Thread: Exide Orbital Battery

Interesting, yep they`re called Maximas over in the UK and it seems Orbital in OZ.

I really, really wanted a pair of Optima's, Odysseys or Lifelines, when it came to new battery time twelve months ago, but the budget wouldn't go that far......
I compromised and bought a pair of SuperCharge Gold batteries, which are a zero maintenance (recombinant), calcium/calcium battery. (very similar to the AC Delco)
On the 1/7/04, I paid $255.30 for both batteries (thats $127.65 each) !

They supposedly don't like high temps, being a calcium battery, but I reckoned with the underseat location on the 'fender, and the fairly long winters here in the hills...ok, ok, I was just trying to justify my purchase, but so far (touch wood) they've been fine.

640 CCA, 140 min RC and they both fit under the seat !

I was going to hook up a solenoid to parallel them for winching, but like a lot of other things around here.... ops:
The second battery hasn't had a lot of use, just the mobile phone on it almost 24/7. The HF radio is still to go in, and I'm still looking for a cheap frig.... :wink: Yes, it's a starting, not deep cycle battery, but I did want to parrellel them occaisonally.

Paul, your Orbitals sound like a great way to go.

I replaced the cranking battery in my Disco II a couple of months ago.

The Exide outlet in Nunawading is run by one of the guys from LROCV - he gives club members a good discount [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif[/img] [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif[/img]

I ended up with an Exide Extreme N70EX only cost me $123 where it retails around $175 most places [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tongue.gif[/img] [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tongue.gif[/img] [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tongue.gif[/img]

I discussed a second battery with him - I'm looking to setup a second battery on my trailer. - he reckoned rather then the extra money on one of the more expense deep cycles - I'd find another extreme would work fine.... at less than half the cost!...

Tight arses of the world unite! [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/laugh.gif[/img]

G'day Defender200Tdi,

Just dragging this old post back up, how are your Exide batteries going?

LRH

You have saved me know unnecessary ringing around. Being in Adelaide I have no issues holloring for a Marshal.

I will have to measure all up, as the Battery Box in the county is fussy as to what 2 batteries it will hold.

However, I will be on the phone to them today.

I need a suitable battery for Starter/Winch, and whilst I have a heavyduty deep, I will renegade this to the trailer, and kit out 2 Exide's if I can make them fit.

By the way, I use a redarc (Adelaide Company) Smart Start for the duel batteries.

Cheers.

Paul may be touch busy ATM, coming up to the end of financial year. He should be very busy playing with his abacus you may have to PM him.

aha, Paul is one of us - a BEANCOUNTER!!!

LRH

Hiya Fellas

Rick's spot on, I've been a bit on the busy side lately. Anyway, the Orbitals are going fine. In fact I thought I nearly stuffed one up early on, because I left the fridge running flat out (a Finch jobbie) and it flatened the battery seriously. It was down to about 5 volts when I checked it in the morning. I gave it a good charging when I got home the next day, and left it on the charger a few days for good measure. The next step was to get one of Drivesafe's excellent SC40's to complement my existing split charger, but use the SC40 in 'Accesseries' mode, so that the Aux battery could never be discharged below 10.5 volts again. That was 12 months ago now, and the Aux battery has shown no ill effects from it's early maltreatment. These batteries seem to do just what they say on the tin, and I'm completely happy with them.

For anyone that's interested, my setup has 2 Orbital Bluetops, with the home made split charger from the Electronics Australia Magazine (same as the Jaycar jobbie). As I mentioned above, I also have an SC40 in Accessories mode to prevent over discharge of the Aux battery. For winching I have one of those huge dual battery switches that allows me to isolate the winch or run it from either or both batteries.

The two Orbitals easily fit under the seat:



And the marine battery switch fits under the left rear passenger seat:



Now, it's back to the abacus.

Paul