2006 RX-300 battery specification

[m4rkw]

Anyone happen to know the Battery specification for a 2006 RX-300?

The RAC replaced my Battery recently and I suspect they may have used one that doesn't meet the manufacturer spec. It's gone flat once or twice since with normal use, and if I put my reg into their own website it doesn't list the Battery they used as suitable for the car.

The ones that are listed as suitable indicate 630EN (CCA) and 70Ah - 75Ah, whereas the one they fitted is 540EN and only 60Ah.

Going to call them about it when they open but it'd be good to know what the actual manufacturer spec is.

Cheers

[BachelorDays]

They really shouldn't get the spec wrong these days. Most Battery shops online will confirm the spec with your reg or model details.

60Ah sounds low. The CCAs are also on the low side. Probably would've run ok in the summer. 70Ah is more the normal spec. Mine is 72Ah and I think that's at the minimum level.

[BachelorDays]

Try the kwik-fit site to cross-check.

[m4rkw]

Pretty sure its under specced, I found specs online that indicate 70-80Ah and the RAC's own website don't list the Battery they fitted as compatible with the car!  Rang them earlier and have raised a complaint, now have to wait 3-5 days for a response.

[Herbie]

You're right in that the capacity is low. My RX300 had a 70Ah Battery fitted when we bought it and I believe that that's the minimum spec.

However, given that it's brand new I would expect it to be able to cope easily at the moment. The Battery is only used to crank the engine. Once the engine fires and the alternator is spinning, that runs all the electrics on the car and if there's any 'spare' electricity generated then it charges the Battery with that.

If your brand new Battery is already going flat, I'd suggest that you look to make sure the alternator and charging circuitry are working as they should.

 

[Britprius]

1 hour ago, BachelorDays said:

Try the kwik-fit site to cross-check.

I have yet to find anything for Toyota/Lexus vehicles that was correctly specified by Kwick Fitt or Halfords. On checking with both companies for oil, plugs, and 12 volt batteries for my Prius, and Lexus GS I was given the wrong information on all three products for both vehicles. 

John.

[Tyrosman]

I agree with Herbie, check the Battery terminal voltage when the engine is running, it should be a minimum of 14 volts. 

Also check the Battery starter current specification for this particular Battery and compare it with the specified rate for the vehicle.

Barrie

[m4rkw]

It went flat because it was driven only very short distances for two weeks, and again today because it was left for more than 10 days at an airport car park. However the Battery is clearly underrated for the car so if they’d fitted one with the correct capacity it might have started on these occasions rather than needing a jump.

[Rexlex]

I went to Halfords with my RX 300 2005, they said there was a range of batteries listed for my car and I think it went from 65 ah to 72 ah, they measured their 72 ah Battery and it was physically smaller than the original Battery on my car! So their tech set about searching for a Battery with the terminals the right way around and the same physical size as my original Battery, I ended up with a 75 ah Yuasa Battery with 680 cca and their tech reckon that was spot on, the car will only use the amps it needs and always better to have a Battery with a little bit in reserve rather than just enough! I regularly use my heated seats as one must have ones bottom warm... also the stereo going heaters demisters and I never had an issue with starting.

My car is not a daily driver so sometimes it will sit for a week or so and I think the alarm will drain some power but it never even hesitates to start it roars into life at the first turn of the key, so I have to conclude that they got the battery about right, its been on the car since October and with no issues even on cold damp mornings

[PCM]

Just checked... 

I bought a Yasuka about 2 years ago.

It's been excellent - listed at 70ah. 570A

[m4rkw]

Halfords have a 75Ah yasuka that looks about right, hopefully RAC will agree to take the Battery they fitted back and refund me.

[Rexlex]

Its a case of going out of your way to ensure that you are talking to the right person, some people slate Halfords but I think if you do some research yourself so that you have some idea of what you want then find the right person to serve you and then you'll be in good hands, I was very impressed with Halfords in Poole they genuinely went out of their way to get the right Battery for my car, the 72 Ah Battery they had although physically smaller in length would have fitted but the technician wasn't happy, he said we need to make it the same physical size that Lexus put on the car and effectively ignoring the Halfords recommended Battery, I think the staff will tell you these things are just a guide and that's why the technician stepped in using his knowledge and expertise, if you get some one that doesn't know what they are doing then it's probably going to end badly! In my case I felt like I was in good hands this guy wasn't just a salesmen he was trained, experienced and very knowledgeable but more than that he was determined to get this right, hope it goes well with the RAC and you get your money back! 

Just for the record there were no specifications stamped on my original car Battery? Maybe the sticker came off? That's why this wasn't a simple match up, having said that the original Battery could have been wrong for the car as in somebody changed it in the past and fitted the wrong Battery! So its always better to get a pro to check everything out and make sure its right for the car, I expect your Battery would be ok in a daily driver but under extreme use it doesn't hold up, I have no idea why they offer a choice of batteries for me I will always fit the very best Battery to cover for extreme use but that's just me, I do the same on my boat £500 bucks worth of Trojan Batteries! I don't want to be offshore and not be able to start my engine so I have two massive batteries for that job, 1,720 cca's combined, just like a lightening bolt lol     

[m4rkw]

Well I figured out why the Battery was dead when we got back from holiday. I recently upgraded the arduino tracker in my car to the latest hardware version and it seems it uses a bit more power, about 250mA, which on a 60Ah Battery means about 10 days of runtime which is pretty much what I got.

