Is it ok to put a heavy duty battery on the 2cv?
Thanks

'Officially' - I don't know.

There are perhaps many reasons why standard rated equipment should be used or is recommended. Unofficially, or should I say in reality, I have used a HD battery for the last four or five years with no ill effect to any other components.

Yes. They are all 12V. All that differs is the amount of electrickery they can store - its capacity. And the greater the capacity, the more useful it should be.

A battery's capacity is usually in the form of Ah (ampere hours) which is the number of amps it can deliver for one hour. Eg: an 80 Ah battery should be able to deliver 80 amps for one hour before going 'flat' (keeping terms technical here...). The same battery could instead supply 40 amps for 2 hours, or one amp for 80 hours.

A 'heavy-duty' battery will essentially have a greater Ah capacity than a 'standard' one, tho' there'll probably not be a huge difference. This should make it capable of giving a longer - and probably more powerful - cranking time. Or, you should be able to keep your lights on - or radio playing - for longer with the engine off.

I can't see any problems with a higher capacity battery. I guess, in theory, a very high capacity battery which is allowed to become discharged might place a large strain on the feeble alternator in a 2CV once it's fired up, but I doubt that would happen unless you stuck a couple of truck batteries under your bonnet...

When it comes to replacing a battery, I usually plum for a higher capacity one than the original of its type - ie: the same physical size and terminal type as the original. It shouldn't be 'needed', but it's always nice to have that little bit more power when it's called for.

Justin - do you know what the respective capacities of the two batteries are?

I've just bought one of these:



520 CCA
52Ah

I *think* it's one of the more powerful batteries availiable in 063 flavour.

That's a battery-for-life Neil.

at £65, it better be!

Wonderful! Thanks. HD batt it is then. Thanks all!

Its a battery for as long as the guarantee lasts, after that its all bonus.

Varta guarantee their batteries for longer than Citroen did their 2cv's.

Why am I not surprised by that?