[sudharma]

Originally Posted by Hashim

Attaching one or two Electrolytic capacitor (in parallel) of value about 4700 MFD can fix problem of restarting HU whenever starting the car. But I am yet to experiment this as I too face this problem.

Fixing HU wires directly to battery is big no also from safety point of view.

+1 to ajmat, I have too seen very prompt and professional service from them for my friends Zen which has Amaron battery.

Normaly the HU's have one power connection direct to the Battery and another to the IGN. Switch ACC. connection.The ACC. connection looses supply when you crank the starter. That is why your HU is switching "OFF". Once you release cranking, the ACC supply is restored.

If you want the set to remain "ON" during the cranking, you have to re-locate the ACC connection to a "always powered" terminal.

[Raccoon]

Originally Posted by livyodream

Pro-rata ? care to explain ??

Sorry, havent been getting time to log onto tbhp. Your query has been answered by achopraa. However, note that BT does not give staggered pro-rata warranty like explained. After the free replacement period, they give a flat 30% discount till the end of the warranty period. So if you have to replace the battery towards the end of the warranty period (IIRC, it is 50 months), it works out to be much better than Amaron.

[freakmuzik]

Hi everbody,
I presently own a premier padmini. Now we are having Amaron 38B20R battery in our car, but its just around 3.5 to 4 years and required recharging after 3 years of use. So my dad decided not to go for amaron this time. Which one is good? What about bosch? i know it would be extremely reliable but just wanted to confirm with the users. And how about exide?
awaiting answers :-)
Thank you

[harsha.cs1]

Originally Posted by freakmuzik

Hi everbody,
I presently own a premier padmini. Now we are having Amaron 38B20R battery in our car, but its just around 3.5 to 4 years and required recharging after 3 years of use. So my dad decided not to go for amaron this time. Which one is good? What about bosch? i know it would be extremely reliable but just wanted to confirm with the users. And how about exide?
awaiting answers :-)
Thank you

If you go through the thread, you will realize that Amaron is considered to be a good battery. I have an amaron and i am reasonably satisfied with it - though it is only a year and a half old and too early to speak. Bosch may be good, but please ensure that it comes with a good service back up in your city and it comes with a good replacement warranty as well. The refund upon exchange part of the warranty is not particularly useful because anyway you can get a very good refund on your existing battery.
Cheers,
Harsha

[tj123]

Originally Posted by freakmuzik

Hi everbody,
I presently own a premier padmini. Now we are having Amaron 38B20R battery in our car, but its just around 3.5 to 4 years and required recharging after 3 years of use. So my dad decided not to go for amaron this time. Which one is good? What about bosch? i know it would be extremely reliable but just wanted to confirm with the users. And how about exide?
awaiting answers :-)
Thank you

Battery lasting for 3.5-4 yrs is pretty good. The life of the battery depends on the vehicle usage pattern, the load connected to it I mean ICE etc.
If the vehicle is left idle for long then also the battery slowly but surely drains out.
Amaron is a good brand, you can go with it. I don’t have much experience with Bosch hence cannot comment on it.

[freakmuzik]

@tj123
@harsha.cs1

Thanks a lot for the reply. I have heard a lot about how good amaron is. But the warranty period was 36 months and our battery is completely dead at 40 months! And while we were in chennai, we used a local battery which had a warranty for 6 months and it was very cheap at around 2000 or something. But it lasted for more than 2.5 years!!
Now just came back after visiting a few battery shops. They suggested a battery called "Cummins" which has 36 months warranty ( 18 months replacement, 18 months pro-rata). And its price was nearly Rs.5400 and the final price was rs.5000(after exchange i will be getting it for Rs.4600). And in its leaflet, i saw that its the OE battery for many tata vehicles(sumo, etc) and also for someother.
When i enquired about bosch, the final price (after exchange of my old battery) is Rs. 3950. I am waiting for my dad's decision and also for further confirmations.
Thank you

[Raccoon]

Originally Posted by freakmuzik

Hi everbody,
I presently own a premier padmini. Now we are having Amaron 38B20R battery in our car, but its just around 3.5 to 4 years and required recharging after 3 years of use. So my dad decided not to go for amaron this time. Which one is good? What about bosch? i know it would be extremely reliable but just wanted to confirm with the users. And how about exide?
awaiting answers :-)
Thank you

If it was just a case of the battery needing a recharge, I really doubt its a battery fault. You should check other parameters to ascertain...

