Dodgy battery design

[Neil Ives]

I once owned a Volvo 746 GL. I bought a new battery for the car from Kwik Fit. About a week later, on the drive to work, the car went into limp mode. I called out the AA. The mechanic discovered that the new battery had alternative round lead tapers fitted over the flat terminals sticking out of the battery case. This was obviously a cost saving design; some cars use a flat connection, my car used a round tapered lead cone. One of the cones had come off its terminal while the car was running;  this had caused an electrical spike which destroyed the cars CPU. With help from the AA I got Kwik Fit to cover my costs in getting the car fixed. Take care when choosing a new 12v battery.

[Lord Voltermore]

There are basically 3 types of terminal.
 T1  (Sae /Standard ) used on most European cars,. tapered 
  T3  , (Jis /Small )  used on most Japanese and Asian cars   Its similar to T1 in shape  but has smaller terminals . 
Flat post type which have a  hole and leads are attached with a  nut and bolt.

Smaller T3 can be converted to T1 by adding an adapter to make the tapered cone larger.    The only reason to do this is so an Asian type battery Can be fitted to a European car.   This may be so the seller can stock fewer varieties ,  or the Asian ones may be cheaper .   

With decent quality adapter cones  there  shouldnt have been a problem.  Kwik fit cocked up when fitting/tightening.

There shouldnt be a problem on the Honda.  They have the smaller T3 terminals anyway.   Fitting a battery with T1 terminals intended for European cars would require  new battery leads or more complex and expensive adapters . Not really worth doing.   

[Neil Ives]

There are basically 3 types of terminal.
 T1  (Sae /Standard ) used on most European cars,. tapered 
  T3  , (Jis /Small )  used on most Japanese and Asian cars   Its similar to T1 in shape  but has smaller terminals . 
Flat post type which have a  hole and leads are attached with a  nut and bolt.

Smaller T3 can be converted to T1 by adding an adapter to make the tapered cone larger.    The only reason to do this is so an Asian type battery Can be fitted to a European car.   This may be so the seller can stock fewer varieties ,  or the Asian ones may be cheaper .   

With decent quality adapter cones  there  shouldnt have been a problem.  Kwik fit cocked up when fitting/tightening.

There shouldnt be a problem on the Honda.  They have the smaller T3 terminals anyway.   Fitting a battery with T1 terminals intended for European cars would require  new battery leads or more complex and expensive adapters . Not really worth doing.

To clarify;  the battery I bought had T1's fitted to flat post connectors. It was not obvious. There was no clamping system for the T1 adapter; it was just pressed on, so looked pucka. It presumably must have been assumed that the cars clamp would keep the parts together.
This was 20 years ago;  I hope KF are not still using that design.

[Jocko]

I had a problem with a flat battery and the RAC came out, checked it out and advised me to replace the battery as it was done. I got him to fit a new battery there and then.
Four months later the car wouldn't start because of the battery. Called the RAC out again and the problem was the T1 sleeve over the T3 battery terminal had worked loose. He fixed it and I had no further problems over the next three years.
I can understand the RAC. AA. Green Flag has a limited stock of batteries on their van.