So that's what the R stands for... (car batteries)

Kinja'd!!! "BaconSandwich is tasty." (baconsandwich)
01/05/2015 at 14:27 • Filed to: None

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Saturday morning I went to go start my car. It was cold out (-25 C or so), but I've definitely started my car in colder conditions. This time, though, it didn't start. It was definitely low on power. After a few cranks, it completely failed to do anything. I figured a while ago that the battery was slowly dying, and needed to be replaced. It's the one the car came with when I bought it (back in late 2007), so it was definitely due to be swapped out.

Anyway, I headed over to Costco, and grabbed a new battery, not realizing that I had grabbed a group 51R (rather than a group 51 battery). It turns out the R means the poles are reversed. Also, it turns out that there's absolutely no slack at all in the battery cables in a 2001 Honda Civic. Also, Costco doesn't sell regular group 51 batteries. So, after another visit to another store (thanks to my wife for shuttling me around), we got the right battery.

So now I know - the R is for reversed poles. I figured I'd just throw this out there so that no one else runs into the same issue in the future.


DISCUSSION (3)


Kinja'd!!! RazoE > BaconSandwich is tasty.
01/05/2015 at 15:05

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So there's a standard set for where the poles go? Positive on the left is standard or is that R?


Kinja'd!!! BaconSandwich is tasty. > RazoE
01/05/2015 at 16:18

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Well, I guess it depends which way you are looking at it. If you have the battery so that the poles are further away from you, I think the positive pole is to the right, and the negative pole is to the left. On the R, it was reversed. I tried turning the battery 180 degrees, but because the poles are not centered on the top of the battery, I would have had to stretch the cables another 2 inches or so. And apparently Honda sees fit to not leave any slack whatsoever in the battery cables.


Kinja'd!!! The Compromiser > BaconSandwich is tasty.
01/06/2015 at 00:06

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I live in North America. The Poles are a whole ocean and most of a continent away. I hope my battery lasts forever or i am going to need some huge assed cables...