As mentioned many time earlier, the brands worth considering are Amaron, BOSCH, Base Terminal/Panasonic. Consider the prices, service, buy-back value, etc., in your area and decide. Dunno about Cummins. It sounds really pricy.

[MileCruncher]

Originally Posted by freakmuzik

@tj123
@harsha.cs1

Thanks a lot for the reply. I have heard a lot about how good amaron is. But the warranty period was 36 months and our battery is completely dead at 40 months! And while we were in chennai, we used a local battery which had a warranty for 6 months and it was very cheap at around 2000 or something. But it lasted for more than 2.5 years!!
Now just came back after visiting a few battery shops. They suggested a battery called "Cummins" which has 36 months warranty ( 18 months replacement, 18 months pro-rata). And its price was nearly Rs.5400 and the final price was rs.5000(after exchange i will be getting it for Rs.4600). And in its leaflet, i saw that its the OE battery for many tata vehicles(sumo, etc) and also for someother.
When i enquired about bosch, the final price (after exchange of my old battery) is Rs. 3950. I am waiting for my dad's decision and also for further confirmations.
Thank you

18+18 months warranty is very less. Exide and SF Sonic gives 30+30 months and even Amaron/ Base Terminal / Bosch are also similar. So check out all the attributes before making a decision.

[freakmuzik]

@Raccoon:
We checked the alternator and there was some fault with it too. So that might be the reason too.
The cummins battery is very small in size, so needed some modifications to the battery holder. We decided to go for bosch. Its price is around Rs. 4300. We have a Bosch service center very close to our house (they have both sales and service, but we did not buy the battery there as they quoted more than 5000 for the same battery!!)
@milecruncher: we checked the warranties of various batteries. Only certain batteries of amaron had 60 months warrenty. We used and amaron earlier and its warranty was also 36 months. SF sonic batteries too had warranty between 24 and 36 months. But bosch batteries mostly have only 24 months. Checked it with the dealer yesterday.

------

About cummins: When i asked about the high price of cummins, what he said was, there was some special tin (or someother metal) coating in the plates of the cell and it has a very long life. It was written in the battery as 32Ah. But the shopkeeper told us that it can give upto 80Ah (do not know how thats possible). But he showed us using some meter to check the Ah and battery power and all. And he said something about the charge available for ignition. The meter when connected to cummins had a reading around 535 whereas in other batteries( read as exide, etc.) it had somethin aroun 300-375. He also told us that it uses some german technology!
(i know i have not explained it properly but i am not so clear about what this thing is about)
Altogether what he mentioned was cummins will last longer. But we were not ready to take risk by buying a battery which has not even completed 1.5 years in india! So decided to take bosch which has a service center close to our house! :-)

Thanks

[jacs]

Originally Posted by jacs

Hi All,

My dad checked Amaron prices in Kerala and it seems to be almost 1K less compared to Bangalore (DIN45 - 5150 and DIN 55 - 5950) with 2 year replacement + 2 year maintenence warranty. It seems to be a good bet, but not sure whether it affects the service in Bangalore incase of any issues.

Hi All,

Forgot to update you about my native trip. I visted the amaron dealer and he tested my battery.

The test was like, he connected the meters and asked me to crank the car. Once started, I was asked to turn on my AC, headlamps, audio etc and accelerate continuously to some 3K RPM. The guy was religiously helping the customer (me) rather than trying to fill his pocket by replacing the battery.

According to him, its still in Gem condition and complimented the perfect electricals and wiring in the car for the troublefree life . He added "If you are lucky it can serve another year easily".

I'm delighted, my 6 year old Amaron battery (6 years will complete only in May 2010) is still holding good. Decided to keep it for now and check after couple of months or when it shows signs of trouble.

