Places To Get Decent Car Batteries In Melb?

[SS8_Gohan]

Hi guys,

long story short, my car is at FI at the moment, but i think the battery died (been there a few weeks). Tried trickle charge/charge but it's not happy, it's been playing up a bit recently and i think it's officially dead.

I'm picking the car up tomorrow, so i'll have to buy a new battery on the way. Where am i going? Are there specialist places (i only know of battery world in Mentone).

I've got a 20% coupon for autobarn, but not sure if they'll have anything decent??

Figured i'd just go Optima or Odyssey, don't know anything about batteries.

Won't be too hard to find a battery to fit a R34 will it??

Options are..

-Marshalls to come to the car? (possible OH&S issues with non-employee people being inside work area)

-RACV to come to the car? (possible OH&S issues with non-employee people being inside work area)

-Autobarn?

-Battery World?

If i buy before i pick up my car, i gotta have something that i can plonk in place of the old battery and be done with it, something that won't need major modification.

In terms of what i need, i don't need to run any "ice" but the car sees the track, so i don't know if for whatever reason track work creates any extra strain on battery/ignition systems?

any help appreciated

cheers,

daniel

[omega36]

I got a 660CCA battery from RACV's battery service + two new terminal connectors for $188 and its been perfect.. I've seen other people are quite happy with the batteries that RACV provide.

[SS8_Gohan]

660cca is a lot... but then again, i heard you just can't go off the CCA rating??

i don't mind paying for good quality, long lasting battery. But having said that, i don't think i need anything too insane either, car has no ice it's just whether i need a beefier battery for track work? That would be the only reason (if it's even a reason) to go a chunky battery

cheers for the reply nis, i was learning in the RACV direction... i'm a member, so i don't know if i get a discount?

EDIT: 15% discount for RACV batteries for members

[justin911]

the standard racv batteres for like $120 are 330ish cca i think, i had one in my old gtst. it worked fine, i didnt realy have any audio stuff either.

[SS8_Gohan]

oh forgot to mention my alarm is fairly heavy on the battery...

i know a lot of batteries will work fine, just need to know if there are benefits for the car/ignition systems/car's ecu etc, if you run a better/certain type of battery. And if track work requires better batteries?

but it seems like RACV might be the go

[llama_au]

If your alarm is repeatedly draining your battery, get a dry cell or you'll keep killing batteries. I was killing one battery per year before upgrading. RACV replaced three batteries under warranty and then said no more

I have a Pulse Dry Cell. Quite small, okay CCA and a much more reasonable price than Optima and Odyssey. Autobarn sell them.

Yoink:

http://www.pulsehyper.com.au/

I have a PHB650 mounted on it's side in my Pulsar (due to size constraints.) Was about $250.

Edited August 16, 2008 by llama_au

[R31Nismoid]

Define heavy on the battery?

An alarm really shouldnt be at all unless its not setup right ... ie the shock sensor is going off a lot due to it being set incorrectly.

If you dont have a big stereo etc, then you really dont need a big battery. $100 should do it.

There is no real benefit of going a massive one for a stockish application with a mild stereo steup (no massive amps, subs, and so on)

The only reason you'd need a big(er) item is if you do a lot of cold starts/short drive that doesnt give the battery much of a chance to get some juice back into.

I do a lot of short/cold start stuff and my big one has come in handy especially with it in/out of workshops a lot. But most cars dont see that treatment

Ring battery world, see what they have. Just rip out the old one and take it with you and show em what you had and whats roughly is similar with maybe an extra 50-100cca. That should be about it really

[llama_au]

^that's another reason I have a Dry Cell. I do a lot of short trips and my car sits in workshops for weeks at a time.

[SS8_Gohan]

ash, i prob need your mate to look at the alarm install because it's prob draining any battery quicker than it should.

my car does fit into the quite a few short trips, lives in garage, type scenario so we'll go with at least a dry cell, and maybe just leave it at that. A good, basic dry cell and i think that should do me.

are the pulse ones dry cell?? cos i got 20% off coupon for autobarn

do RACV do dry cell batteries?

[llama_au]

Yup, Pulse are Dry Cell

No, RACV don't do Dry Cell.

Edited August 16, 2008 by llama_au

[West]

Doesn't matter where you go man, its what brand do you prefer that's all.

[SS8_Gohan]

ended up getting an Optima Yellow Top, rang a few specialist places and they weren't too fussed about Pulse batteries.

but the terminals are too big!!!! i gotta go buy some bigger clamps now.... at least i think that's what i need to do

[Johnny]

Actually i need a new battery also for my gtr. Im going dry cell as my car sits around alot and i mjust jump start it everytime i go for a drive.

Does anyone know what power figure i need? not sure on what system they use to rank battery power; is it amps? volts? etc

-John

[Ronin 09]

my battery is about the size of 3 9Vs strapped together

it's a pulse...