How to find out car battery ampere ?
Each car model has a different battery type, size, and even amp hours rating. In addition to the size and position of the battery terminal posts, the most important thing in choosing a car battery is the car battery ampere a.k.a amp hours battery capacity.
Car battery ampere or "amp hours" in the car battery is the main size for your car charging system specification, mainly for alternator fitments. Using a higher or smaller car battery ampere from your car charging specification will lead to the abnormality and failing car charging system.
Using higher amp hours size will slowing your car battery time to charge fully. It means that your car alternator will work harder, so it tends to damage quickly. Otherwise, smaller amp hours will force your car battery to serve all car's electrical components. For example, the starter motor and headlights, so the new car battery will run out faster.
The best thing to do is using the same battery size as the original one, whether it's the body size of the battery, terminal positions, or the size of the amp hours. So, how do we know how many amp hours is a car battery?
1. Look at the car battery ampere from amp hours number printed on the battery case
The first thing to know how many amp hours is a car battery is to look at the number printed on the battery case. Many car battery manufacturers printed the number of amp hours on the battery case.
Amp hours on car battery mostly printed as (Ah), mean as an Ampere hour. So, if you want to know how many amp-hour your car battery is, you should find the number with Ah behind the number.
Here are some example amp hours numbers that you can see on the battery case
The left images of the battery have 70Ah, and the right images have 95Ah. For better car battery amp hours chosen, you should follow your vehicle car owner's manual.
2. Find out from the battery code
Suppose your car battery has different types and there is no amp-hour numbering printed on the battery case. In that case, you need to find the car battery ampere by the battery code given number. The battery code is a standard code for a car battery ampere that almost printed in all car battery cases.
As we know, there are two standard codes for car batteries. JIS (Japanese Industrial Standard) code and ETN (European Type Number). ETN is a replacement for the DIN code battery. JIS battery code is used for all Japanese manufacturers such as Honda, Toyota, Mitsubishi, Suzuki, etc. ETN is used in European cars such as Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Volkswagen, Audi, etc.
ETN Battery terminals post have the same height as the battery height, so the battery looks flat. JIS battery usually had battery terminal post placed on top of the battery case and higher than the battery case itself.
Below is an example of JIS code with the size and amp hours car battery
55D23L
The meaning of 55D23L battery is
55 = Battery rank performance capacity, 55 have 60 Ah
D = Battery case size, D have 173mm (6.8inch) wide and 204mm (8inch) height
23 = Battery Long size in cm, so 23 means 23cm (9inch)
L = Negative posts terminal position is on the left side.
See the table below for the JIS code with the size and amp hours car battery.
| No | JIS (Old) | JIS (New) | Capacity (*20HR) | CCA | Long | Wide | Height |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 12N24R | 26A19R | 26 | 170 | 187 | 127 | 162 |
| 2 | 12N24L | 26A19L | 26 | 170 | 187 | 127 | 162 |
| 3 | 34B19R | 34B19R | 33 | 240 | 187 | 127 | 203 |
| 4 | 34B19L | 34B19L | 33 | 240 | 187 | 127 | 203 |
| 5 | 34B19RS | 34B19RS | 33 | 240 | 187 | 127 | 203 |
| 6 | 34B19LS | 34B19LS | 33 | 240 | 187 | 127 | 203 |
| 7 | NS40 | 32B20R | 32 | 225 | 197 | 129 | 203 |
| 8 | NS40L | 32B20L | 32 | 225 | 197 | 129 | 203 |
| 9 | NS40S | 32B20RS | 32 | 225 | 197 | 129 | 203 |
| 10 | NS40LS | 32B20LS | 32 | 225 | 197 | 129 | 203 |
| 11 | NS40Z | 36B20R | 35 | 260 | 197 | 129 | 203 |
| 12 | NS40ZL | 36B20L | 35 | 260 | 197 | 129 | 203 |
| 13 | NS40ZLS | 36B20LS | 35 | 260 | 197 | 129 | 203 |
| 14 | NS40ZS | 36B20RS | 35 | 260 | 197 | 129 | 203 |
| 15 | N40 | 32C24R | 40 | 195 | 238 | 129 | 203 |
| 16 | N40L | 32C24L | 40 | 195 | 238 | 129 | 203 |
| 17 | NS60 | 46B24R | 45 | 295 | 238 | 129 | 203 |
| 18 | NS60L | 46B24L | 45 | 295 | 238 | 129 | 203 |
| 19 | NS60S | 46B24RS | 45 | 295 | 238 | 129 | 203 |
| 20 | NS60LS | 46B24LS | 45 | 295 | 238 | 129 | 203 |
| 21 | 55D23R | 55D23R | 60 | 320 | 232 | 173 | 204 |
| 22 | 55D23L | 55D23L | 60 | 320 | 232 | 173 | 204 |
| 23 | 75D23R | 75D23R | 65 | 465 | 232 | 173 | 204 |
| 24 | 75D23L | 75D23L | 65 | 465 | 232 | 173 | 204 |
| 25 | N50 | 48D26R | 50 | 250 | 260 | 173 | 204 |
| 26 | N50L | 48D26L | 50 | 250 | 260 | 173 | 204 |
| 27 | N50Z | 55D26R | 60 | 290 | 260 | 173 | 204 |
| 28 | N50ZL | 55D26L | 60 | 290 | 260 | 173 | 204 |
| 29 | NS70 | 65D26R | 65 | 370 | 260 | 173 | 204 |
| 30 | NS70L | 65D26L | 65 | 370 | 260 | 173 | 204 |
| 31 | 80D26R | 80D26R | 65 | 490 | 260 | 173 | 204 |
| 32 | 80D26L | 80D26L | 65 | 490 | 260 | 173 | 204 |
| 33 | N70 | 65D31R | 70 | 340 | 306 | 173 | 204 |
| 34 | N70L | 65D31L | 70 | 340 | 306 | 173 | 204 |
| 35 | N70Z | 75D31R | 75 | 380 | 306 | 173 | 204 |
| 36 | N70ZL | 75D31L | 75 | 380 | 306 | 173 | 204 |
| 37 | NX120-7R | 95D31R | 80 | 565 | 306 | 173 | 204 |
| 38 | NX120-7L | 95D31L | 80 | 565 | 306 | 173 | 204 |
| 39 | 105D31R | 105D31R | 80 | 655 | 306 | 173 | 204 |
| 40 | 105D31L | 105D31L | 80 | 655 | 306 | 173 | 204 |
| 41 | N100 | 95E41R | 100 | 475 | 410 | 176 | 213 |
| 42 | N100L | 95E41L | 100 | 475 | 410 | 176 | 213 |
| 43 | NS120 | 115E41R | 110 | 610 | 410 | 176 | 213 |
| 44 | N120 | 115F51 | 120 | 575 | 505 | 182 | 213 |
| 45 | N150 | 145G51 | 150 | 685 | 508 | 222 | 213 |
| 46 | NS200 | 165G51 | 170 | 710 | 508 | 222 | 213 |
| 47 | N200 | 190H52 | 200 | 765 | 521 | 278 | 220 |
For ETN car battery codes, here's how to know for car battery ampere hours. See the car battery ampere hours from the example below were using ETN code.
If we want to know car battery ampere hours with ETN code is by seeing the second and third numbers of the code. For example image above, we can see the ETN code is 571L28. The second number is seven, and the third number is one. So, from the ETN code above, we can found that the battery amp hours capacity is 71Ah.