Battery Reccomendation
 

Alright, I had a thread about a week ago about my "short" but the pros said it was a battery and sure enough my battery is toast.

Can anyone reccomend to me a good midrange battery that fits in the tray (yes the battery has not been relocated. ) It is pretty much the stock electrical set up with the only difference being one 4 channel amp for the speakers.

The owner before me neglected the battery quality and went with a very shitty walmart battery. It died way short of its warranty period.

Get an Optima...I've owned "ONE" for 4 yrs. been in 4 vehicle, an accident--and still kickin ass. best $140 bucks ever spent!!!!

Get an Optima, there are supposedly custom batteries that are better but Optima makes the best widely available one.
Optima doesn't make a small battery right? I have a relocation with a miata battery but I'd love to have an Optima!

-Andy

anything with the same CCA as the stock spec will do, size? you choose :D

I've had 2 optima batteries that went bad and caused major issues. I am not the only one either. A couple of friends on the forum also had breaking up issues etc under higher boost levels and it turned out to be bad optima batteries.

I would stay away from the optima batteries and look towards getting a Odyssey battery. They are a better quality drycell.

Anthony

I would only use optimas, they last forever and take a good beating. Red tops are generalyl knows as starting batteries, where the yellows are great for bieing completly drained and poping right back.

Optima Yellow Tops are not being made currently. Apparently they did have quite a few problems with them and they are redesigning them. Red tops are available currently and I have not heard of any problems with them.

My beef with the Optimas is they don't have it in the correct terminal configuration - really seems like they make ONE battery and want everyone to adapt to it. Seeing rigged up terminals to fit an Optima battery makes be cringe.

Autozone's Duralast batteries were the top Best Buy in Consumer Reports - they're quite nice looking, and you can get a proper size and terminal configuration. The one I had before this had gone for YEARS. And it's cheap and locally available.

Dale

I'm using a Costco 51R battery (TurboJeff tray, highly recommended)....it was like $40 and has a 7-year warranty. It's about 3 years old and has survived 103F track days....spending money on a dry cell is a waste to me.....and the Odyssey's in stock size weigh almost 40 lbs.

i use a honda size battery.... smaller than stock....2yrs no problems....car sits periodically.....keeps good charge.....

costco 51r FTW

I'm using a yellow top optima and I'm happy with it.

ps amazingly enough consumer reports rated walmart brand really high..

Westco Miata battery. It is widely available for $70 or so. It is rated at 475 CCA and weight 25 lbs (10 lbs lighter than the stock battery). Fits in the TurboJeff battery tray and also in the rear bins for battery relocation projects.

I have a 51R in the FD with no problems, relocated to the bin (with amps). On my CRX i've gone through a 51 (not R) every 10 months. I don't like water filled battery's especially in our hot engine bays (wrote a thread on it b4) because if they leak they eat the metal underneath. Just pull your battery and tray out and look how coroded it is. This is the reason the OEM setup contained the battery in a box with a cover that got cooled off by the smic duct. How many of you guys have the box cover? Odyssey is good as long as you don't get the mini. That thing was worthless for anything other then a track car with a battery jumper. You have to look at teh cold crank amps, not max 70 degree+ amps, especially if you live in a cold state. The mini odyssey doesn't have enough CCA nor does it have any reserve. Try leaving your door open for a few min or your radio or lights on for 30 sec after you shut the engine off and see if you don'thave to push start.

I just bought a new battery frome auto zone it is a duralast gold cost 80.00 wit an 11yr warrenty and a 3yr replacement well worth it if you ask me those optima'saren't worth the money seeing all the problems with them.

I've had a redtop crap out on me. One of the 6 spiral cells started to buldge out and the battery wasn't holding a charge. I put a new redtop in and its been working fine since then. Holds a charge fairly well even after sitting for long periods.

hmm...well over here these are getting popular

http://www.kinetikaudio.com/

kinda pricey though...

I ran an Odyssey PC680 (15lb) for about a year, and it would drain pretty quickly, but could generally keep enough of a charge with the fans running for 10 mins after shutdown to start it back up. It eventually faded to the point that it wouldn't start the car even if the fans weren't left running...

I switched to a PC925 (25lb) about a year ago, and it's never had a problem. Even after letting it sit for two weeks during the winter, it fired right up without any hesitation.

I think the 925 was about $110 at Batterymart, but I didn't have to pay shipping since it's not far from where I live.

Oh yeah, mine's in the rear bin BTW. These smaller Odyssey batteries are not the standard shape/size like the non-sealed batteries mentioned in this thread. The one I'm running is technically an application for a large Harley-type motorcycle IIRC...

I've been using my yellow top for a while. The first one I got was bad to begin with, wouldn't hold a charge for long. The thing was dead when i bought it and the shrink wrap cover was damaged so I think that's why it had drained. They replaced it and it hasn't died on me yet. Same thing happened with my brother with the Optima he just bought for his Jeep. he's had one on his Corrado, which he drives once every 3 months, and has lasted him several years. From my experience, they last if they're good to begin with.

Yea, go with an Optima! I mean just about half of the people posting here love them... maybe even more than half! You simply can't go wrong. I'm stupid though and use Odyssey. My last one only lasted for a crappy 6 years with many complete discharges when I'd leave the lights on or something and still fired up after sitting for months at a time. I must have a brain tumor because I bought another one. I should have snapped up one of those yellow tops before they recalled them. Drat!

I have 2 yellow tops. I'd be more than happy to sell you one!

;)

Anthony

ok, since this battery thread is already up i'll go ahead and ask: i have an SVR audio series 12 volt deep cycle battery which i used in my 240sx when i did my motor swap. Thinkin about using it with a relocation kit in my fd. could any 12 volt battery generally work? they worked perfectly fine in my 240. Last thing i wanna do is short any electrical components. thanx

I had to replace 2 Optima so far.. Bad thing is that if you completely discharge them, there is a good chance it becomes a paper weight.. Next time, I'm going to try Odyssey or other drycell brand..

My car has a Sears Gold Garden Tractor battery.

It is mounted in the stock location, and is physically smaller than a 51R.

Part number is #27185
Group is U81.

It has 340 Cold Cranking Amps, which has been more than sufficient.

I tried to look it up on Sears web site, but could not find it.