[khoj]

Cummins are marketed by Cummins India who are well known for their engines and power generators. I believe that they are getting the batteries private labelled for their inhouse consumption to kick start their generators. Bolstered by the strong demand for all things automotive in the past few years and given their strong presence in the cv engine market they went that route before spilling over into the passenger vehicles segment.

Bosch again is a well known global player in the automotive components market and I believe their products are private labelled batteries made by Amara Raja. The casings are identical the colours of course are not.

I have not seen any one try Tata Green as yet. It is a JV between Tata AutoComp Systems Ltd and GS Yuasa International. They have a nice new plant near Pune. Any one brave enough to explore that road? I would have taken the plunge myself but none of the batteries I have are acting up.

[Rocky_Balboa]

A cross-post from 'Exide Battery Woes thread'.

The Exide on my SwifDy gave up yesterday, the car is 2 1/2 years old and the battery 2 years.
For the past week, I have been having long self-start durations in the evening times. When I tried to crank the car yesterday, the SVS light and other warning lights threw up. The exide servicemen checked and promptly said the battery is dying a slow-death.

They checked the cells and it measured 12.x V properly. However when they measured the load on the battery during crank, it showed 8.8 when it should have been 10+. After cranking, it showed 14.x meaning the alternator is just fine.

This is my replacement battery after the OEM gave-up under 6 months. I dont have any replacement warranty on this except for the pro-rata.

1) Amarons do not have DIN65 batteries, but only DIN60.
2) Exide Matrix DIN65 costs about 6700Rs after 10% discount and battery buy-back, whereas SF Sonic costs about 6200Rs. Both carry a 30month replacement warranty and 30 month pro-rata.

Though I have had my troubles with battery (connectors being loose, cut connectors, corroded terminals etc) I am inclined to go back to Exide for the 2 1/2 yrs replacement warranty. Is there anything better for my SwifDy!?

[rikhav]

Originally Posted by Rocky_Balboa

A cross-post from 'Exide Battery Woes thread'.

The Exide on my SwifDy gave up yesterday, the car is 2 1/2 years old and the battery 2 years.
For the past week, I have been having long self-start durations in the evening times. When I tried to crank the car yesterday, the SVS light and other warning lights threw up. The exide servicemen checked and promptly said the battery is dying a slow-death.

They checked the cells and it measured 12.x V properly. However when they measured the load on the battery during crank, it showed 8.8 when it should have been 10+. After cranking, it showed 14.x meaning the alternator is just fine.

This is my replacement battery after the OEM gave-up under 6 months. I dont have any replacement warranty on this except for the pro-rata.

1) Amarons do not have DIN65 batteries, but only DIN60.
2) Exide Matrix DIN65 costs about 6700Rs after 10% discount and battery buy-back, whereas SF Sonic costs about 6200Rs. Both carry a 30month replacement warranty and 30 month pro-rata.

Though I have had my troubles with battery (connectors being loose, cut connectors, corroded terminals etc) I am inclined to go back to Exide for the 2 1/2 yrs replacement warranty. Is there anything better for my SwifDy!?

My cousin installed a Bosch Battery in his Swift D 2 weeks back. His battery was giving problem since past one month. The car will complete 3 years in April. He got the battery for Rs. 4000 after discount and buy back. The battery is 60Ah but the dealer assured it will work fine as it does for Indica 1.4 diesel. It has 18 month(replacement) + 18 month warranty
Hope this helps you

[Rocky_Balboa]

Originally Posted by rikhav

My cousin installed a Bosch Battery in his Swift D 2 weeks back. His battery was giving problem since past one month. The car will complete 3 years in April. He got the battery for Rs. 4000 after discount and buy back. The battery is 60Ah but the dealer assured it will work fine as it does for Indica 1.4 diesel. It has 18 month(replacement) + 18 month warranty
Hope this helps you

Thanks bud for the prompt response.
I am not entirely convinced on installing anything lesser than the recommended DIN65! (considering the ICE and additional fog lights). Guess Exide Matrix is the only option.

[janitha]

From the posts it seems Swift D has 60AH or higher. On perusal of my Vista owners' manual, it is seen that the battery is 50AH. Engines being the same why so much difference?