60 replies to this topic

[Toranavista]

Trying to decide on which way to go regarding a battery suit V8 application. Any tips?

[dattoman]

Was thinking of an Optima or something like this

http://www.vsport.co...a_batteries.htm

[Tiny]

The extra cost of a dry cell battery is outweighed by their good performance.

No maintenance.. ever... higher power output compred to the same size of battery, and theyre pretty durable suckers.

Ive had an Odyssey Es1500 for about 3 years now, have abused thebattery by leaving it discharged etc for long periods and it still does everything asked of it. Its the biggest of their range.

My brother had an EXTREMELY bad experience with the same brand battery but in a replacement car size ( I dont know what model.. can find out specifically if you like). In short the battery lasted 6 months, they they didnt cover it under warranty at all. Scum.

I would put my money down on an optima batteyr like neil pointed out, but i dont know what model would suit you best. They have a very good web site if you want to check that out.

Cheers Hope some of this info helps.

[gtrboyy]

Get a Optima battery,a few people I know dont like the Odyssey if you leave your car for long periods as the battery will die even if its disconected.They have all got Optima batteries & dont have any more problems but if you use the car everyday then an Odyssey will be fine.

[rodomo]

Batteries are more fickle than (ooops I better not say what I'm thinking here)
More than 50% of my work is starting related and of that 90% is battery related.

Fact 1: They don't make batteries like they used to.
They simply don't use the same materials inside and this is a lot to do with the enviroment at disposal time.
Don't expect to get 5,6,7 or 8 years from a battery anymore, it just won't happen.
Average battery life is 3yrs 7mths.

Fact 2: Battery life is directly proportional to the way the car is used.
RACV replace more batteries under warranty to pensioners who drive fuel injected cars down the shops twice a week and to church on Sunday.
New generation batteries like a constant state of charge and often don't recover if left to go flat if they are 2yrs or more old.
Also vibration is a major player in battery life as vibration shakes the material off the plates which A. Reduces the capacity of the battery and B.The material falls to the bottom of the battery and can cause shorting across the plates.

Fact 3: It takes 20mins running to bring your battery up to full charge after starting, so if you drive for 5mins daily eventually your battery will not start the car.

RACV MAN

[racean69]

I can vouch for vibration killing battery's. Batterys in diesel welders, air compressors, Gerni's etc (pretty much any mobile plant type equip) as a rule ya don't get much more than 12mths out of them

[Toranamat69]

Those gel type ones are good from a vibration point of view as well as being smaller and lighter and maintenance free - plan to change mine as soon as it dies - I can also get rid of the big battery case then too.

I have never got less than 5 to 6 years out of regular lead acid battery and these are supposed to last longer - in my experience at least half the dead batteries I have seen are due to a faulty charging system.

Keep them as close to charged as possible and do not fully discharge at any stage in their life if you are looking for a long stint.

Car charging systems never achieve more than about 75% charge on a battery so I was going to look for some sort of electronic charge thingy I could fit to improve things but they do seem to last pretty well anyway with just an altenator charging it.

[Tiny]

Electronics places sell a "battery fighter" type charging system that I would like to use on my odyssey ( i ended up buying a telwin automagic charger instead).

They are basically a small trickle charger that measures the state of teh battery and kick in when needed. You can leave it connected indefinitely and it wont harm the battery at all. They are designed for SLA ( sealed lead acid) batteries like in alarms or UPSs etc, but work really well on AGM/GEL etc batteries too.

The only drama for pensioners is they have to pop the bonet every time they get home and connect the charger! (Also it would RODOMO out of work!!). I do this to the monaro periodically to make sure the battery is nicely topped up.

OH.. and from altronics.. these chargers cost around $20!
Cheap

Cheers!

[Toranavista]

Thanks to those that replied. Plenty of good info

[355LX]

I'm with the guys above, go an Optima or similar. I've got an Optima Red top, tought as nails!! One guy I know somehow managed to have a corner sliced off one, and it still bloody works!!

[rodomo]

I agree that newish cars and newish batteries will recover quicker. I was refering to the average car with the average battery, average starter and average wiring (magna and corolla come to mind here) We recommend 20mins mainly for the members benefit to avoid 2nd calls. I know that if all is well an almost dead flat battery will start the car after 4 mins running.
RACV MAN

[rodomo]

With Choppers points the wrapping if the plates did not solve the problem but merely slow the process. Have you ever seen a battery with an internal short melt down? Scary as all you can do is remove the battery from the car and watch it Chernobal itself in the gutter.

With the 13 yr old battery, I'm guessing it was made around 1995ish, not recently. I have seen an 11 year old battery a couple of years ago and will re-itterate that the "average life" is 3yrs 7 mths and battery life is directly preportional to how its used or abused.
RACV MAN

[Dangerous]

82911, the reserve capacity of the Odyssey and Optima can be as big or bigger than standard lead acid batteries, it's not an intrinsic property of gell cells to have less reserve capacity.

