In search of a new Juice box for the Covered Wagon, so I though it might be a good idea to consult the collective wisdom.
Looking for a good battery, ~900 cca or better, needs to be tolerant to cold and heat, long life, and be able to handle loads like lighting and winch use. I like the idea of Optimas, but I also want to know more about what’s out there for battery needs.
So. What do y’all like/use/have good results with?
Check out Odysseys. Like Optimas but without the failure rate.
Not a huge fan of Optima, but my last one did go 8 years before it failed. Only reason I replaced it with another is because it's in the passenger area of my race car and don't want a lead acid next to me.
For normal under hood applications I go for Interstate and/or Costco (which is also interstate now). But I'm lazy and use them because my shop is an Interstate vendor and my wife works at Costco.
Years ago Consumer Reports did a big battery shootout and I believe the NAPA Golds were the best battery in multiple sizes.
I think the sears diehard silver AGM is just a rebranded odyssey. Might save some money that way.
Watching with interest. The half sized battery in my integra doesn't have the juice to start anymore when the temps get cold. Still works fine all summer.
I once cooked an odyssey, but it was right over the exhaust on my bmw (318tis have front mounted batteries) but other than that, I have had zero issues with the ones I had
If i want a big battery i generally get a group 94 AGM from advance auto. About $150 with online discounts.
Reviving this thread as I am looking for a battery for my project.
I'm looking for something compact and ideally light weight for the Midlana. I also want to be able to charge it with my battery tender, which the Google says works on lead acid, sealed, maintenance-free & gel cell batteries
A Sealed battery would also be nice.
What saith the hive?
Make sure you're getting the right application. Too many times people think that deep cycle is better. GRM chose a marine style deep/cranking Optima for the project F250 and I think they chose wisely since they need the deep cycling.
If you want a smaller battery with enough CCA, you'll definitely be the furthest thing away from a deep cycle. While this is not true for all battery styles, here is a quick thought bubble.
If you open up a regular LA battery from, let's say, your Miata, the lead plates will look like swiss cheese. This is to increase surface area between the lead and the electrolyte. This increases the peak amperage that can be available (more contact with the conductive surfaces between the lead and electrolyte). That is why most batteries within a given size have similar CCA ratings. As a very broad generalization, a battery that is longer (more space between the terminals) tends to have more reserve capacity. That is to say, since there is more room for more lead and acid, it will have more Ah... more bulk juice... available. The more space beside the terminals (wider cells) tend to have more cranking amps because they can fit more surface area in each cell.
If you tear open a same size deep cycle battery, you'll see solid lead plates. Less surface area means there are usually fewer CCAs available to crank a car, but the lack of all those nooks and crannies means there is less likelihood of sulfur crusties forming in the holes when it discharges. That means it can withstand more full discharges than a cranking battery.
As can be intuited, a marine cranking battery kinda shoots the middle.
The way a battery works is chemistry 101. As the acid contacts the lead it creates electrical potential. Left alone, the acid eats the lead and you're left with lead sulfide, water, hydrogen, and a few other things. It is no longer a battery, it's a completed reaction. As with any reaction, if you increase the concentration of something on one side of an equation, you can shift the reaction left or right. Example A: increasing compression in an engine. More heat on the left side of the equation means a faster boom. Example B: if you have an endothermic reaction (a chemical reaction that requires heat going in) and you increase the amount of heat available, the reaction goes faster. Take away the available heat and it moves slower. How this applies to batteries is that you charge them. Since one of the products of the L/A reaction is electrons, if you flood it with electrons, the reaction can't happen. As you discharge the battery, it continues to supply more electrons by the acid eating the lead. With a properly functioning alternator, that is not really a problem.
This is the difference between deep cycle and cranking. With a deep cycle, there is less surface area to be eaten and therefore less PbSO4 created when it discharges. A battery becomes useless when enough PbSO4 settles to the bottom that it makes a short between two lead plates and makes that cell ineffective OR when enough PbSO4 has formed on the surface of the plate reducing its surface area and therefore amperage capacity.
So, you want a small battery that still cranks the engine. You're looking for the smallest battery that has enough CCA. Don't worry about reserve capacity because that would involve greater length and more weight. Focus on the CCA number you need, and find the lightest/smallest cranking battery that can provide it. You won't have very long times that you can crank it. It's not something that you can crank for a while waiting for a mechanical fuel pump to get gas to the carb. It is make-sure-it's-charged-and-keep-it-charged.
This will pay double benefit when using a small charger like you mentioned. A battery tender can be like a drop in the bucket on a big battery. Small charger, small battery, win.
As far as battery construction, I personally prefer a good old fashioned lead-acid for its servicability and amperage capacity. An SLA battery can be limited in its amperage flow because the reactions going on in there create hydrogen. Lots of it. In a vented battery, that hydrogen simply escapes. In an SLA, it can't (except for an engineered bypass valve in most.) AGM combines many benefits of both. The gel can't spill, so it can be more generous with bypass venting than a sealed battery, but many AGM batteries are also a little lower in CCA for a given size because the gel isn't in full contact with the lead like a liquid would be.
If I were in your shoes, I would compare the lightest traditional battery with the same CCA in an AGM. The AGM will likely be the safest, and you might find that the weight penalty to maintain your CCA is just a pound or two.
Thanks for the tips. Browsing around it looks like a battery for a Goldwing seems like about the right size. An AGM battery in that size has a bit over 300 cca and weighs 14 lbs. A lithium battery is about 1.5 times the price, but has almost 400 cca and weighs only 4 lbs...hmmm
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