few quid to the bill ! Well I was quite happy to take the leisure one of his hands - starts my 4-107 and runs domestic fine .....

Sure beats new prices !! (My breakers yard jobs are powering my for example my UK Suzuki 4x4 ..... stands for months on end - no problem .....)
 
Woah everyone.

This is far far too complicated. I have visions of poor old tk asking if the ah is short for "ahem" or being landed with a proven period battery from the 1960's.

The answer to his question is that no, there isn't much difference between same tpe of batteries from anysource, really. But it will be worthwhile getting a nice new battery not an olde one, and for that reason I suppose it's a bit like buying fish from a tiny general store with very small turnover, or (much better) from a larger shop which shifts lots of fish every day. The larger shop or specialist fishmonger should have fresher fish. I expect the battery shop will be exactly the same. Except of course that it won't sell fish, or anything like fish. Okay, an electric eel would be similar , provided it was a 12 volt electric eel or one that had swallowed the right type of step-down transformer.
 
I bought 3 110AH batteries from Halfords and they're doing fine after 3 seasons - I have a good charging regime though.
 
That's sad! I found three pallet loads of Squadron AGMs in the local scrap yard. All brand new, bought two to test (£2 each), found they were ok (and still are 9 months later), went back for the rest (to sell on to you lot at mutually attractive prices) only to find they had been moved on. Don't ask for the source history, it's secret.
 
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