Battery Selection

Just another side of Optima battery's.

Have used them for years, my main battery is a red top 800cca and a yellow top starting/deep cycle battery 750cca.

You do pay a penalty by having a dual starter/deep cycle as the deep cycle side is only 60a/h. The advantage for me is both battery's are capable of starting the engine and they are separated by a manual isolation switch, it only fails to work when I fail to switch it.

As for life, the yellow tops I get for free as they are retired when they are 2yrs old on a critical piece of machinery at work.

One I retired at 8yrs old, not because it was playing up, I just believed it was getting a bit long in the tooth. It still holds charge and I started my son's car with it a couple of months back. The other yellow to is 5yrs old.

Note! you have to be careful of the terminal posts, if you swing on them you can pull them out of the plastic moulding.

Never had on fail at work and they they sit and are charged in way our 60c temps all summer.

Have a good one.

should have read,

(Never had one fail at work and they sit and are charged in way over 60c temps all summer)

Brain snaps and dyslexia are getting more common these days.
Must be something I am eating.

Phil,
Yes, as you say no good using the better technology battery if it's not compatible with the vehicle you drive.

However, in some cases you can replace your Voltage Regulator to get a better charging regime with your accessory battery, just as I've done.

Mainey . . .

Mainey,
What is your "better charging regime"?

Phil,
it depends on the Voltage Regulator your vehicle use's ?
With mine I can just unclip the reg and replace it with a different one to get better charging characteristics into the Aux battery system.

Talk with your local AUTO elec, ask him if your reg is either adjustable or replaceable, he may have the replacement product on the shelf.

I have placed a photo and named the exact specs somewhere on here previously, but could not find it when I searched today.

Mainey . . .

I had two of these in my previous petrol 80 and they worked well. I replaced one a few months back and it cost $240 i think. It's a bit of money, but i'm not too familiar with prices of other similair batteries.

Cheers,
Dan

Yeah im pretty sure mine are both Supercharge Silver N770Zs, cost $200 each but come with a 2 year warranty. Both are cranking batteries as i dont have to run a fridge or anything, mainly just so i know when im out remote, if one battery goes down i still have the other for backup. From Allvolts, no receipt needed as its marked into the battery. Plenty of cranking power in them, not sure of Amp hours and stuff though.

Mine only came with 12 month warranty and I thought one of them had a problem a few months back when the little eye thing on top turned red... took it to battery world for a warranty claim as the battery is marked with the month and year purchased on the stickers but they said that they need the receipt for a warranty claim regardless.... I don't have the receipt for them :(

Turns out the battery was ok anyway after they ran all their tests and the guy said that the little green / red eye thing is a bit misleading as it simply means the battery has at some time in its life been low on charge so it turned red... says the eye doesn't go back to green again.... however I checked it on the weekend just gone and mine has gone back to being green again just sitting under the bonnet??

Sea-Dog
I have the same batteries in my cruiser but have not had them long enough to form an opinion.
But with the warranty, after checking on the Supercharge web site, say you do not need the reciept. Here's an extract

"Proof of purchase is needed to claim warranty. If this is not available, the warranty period will be determined from the date code stamped on the casing. As soon as it is determined that the battery is defective and is within its specified warranty, due to faulty manufacturing, it will be replaced with an equivalent battery free of charge."

Chris