1955 Buick battery - are todays higher AMP batteries a problem to original parts/circuits?

[buickbrothers]

Been looking at batteries and need to buy one soon. I'm ready to start the car fully wired, all hoses/parts installed, transmission connected etc. I did several "rigged" engine starts after the engine rebuild to ensure no issues - just in case you were wondering. So old specs I have on the original minimum AMP range. Any concern with much higher normal and cold cranking APM ranges much greater than original? 

[maok]

You are over thinking it, a new modern higher amp hour battery won't supply more amps, the circuit will determine how much is drawn from the battery and or generator/alternator.

[NTX5467]

To me, it's more about the charging system output rather than battery power.  The circuits will still require the same amount of power sent to them by the harness.  Just that the more powerful batteries can tolerate the load for longer periods of time before needing re-charging, typically.

 

In general, the longevity of the harness is determined by the basic gauge of the wire itself and how securely the terminals are attached to the wire.  Such that little heat is built (via resistance) at each terminal/joint in the harness.

 

If you are going to be adding air conditioning or a powerful sound system, then some changes might need to be made.  Especially an alternator of about 65amps or so (which probably can be tolerated well, I suspect).

 

NTX5467

[EmTee]

The new battery will have more reserve capacity than the original did.  As @maok said, the car will determine how much current it wants.

[buickbrothers]

Thanks gents. As stated, I may be "over thinking it" but it's an old car and mostly original wiring with some updating. The updating was required because something burnt some wires/melted some insulation so I'm being a bit cautious. Some of the dash wiring was challenging to restring but I believe I finally got it all terminated correctly. The car originally had factory AC so no worries there on wiring but challenges getting the AC working again. There was a CB add and an air siren since this belonged to a Fire Marshall in Texas. I got rid of the CB (reluctantly), but I kept the siren for fun and added all new wires since it was routed poorly. I'll continue on with the batteries I have scouted. Thanks for the feedback/sanity check!

[maok]

The important thing is that you have appropriate fuses in place. 

 

Simplest method is to have an inline fuse along the power wire for each device. Alternatively, re-wire all the circuits via a fuse block.

[Bloo]

14 hours ago, buickbrothers said:

Any concern with much higher normal and cold cranking APM ranges much greater than original? 

No. It's just better because you can crank longer. An electrically larger battery does take longer to charge, so if you ever do run it down real low, you would be well advised to put a charger on real soon when you get home rather than waiting for the generator to charge it all the way back up.

 

Edited August 16, 2023 by Bloo (see edit history)