Of Batteries And Beta Testing

This little story actually began more than two years ago when I purchased a gen03 Subaru. I was delighted in everything about the vehicle, well almost everything. The poor excuse for a car battery that Subaru saw fit to include looked like it was going to cause grief, ... and it proved me right!

During a recent dive trip to the East Coast I was required to work with my laptop from the car. Twice I drained the battery with inverter to the point of not being able to crank the engine. I'm sure I was on-line for less than a couple hours each time!

The last straw was during a recent Beta Test of a new "in-car" product. All worked very well for a time until the prototype developed a fault in its power management and continued drawing significant current with the ignition off. A better battery would have held its own but the poor little 48Ah battery was stone cold dead two mornings in a row.

So, armed with frustration and the desire to FIX IT FOR GOOD, I set off to my local auto spares shop and began sizing up the alternatives. Thanks to patient but bewildered shop staff who helped me try successively bigger and bigger batteries I finally found one that nearly filled up all the empty space under the bonnet. Shaking their heads in disbelief I headed home with an Exide PDIN66, nearly double the previous battery in all aspects! Aside from a little bit of battery terminal re-engineering the new battery fit like the proverbial glove.

Here's a quick comparison of the "Factory" battery compared to my new powersource.

Battery: P305C -> PDIN66
Cold Cranking Amps: 305A -> 600A
Reserve Capacity: 48Ah -> 110Ah
Weight With Acid: 13Kg -> 23Kg

So now I have joules to burn and the confidence to use all my gadgets without fear of being stranded,...for now!!