TD4 Winter Battery

hi all
It is my first year as a volunteer with the Norfolk Rover Rescue.
my vehicle is kitted out and all I need now is a decent battery.


what have you fitted for about a hundred quid that wil keep me going strong while out keeping the British public safe?

....don't say Duracell


;0)

joe27979 said:

hi all
It is my first year as a volunteer with the Norfolk Rover Rescue.
my vehicle is kitted out and all I need now is a decent battery.


what have you fitted for about a hundred quid that wil keep me going strong while out keeping the British public safe?

....don't say Duracell


;0)

Click to expand...

Personally unless you need one i.e you have issues with urs id save the cash. Ive got 2003 td4 same battery for 5 years got no reason to change it. But seen as you asked, I go for the diesel battery, wether you have petrol or not. The desiel batteries have better cranking amps etc and a little more "hardy" than the petrol ones. Although I am certainly not an expert. Hopefully a battery/sparky expert might shed some light on it....

Well done on the volunteer work too, doing it myself for our local hospital and meals on wheels (after the H and S chat)

Well done with your voluntary work, mate.

I went down the line of upgrading to the largest capacity battery that would fit the tray.

I run to Bosnia & Kosovo in the winter for an aid agency -30C any old day and it's business as usual out there. I need to be 100% sure I can keep all the heated seats, screens, and blowers going.

I was let down once with a 5 year old battery and it's too late for me waiting until it fails and then replacing it, far from home.

I checked all the dimensions - only length & breadth is important as there is no hassle with the height of it.

I got a Varta Silver F18 at a tad under £100 on eBay.

try a search for this:

VARTA *SILVER* F18 (019) VERY BEST Quality Car Battery

Singvogel said:

Well done with your voluntary work, mate.

I went down the line of upgrading to the largest capacity battery that would fit the tray.

I run to Bosnia & Kosovo in the winter for an aid agency -30C any old day and it's business as usual out there. I need to be 100% sure I can keep all the heated seats, screens, and blowers going.

I was let down once with a 5 year old battery and it's too late for me waiting until it fails and then replacing it, far from home.

I checked all the dimensions - only length & breadth is important as there is no hassle with the height of it.

I got a Varta Silver F18 at a tad under £100 on eBay.

try a search for this:

VARTA *SILVER* F18 (019) VERY BEST Quality Car Battery

Click to expand...

Nice one, many thanks for the suggestion - I put a gel one in my defender last year and it started on half a turn which was fab! Heard a few good reports about varta so i'll root out the one you suggest, did you fit it to your TD4?

Yes the voluntary work sits well with me giving something back to the community. I love 4x4's and driving tricky conditions so why not combine the two helping doctors get to patients, nurses to care homes...meals to the elderly, flood evacuations, search and rescue etc..
A few people giggle in the club when a freelander rocks up but its always us that gets the snow/icey roads jobs for transporting peope - all the big trucks get stuck with winching and towing people, I know where i'd rather be (taking a nurse around the town in my warm freelander...not attaching a winch to someones bumber while a gale is blowing and my neck is filling with snow) )

p.s Landrover dont stipulate silver calcium cells etc like Ford do? do they?
I know fords are special due to the charging technique they utilise with the alternator...wondered if Landrover got that anal with their charging system?

Yes Joe - I know the feeling - our organisation runs 'Vulnerabilty Monitoring' projects in ex-war zones in the Balkans and boy do they have winters. Vey few days we don't go out due to snowfalls. We have a Unimog for those days.

Lots of folks don't take a Freelander seriously until it passes them when they are stuck!

Back to batteries - don't know a thing about silver calcium, but yes the big Varta F18 fits in my TD4 nicely and fills the battery tray - no probs at all.

We have Vartas in all our vehicles now - never had a bad un yet.

you need to put that mod in your sig strip then chief ;0)

fitted a bosch battery to mine, was £85 inc VAT from my local independent against £130 from Halfords, both came with 5 year warranty.

not let me down so far

Bosch S4 and S5s are good, but I'd trust Varta to be the most dependable batteries, especially in extreme cold.