Thread: Have to replace both batteries, help!

optima red top for starting battery
optima yellow top for deep cycle battery.

Originally Posted by Eevo

optima red top for starting battery
optima yellow top for deep cycle battery.

X2

That is what i am running. Great batteries.

X3. Can be bought cheap online

Originally Posted by POD

It has an electric winch (well 2 winches actually, though they will absolutely never both be used simultaneously) running off the main battery.

As you are running the winch from the starting battery it would be worth considering deep cycle for both batteries.
For this reason I use Optima Yellow top x2.

It would be worthwhile for you to work out your Amp Hour capacity requirements so you can select the correct size battery for your needs.

If you contact Piranha and Optima Batteries (in Lilydale) direct you should find them very helpful.

With my Piranha system I swap batteries (positive cables) every now and then to even up the workload. This stops the auxiliary spending too much time idle between camping trips.

I'm a bit shy of optima batteries, let me explain why; in 2001 I bought a yellow-top Optima as the latest and greatest whiz-bang battery for auxilliary duties in the Rangie I was then driving, for a 2-month outback trip. The vehicle was running 2 alternators as separate charging systems, rather than the usual dual-battery controller. We went across the Anne Beadell Hwy then up the west coast. As soon as we got into the tropics we started to have trouble running the fridge overnight- by the morning it would be running nearly 100% duty cycle. Had the battery checked in Broome and the Optima battery had died a premature death. The W.A. distributor was a separate entity to the east coast distributor, so we could not get any warranty coverage in W.A. for a battery purchased 6 weeks previously in Vic. I had to buy another battery and carry the optima as dead weight for the rest of our trip, then went through a bit of a process to get my money back after we got home.
I heard other similar stories of failure of optimas around the same time. This is over 10 years ago, perhaps they have improved in reliability over this period?

+ another one for the Optima Yellow tops, The one I purchased in 2008 as a second battery has now been repurposed to run the forklift at work, and is still going strong, even after 5 years of misuse and neglect

Cheers,

Tim

Originally Posted by POD

I heard other similar stories of failure of optimas around the same time. This is over 10 years ago, perhaps they have improved in reliability over this period?

cant comment about 10 years ago.
ive been using them for 5 years, had about 6 in total and only replaced 1 under warranty.

sort of sounds like you got 1 bad one, then got bad warranty service.

Well it just gets more confusing. I rang a battery supplier (with cheapest online prices for Optima) to discuss the purchase of 2 Optima batteries as above. The bloke on the phone, when I explained my application and usage, queried why i would be wanting to use an Optima battery for the deep-cycle auxilliary application- reckoned I would be better off with a 120amp AGM battery, said that this would give me much better capacity than the Optima D31 yellow-top for running a fridge. We then discussed the various possibilities with 120-amp AGM batteries. After discussing the various options for these, I asked him about the best replacement for my Varta cranking battery. His answer: Optima yellow-top, wouldn't use anything else!!
I also asked him about the requirement for higher charging voltage with the Optima batteries. He explained to me that to get the best out of the Optima I would need to install a DC-DC charger. Great.
I then went down to the auto-elec who is in the process of repairing my aircon hose, and got him to test the cranking battery. He reckons it's fine!! (This is very good news but also more and more confusing) Also reckons forget the DC-DC charger thing, only necessary where you have long cables with big voltage drop, e.g. battery in trailer or caravan. Makes sense.
Optima batteries' own website states that their batteries require higher charging voltages than the 14.? available from a standard vehicle alternator, in order to obtain a full charge. This seems to me to be a major drawback.