When you’re a car owner, the more you know about your vehicle, the better you will take care of it. If your car has problems, you may be able to identify them and possibly fix them without going to a mechanic shop. This applies to your car battery as well and you need to know how many amps is in a car battery.
Knowing what’s in your car battery will make your life easier when you need to replace your car battery. Knowing the Amps will give you an idea of what battery you will need to purchase next and not get swindled by a person trying to sell you a defective battery or a battery that is not meant for your car.
Here we will break down how many Amps are in a car battery.
What Is Amps Rating
Amps are short for Amperage, and it is used to determine the electrical storage capacity of a vehicle’s battery.
The Amps rating varies in vehicles, but they range from 550-1000, the larger your car normally, the higher Amps rating it has. Also, the smaller the car, the lower the Amps rating as well.
Knowing how many Amps your battery has is important to know how to maintain the battery.
The higher the Amps rating, the more electronics you can hook up to the car so it can charge and you won’t have to worry about your car battery not being able to handle it.
Different Types of Amps
You must get familiar with the different types of Amps in order to identify which you’re working with.
Below are some of the Amps you may encounter
Cold Cranking Amps (CCA)
Cold Cranking Amps is a 12V battery that has the ability to deliver 30 seconds with its voltage not going below 7.2V at 0 degrees Fahrenheit.
The CCA is important for cars, trucks, and other types of winter vehicles.
CA (Cranking Amps) or MCA (Marine Cranking Amps)
These cranking amps are a 12V battery that can deliver 30 seconds with their voltage not going below 7.2V at 32-degrees Fahrenheit.
Looking at the value of the cranking amps and the marine cranking amps will show you how good the battery is for starting applications. The battery temperature is also efficient and rarely drops below 32-degrees Fahrenheit.
Hot Cranking Amps (HCA)
The Hot Cranking Amps is a 12V battery that has the ability to deliver 30 seconds with its voltage not going below a 7.2V at 80-degrees Fahrenheit.
With its value being 1.6-1.7x larger than CCA for most AGM batteries, it’s important to measure the battery’s strength.
Pulse Hot Cranking Amps (PHCA)
A PHCA is the maximum current value that a new fully charged battery may provide for 3-5 seconds at 77-80 degrees Fahrenheit.
How Many Amps is in a Car Battery
To determine how many Amps your car battery has, you can use an electronic battery tester to analyze your car batteries Cold Cranking Amps (CCA).
With an electronic battery tester, you will also be able to know the remaining life span of your current car battery.
Therefore, investing in a battery tester is wise so you can be one step ahead of your battery and never be stranded in the middle of nowhere asking for a tow.
Another way to check how many amps is in a car battery is by checking the car battery’s specifications such as chemistry, type, capacity, and CCA.
How Many Amps Does It Take to Charge A Car Battery
Most battery charging units come with 2 Amps, and this is all you need to keep your battery up and running and in good condition.
The reason why it’s 2 Amps is that any higher Amps, the battery might overcharge.
With 2 Amps, it will reduce the chances of overcharging and increase the lifespan of the battery.
Usually a 2 Amp battery charger will take up to 24 hours to fully charge a 48 Amp battery.
Some of us don’t have the luxury of waiting 24 hours for our car battery to come to a full charge. Here what you can do is fast charge your battery by going up on the Amps.
Instead of using a 2 Amp battery charger, you can go higher but never go above 20 amps. You can use 10 Amps battery charger, and it will charge your battery in about 4 hours.
Please remember that once your battery is done charging to unplug the battery from the charger so it won’t overheat and damage your car battery.
Why You Need to Know Your Amps
By determining how many Amps is in a car battery you will know how much your battery can handle and for how long.
If you don’t know this, then you raise the chances of your car battery dying without you knowing, and this is annoying.
What almost always happens is when we are in a rush, and we need to go to that important interview or pick our loved one from the airport, but once we turn the key, our battery is dead.
At this moment we don’t have many options to consider. It will depend on where we are, if we’re in the middle of nowhere, then we would have to pay for a tow or wait till someone stops by and helps up jump our car.
Conclusion
Non the less trying to know everything we can from our car is important so we can make the car battery last a long time. If you purchase an electronic battery tester then you will have all that information you need. Then you don’t need to go to a mechanic and have them charge you an arm or a leg to try and give you a read on your battery or to help you change the battery.