From memory, the Odyssey ES12V1000 which has the same cranking capacity as an N70ZZ 13 plate truck battery - or slightly better - has around a 50 amp-hour 'size', which is more than even the heavy duty standard lead acid batteries, which are usually around 450 CCA and 40 amp-hour capacity. It is also much smaller than the 450 CCA battery. Finally, you can 'use' more of the capacity of a gell cell before it won't be able to start the car, as it has a much larger cold cranking current capacity. In other words, a nearly flat Gel cell will probably still be able to start a car, where a nearly flat lead acid battery will not.

I prefer the Odysseys over the Optimas because the Odysseys come in a full one piece steel jacket - no fractured batteries causing fires in the case of an accident, or acid leaking all over a nice engine bay due to a cracked casing. Yes, I believe they did have a quality control problem a few years back where a batch or two of their batteries failed prematurely, but I have had an ES12V1000 in my XU-1 for over 6 years, and it's still doing OK, despite being left flat on numerous occasions, and being driven when the alternator failed, and tried to charge it to 16 odd volts.

[Tiny]

Dangerous: I belive that only certain odesseys come in the steel jacket? I know i had to option that on my ES1500. The other thing is theyre SQUARE batteries ( Well O.K rectangle *looks around for devins advocate ) where as the Optima have a "corrugated" casing cause of tehir spiral cell technology. This could be a bit of a pain in mounting situations. I hope that they have fixed their batteries cause unfortunately i havent heard many good stories about their smaller ones, but the 1500 is a great battery!


Greg: I belive that these batteries are supposed to hold their charge ( if disconnected and stored within their tollerances) for up to 2 years! I noticed that in the monaro my battery was discharging over a period of a week or two ( voltage leak SOMEWHERE.. but buggered if i can find it!).

[Tiny]

Thanks for the suggestion Herne!

I'm sure i leave it in the off position ( well.. on the key anyway! ) and i have installed a -ve isolator that is now routine to disconnect every time the car gets parked. With this switch i no longer suffer from dead batteries!

I also had to replace the ignition switch module as it was buggered ( must have been the only original compnent IN the car!!) and ive not checked if that fixed the problem. It may have been that even though the keys were at OFF, that switch may have been touching ACC!

Cheers!

[Dangerous]

Dangerous: I belive that only certain odesseys come in the steel jacket?

I hope that they have fixed their batteries cause unfortunately i havent heard many good stories about their smaller ones, but the 1500 is a great battery!

I only have old info sheets on them, but only one battery is/was not available with the steel jacket, and that is/was the ES12V700. I think the 1000 is the optimum cost/size/capacity/bang for buck for a car. The 1500 is overkill, but I suspect most other things on your car are as well???

PS : I have a 1500 as well, as my 'general purpose' battery. Also around 6 years old, and still going strong.

I'm pretty confident that Odysseys are fine now. I'd buy another one.

[Dangerous]

Dangerous...
thanks for that, most of what i said is merely observation as well as the things i have been told by auto elects...
Can you tell me why my odessey seems to discharge quicker than a lead acid type when left in a stored condition? Seems to drop to around 11.9 volts within 2 weeks or so.

Cheers Greg..

Battery self discharge if the battery is left unconnected is a sign that the battery is on the way out. Discharge when left connected in a car is due to whatever car electrical systems are still drawing power even though the ignition is off. These could be cassette/CD radios, which require a bit of power to keep their memory, and also keep the cpu running to monitor the on/off switch, alarm systems, clocks etc. Sometimes alternators can have an internal fault which will also discharge the battery.

If the current drain is the same in both cases, then the only reason the gel cell battery would discharge quicker is if it has a smaller capacity.

Odyssey claims their batteries wil retain up to 50% of their capacity for 2.5 years, if stored correctly (basically clean, disconnected, and temperature of around 25C).

Which Odyssey do you have, how old is it, and do you leave it disconnected, or connected?

[Tiny]

Dangerous: I belive that only certain odesseys come in the steel jacket? 

I hope that they have fixed their batteries cause unfortunately i havent heard many good stories about their smaller ones, but the 1500 is a great battery!

I only have old info sheets on them, but only one battery is/was not available with the steel jacket, and that is/was the ES12V700. I think the 1000 is the optimum cost/size/capacity/bang for buck for a car. The 1500 is overkill, but I suspect most other things on your car are as well???

PS : I have a 1500 as well, as my 'general purpose' battery. Also around 6 years old, and still going strong.

I'm pretty confident that Odysseys are fine now. I'd buy another one.

Yep... Your right mate! Overkill central

Cheers