Thread: Optima D34 Yellow top or SSB DryCell HVT-50D AGM

i used to be a big Optima supporter but their quality has gone down and they are no longer worth their premium price.
I have some SSB lithium in my motorbikes and no issues.

Originally Posted by John_D4

Interesting, I was talking to Tim from Traxide about this a couple of months ago. For a 2nd battery in my D4 he strongly suggested an Optima over another sort of battery. The reason was lengthy and difficult for me to relay to others. He quoted charge time of the optima being faster than the charge time of the SSB.

Yep, however, I do full day drives all the time with my camper, and I don’t trust Optima reliability anymore. The SSB has a good charge rate either way and will be charged fully with my typical driving style.

Originally Posted by John_D4

Interesting, I was talking to Tim from Traxide about this a couple of months ago. For a 2nd battery in my D4 he strongly suggested an Optima over another sort of battery. The reason was lengthy and difficult for me to relay to others. He quoted charge time of the optima being faster than the charge time of the SSB.

Hi John, I would have close to 5,000 D3s, D4s and RRSs with my kits in them, worldwide,.


99% of these vehicle have an Optima D34 Yellowtop battery as the auxiliary battery.


While there have been a number of reports regarding failures of the Optima, I have only had about 5 or so customers report any problems with their Optimas.


This is not sufficient evidence to say there is not a problem, I am just not seeing one.


BUT, I am about to buy both a new Optima D34 ( my last one just got sold with my RR ) and an SSB HVT 50D and over the next few months I will test and compare each one in different conditions and will post up what I find.


NOTE these tests will have no bearing on the likely longevity of either battery.

Thanks Tim. That’d be great

I have SSB HVT-50 in my RRS and had an Optima in my previous D4 both with Traxide controllers.
With the same Engel fridge in both I’m definitely getting a shorter run time with the SSB.
The difference may be the start battery as I’m unsure how old the RRS battery is. It seems to me that the Optima ran the fridge longer once the Traxide switched over but I didn’t actually record the time on my D4.
I’m tempted to buy an Optima to test. If I do I’ll report back.

Or variation could be the ambient temp in the vehicle, or the positioning of the fridge vents, or the amount of food etc in the fridge, or the temperature that day.
Or the type drives you’ve been doing impacting on Primary battery charge.

Lots and lots of variables that need to be checked when comparing.

My Mexican Optima D34 auxiliary gave up this week, after 6 years of service in the D4 Traxide DBS.
A replacement D34 is priced from $308 (up to $420 depending where one shops ) vs SSB HVT50D priced from around $220 and up.
So a difference of $88 spread over 6 years, or about $15 per year, if a SSB lasts 6 years.
Based on my experience, I’ve gone with another Optima, as it’s still what Tim recommends with his system.
Time will tell, I guess.

One website shows the 60ah SSB max charge rate as 16.8 amps. That must be recommended not actual - right?

I have the 100AH SSB AGM,. Max c-rate is around the same at 0.294.... that's near enough 30 amps in this case. It's charged in isolation by a dedicated 20 amp DCDC charger. Have had it in a few years now - it's still holding the Ah.

Surprised to hear people bemoan DCDC for slower charge rates and then see them select a battery that has a max charge rate of 16.8 amps! I can only assume that these batteries accept higher amps from the alternator at expense of reduced cycles? Or is this the true limit of the battery from internal resistance?