Car battery is one of the most important parts of any car. This component is designed and fitted in the car to provide the much-needed cranking amperes in order to start the engine through the ignition of the spark plug.
Also, the car battery amperage is responsible for powering every electronic component in your car especially when the engine is switched off.
The Ampere Ratings
Before we come to the clear answer regarding the car battery amperage, it is important to talk about the ampere ratings. The rating in this regard is the number of electrical storage capacity that a given car battery can hold. Mostly, this number ranges from 550 to 1000 amperes and it depends on the type and the size of the car battery itself.
Most of the people are always concerned with the two most important car battery amperage ratings when it comes to car battery performance. According to torquewrenchcenter, these are Cranking Amperes (CA) as well as Cold Cranking Amperes(CCA). No one wonder most of the consumers emphasize more on these two very vital battery ratings.
To start with, the Cranking Ampere (CA) rating is the current that the battery delivers to start your car engine at 32 degrees Fahrenheit for 30 seconds at 1.2 voltage for each batter battery cell. This is the power your car engine requires to start in the normal weather conditions or temperature.
On the other side, there are Cold Cranking Amperes (CCA) ratings. The CCA is the rating of your car battery cranking ability at -4 degrees Fahrenheit for about 30 seconds at 1.2 volts for each cell. In other words, this is the total amount of power your car battery can deliver to start the engine during the cold weather.
What about the selection of the car battery?
When selecting the battery for your vehicle, the size ( of your vehicle) does not count in this case. What matters is the total amount of electrical load in terms of electrical components in your car such as lights, radios, double din head units, and so on. After all, there is always the possibility of charging without a charger.
The Car Battery Amp Hours Chart
Firstly, you need to know what an ampere-hour or Ah means. This the rating found mostly with deep cycle batteries. When the battery is rated at a 100 amp hours, it means that it can deliver 5 amps for a total of 20 hours.
For instance, the 200Ah (that is 20-hour rate) car battery can sustain a ten-Amp draw for nearly 20 hours before it reaches 100 percent depth of discharge or DOD. In order to get the Amp hours, you will have to multiply 10 Amps by 20 hours which will result in 200Ah.
You may also say that the same 200Ah battery can last four hours with the 50 Amp draw. But it is not always the case given that the capacity of your battery decreases as the load increases.
Have a look at the figure below to have a comprehensive idea of how Ah ratings can vary in relation to the discharge period:
Credit: tuningenmedellin.blogspot.com
From the chart, you can work out the exact value of the Ah capacity in a period of 4 hours of discharge based on a 200Ah car battery. The 4-hour line on the chart intersects the flooded battery line at approximately 70 percent. It means the battery holds 70 percent of its capacity when it discharged at 20-hour rate and this translates to 140Ah or rather the 35 Amp draw which is lower than the expected 50 Amp draw.
The amp chart is essential when it comes to estimating the capacity of your battery amperage. Provided that you are fully aware of the class battery, you can use the chat to see the close estimate of the total amount of amps that your battery holds at a given time.
Here is a video to help you understand better the way to measure car battery amps:
FAQs
1. How many amps is a car battery?
It all depends on the car battery itself. But each battery has a rating whereby others deliver as much as a 1000 amps in a short period of time.
2. How many amps are necessary to start the car engine?
The amps needed to start the car engine depends on the model of the car, the ambient temperature, voltage and the size of the engine. On average, it can take between around 400 and 1000 amps to start the car or to power your car engine lights.
3. Are 300 amps enough to start the car?
Depending on the size of the engine, 300 amps are enough to start the engine for smaller vehicles including cars like compact cars, economical cars, city cars etc.
4. How many amps does a 12-volt car battery have?
A typical car battery with 12 volts rating has a capacity of 48 Ah. It means that when fully charged, the battery can deliver one amp for 48 hours, two amps for 24 hours and so on.
5. How many amps do you need to charge the car battery?
A basic battery charger will need around 2 amperes for a period of 24 hours to deliver 48 amps for a 12-volt battery rated at 48 Ah.
6. How long will it take to charge a car battery?
The time to charge the car battery is determined by its capacity in amperes per hour and the voltage. Therefore, how long it will take to charge a car battery will depend. For a 12v/48Ah, it will take 2 amps to charge the battery for 24 hours, 1 ampere for 48 hours or 8 amperes for 6 hours and many more.
7. For how long it takes to charge a car battery at 2 amps?
It will take 24 hours or a whole day to charge a car battery at 2 amps.
8. How long will it take to charge a car battery at 40 amps?
Given that it takes 24 hours to charge a battery at 2 amps, it will take 1 hour and 12 minutes to charge the car battery at 40 amps.
9. How do you check the battery amps with a multimeter?
Select the direct current (DC) function with the help of a dial and maintain the reading at 200mA or more depending on the capacity of the battery.
Connect the probes from the multimeter to the terminals of your battery and then check the display. It should fluctuate at 98.3 to indicate that the amperage is at 100mA and this is perfect for that particular battery.
10. How many amps will kill you?
A current of about 100mA (0.1A) through your heart is enough to kill you due to the heart’s low resistance.
The Bottom Line
Car batteries amperage are available in a wide range but the most common types have between 40 and 120 amps. Therefore, the larger the vehicle, the more amperes it will require hence the higher battery capacity.
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