So I’ve tweaked the software a bit to reduce the draw by about 20mA, bought a portable jump-starter from Halfords and will look at changing the wiring so I can have the tracker come on only with the ignition signal when i’m leaving the car for long periods.

However, if they’d fitted a 75Ah Battery as they should have that 250mA draw works out to 12.5 days so the car would probably have started after our 10-day holiday. Hopefully i’ll be able to get my money back and buy a Yuasa from Halfords. In any case though the RAC’s quoted callout time to stansted of 4 hours is insane and makes me wonder why I bother having breakdown cover.

[ColinBarber]

The car itself will use around 50 mA for the alarm, clock, remote locking etc. etc.

Normal flooded batteries don't like being discharged below 50%, it will damage them and you will lose capacity.

[m4rkw]

11 minutes ago, ColinBarber said:

The car itself will use around 50 mA for the alarm, clock, remote locking etc. etc.

Normal flooded batteries don't like being discharged below 50%, it will damage them and you will lose capacity.

Hmm well the last voltage reading I got off of it was about 9V and that wasn't long before we got back to the car. It wasn't enough to power anything, all the lights, door locks etc were dead. But it jump-started in less than a minute once we found someone to help so hopefully it wasn't dead enough to damage it.

[ColinBarber]

Occasional discharge will be okay, although a little capacity may be lost.

My point was more about how long you can realistically leave your vehicle with a draw of around 300 mA (250 mA + 50 mA). In theory that would last for 10 days but given that you don't want to drop it below 50% then you should only aim for 5 days as a maximum.

You can get deep-cycle batteries which withstand heavier discharge compared to normal, you could take them down to 70% discharged - more and you can again damaged them and you need a certain amount of charge left to be able to start then engine.

Maybe consider a solar trickle charger for when you leave it for a few days at a time?

[m4rkw]

It's probably not 250mA all the time, probably just when the gsm modem is active. While I was away I saw the Battery voltage dropping faster than I expected so I increased the polling time to once an hour, then to 4 hours, then to once a day.

I think the best solution is going to be to add a switch so I can switch the power line for the tracker to the ignition signal. Then when I leave the car at airports the tracker won't be drawing anything unless the ignition circuit comes on.

[Herbie]

Not being funny or anything but is it really worth having a tracker on a 12 year-old car worth about four or five grand tops?

Just get a big yellow Stoplock Pro Elite steering lock as a deterrent rather than relying on a tracker that only starts to work once they've broken in.

[m4rkw]

6 hours ago, Herbie said:

Not being funny or anything but is it really worth having a tracker on a 12 year-old car worth about four or five grand tops?

Probably not absolutely necessary but its kind of a fun project of mine. I wrote the software for the microcontroller, it logs the position, speed etc to a server and I can calculate journey distances from the data. I can text the car and it replies with a google maps link for where it is - handy on holiday if you forget where you parked. When I was commuting I used the tracker data to completely automate my mileage expenses. It’s been handy for identifying sketchy garages too - like one that told me they’d test-driven the car but I could see from the tracker logs that it hadn’t moved all day.

Not sure about steering locks, aren’t they just as easy to break as any other lock?

[Herbie]

3 hours ago, m4rkw said:

Not sure about steering locks, aren’t they just as easy to break as any other lock?

Yes and no.

The Stoplock Pro Elite that I've got took more than five minutes to defeat in various reviews and tests with hammers, chisels and saws. However, its real benefit is in the deterrent. It's not pretty having this big, bright yellow thing stuck on your steering wheel but anybody seeing it should, hopefully, think "why bother with the hassle - I'll just go for another one instead".

As for your tracker, I can see the attraction of it being a fun project and I like the sound of it, but if you're going to modify it to only come on with the ignition then you'll lose half of its functionality anyway.

[m4rkw]

23 minutes ago, Herbie said:

As for your tracker, I can see the attraction of it being a fun project and I like the sound of it, but if you're going to modify it to only come on with the ignition then you'll lose half of its functionality anyway.

Well I'm only going to do that when I'm leaving the car for long periods at airports. I think if someone was going to steal a car at an airport, particularly a 2006 car, they'd just hotwire it rather than bothering with trying to slide it onto a flatbed. Pretty sure a professional thief isn't going to have much trouble starting a 2006 car without the key.

[Rexlex]

I just lock mine and don't park it anywhere dodgy! If it gets nicked I'll of course be disappointed and especially if i just filled up! And also I was kind of partial to that Sam Smith CD, and my umbrella, oh' and those mints aunt pat gave me, there somthin else! I won't be heart broken though, I'll get through it. 🙂

[m4rkw]

This works quite nicely. Got a latching relay from amazon that persists its state when the power goes away so I can switch the power feed for the tracker between "always on" and "on only when the ignition is on". Updated the software so I can change it remotely via SMS and also made it automatically switch to ignition-on mode if the Battery falls below 11.5v.