Topic: Best Battery (Read 74 times)

Rylinkus · « **on:** October 02, 2006, 08:32:00 PM »

Winters hit. Or at least 50 degree eves and mornings. And my van is now struggling to start. Brand new alternator. WEAK as hell battery in the cold. So whats the BEST option there is? Ive went through 5 Optima red tops in maybe 8 years. So anyone have any other thoughts? Everlast Maxx from Walmart seems to have decent online reviews. Napa Select is the same deal. Any other decent gel cells? I just want the damn thing to start every time. Thanks for any thoughts.

jesterrace777 · « **Reply #1 on:** October 02, 2006, 10:57:00 PM »

I doubt you have one in the area but I had a Les Schwab 700AMP gel pack in my MX-3 and RX-7 over the course of 6 years and it did well. To my knowledge it is still working fine (sold it with the RX-7 as it was getting up there in years). I do have an Optima Red Top that I put in my Saturn about 3 months ago and it is fine as well. What AMP rating were you getting? On a van like that you better have a bare minimum of 1000 cold cranking amps.

CJLee89 · « **Reply #2 on:** October 09, 2006, 01:53:00 PM »

try Optima. they pretty much look the same in design and have the same features.

jesterrace777 · « **Reply #3 on:** October 10, 2006, 11:30:00 PM »

QUOTE(CJLee89 @ Oct 9 2006, 09:00 PM)

try Optima. they pretty much look the same in design and have the same features.

He mentioned that he did and has been through about 5 of them in the last 8 years.

CJLee89 · « **Reply #4 on:** October 11, 2006, 01:28:00 PM »

o snap. my bad. maybe his alternator is going bad.

Rylinkus · « **Reply #5 on:** October 11, 2006, 04:43:00 PM »

QUOTE(CJLee89 @ Oct 11 2006, 08:35 PM)

o snap. my bad. maybe his alternator is going bad.

in several vehicles, not one car ate 5 red tops. And my van's alternator is brand new

CJLee89 · « **Reply #6 on:** October 11, 2006, 05:20:00 PM »

oic. sorry for the confusion.

_iffy · « **Reply #7 on:** October 12, 2006, 07:44:00 AM »

Tip from canada...

*battery warmer. Plug it in at night.*

It's an electric blanket that wraps around you battery, and has an extension cord the you snake to the front grill. You plug it in at night and in the morning your battery is warm, so it will keep it's charge. It simular to a block heater, but just for your battery. Really helps with a cold start.

Make sure all electronics are turned off when you start(you know that already but...)

Also you might want to check your wireing (ignition) and see if they can still pass the amps. Old wires degrade.

grim_d · « **Reply #8 on:** October 14, 2006, 03:20:00 PM »

you may want to check out competition batteries, even ones from audio companies

http://www.stingerel...ries_power2.asp

the first one theres is decent. crank of 2150 and operating up to -40c. u said -50 but i dont know if you mean celcius or not., although -50c is DAMN cold.

lightening audio and rockford fosgate are good too.

CKwik240 · « **Reply #9 on:** October 20, 2006, 07:17:00 PM »

Don't bother with the red top Optimas. The Yellow and Blue are much better. They are deep cycle and much more resistant to beng unable to hold a charge if you ever discharge any by accident. The red Optimas will maybe handle one discharge, but with some loss to capacity. The deep cycles were designed with RV's and Boats in mind so they are designed to be able to drain and still hold a full charge afterwards. I went through 3 reds on one car and one blue used on 2 different cars. My parent's van conversion kept going through batteries as well and after switching it to a yellow optima, it has never had to be replaced yet.

Yellow will be fine for most. Blueis a bit more and includes Marine terminals. I actually prefer the Blue as the marine terminal provides a great place to attach a heavy guage wire without having to splice into, modify, or switch the OE terminal.

Cant comment on CCA's though as I'm in CA and don't expect to ever have to worry about cold cranking.

Author Topic: Best Battery (Read 74 times)