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  • AAA Car Battery

    In my Subaru Legacy wagon, it has a AAA Mobile Battery Service battery in it.

    Part # 35-H, 660 CCA, RC 90

    I've had this car around 5 years and put almost 50,000 miles on it and never had to change the battery.

    During that time, I have occasionally put the 2A12 Tesla Charger on it to top it up to extend its life and as expected, it would bring it to around 15.2 or so every single time.

    The normal resting voltage is around 12.8v.

    In the last couple months, this battery has died LITERALLY 20-30 times where the voltage was bottomed out at 4 volts or lower... driving around with AC on, stereo on, radar detector, etc... and the tach would go to 0, antenna would go down, etc... so the alternator was going out. Then if the car went off, it wouldn't restart and I'd have to put a portable battery jumper on it and it would be fine for a bit then back to doing the same thing.

    I put up with this because I was exploring high output alternators and decided on a DC Power Engineering http://dcpowerinc.com alternator custom built for 180 amps vs 85 amps. They're expensive but are awesome. I need the extra juice for hho cell and a bunch of other things I need power for.

    For the stock, but the stock only gives 35a at 1500 rpm and 85 amps at 5000 rpm. No wonder it can't keep up with all accessories on plus radar detector, gps, etc... it would be a waste to put in a new battery just to have it killed again...

    I have the new alternator in and have everything adjusted just right including having done the "BIG 3 UPGRADE" with 0 gauge wire - will post vids of all this later.

    Battery seems to be up to normal voltage and after all this time having this car, I just wanted to make sure the battery water was topped up for the first time ever! LOL

    The electrolyte ports have a flat cover that I can't remove so I looked it up...

    "AAA offers members one of the highest quality batteries in the industry. It is designed for the Arizona climate with full compucast grids (which can significantly extend battery life) and exclusive de-mineralized acid that makes the battery completely maintenance free."

    Does anyone know what this "de-mineralized acid" is? Isn't sulfric acid electrolyte de-mineralized by using distilled water, etc...? Or is that just some kind of marketing hype?

    The main point is - I have not abused a battery like this in a car before this many times and have it just pop back like a perfectly good battery. During this entire time of having it go dead until I could figure out what alternator I wanted, I only put the 2A12 on maybe twice. I'm not very familiar with this battery but I just want you all to know that this is one hell of a battery and not sure if it is some AGM or special Gel Cell or what, but I'm blown away by its durability in being able to handle all that abuse - I definitely recommend these for starter batteries!
    Aaron Murakami





    You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.” ― Richard Buckminster Fuller

  • #2
    Hi Aaron. If it has a sticker across the top peel it back and look for flat plastic plugs where water was added when the battery was initially filled. A good sharp flat screw driver will get them out by prying a little at a time around the edges. Then you can fill them as usual if it has them. I have seen GM batteries that have a plastic plate that has to be broken off and re-glued after refilling with distilled. Most of those batteries are not meant to be refilled and that is why they have no visible fill caps. They usually die from a dry cell as a result. I have saved some of those with my bike wheel.

    al

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    • #3
      you can weld with that alternator!!

      Tom C


      experimental Kits, chargers and solar trackers

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