Batteries, and not the AAA type

stansell

stansell

Well-known member
Jun 14, 2004
364
0
51
Norfolk, VA
All right,
My battery is starting to show its age (though it hasn't failed me yet) and I am looking at batteries. My first instinct is to go with the yellow top optima. I am digging John Lee's dual optima set up in his D90, but alas I have a DII and don't want to tear s**t up trying to rig in a second battery. Whats the concensus, will one yellow top provide enough starting amps for the DII, or do you you really need a second yellow top in parallel with it?
 
1

1st Rover

Guest
One (large) red top works great in mine.

The yellow is great if you're going to use the winch a lot with the engine off, lights, etc., but the red is better if you're not deep-cycling.

- Jeff Miller
 
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Disco Mike

Guest
For a couple of extra dollars you can buy 2 Red Top's at Costco, and have over kill for cranking amps
They fit real well in a D2, without cutting.
Mike J.
 

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stansell

stansell

Well-known member
Jun 14, 2004
364
0
51
Norfolk, VA
Mike Jacobs,
did you buy that aedofab dual battery tray that Steve Cooper posted, or were you able to fit in two red tops in the stock tray (couldn't tell fromt he picture). If it is the stock tray, yellow tops are the same dimensions, right?
 
stansell

stansell

Well-known member
Jun 14, 2004
364
0
51
Norfolk, VA
On the other hand, yellow probably isn't necessary with a parallel setup, and they are selling them at Costco for only $99.......
 
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Discokayaker

Well-known member
Apr 23, 2004
85
0
Danville, CA
I've got a single yellow top and it works fine. I think it might be overkill as I don't have alot of aux. lighting (2 worklamps) but I do have a winch. I figure better safe then sorry when winching in the middle of nowhere.

Lance
 
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Peter-man99

Guest
what are you running to make you consider a dual battery set up? What will you be doing to to warrant the Optima? I worked in a battery distribution warehouse selling Interstate, Optima, Cenntenial and other batteries. From our own personal tests other than being sealed the optima wasn't significanly better than the Interstate or Cenntenial batteries as far as cold cranking amps and price was concerned. If you do some serious off-road stuff I can see where the sealed battery would make sense. The best battery we ever sold when it came to warranty, cold cranking amps, and price was the cenntenial. Its lesser known but a great battery.
 
stansell

stansell

Well-known member
Jun 14, 2004
364
0
51
Norfolk, VA
Peter man99- I do a fair amount of offroading and lots of dust and jostling. Also, I have heard good reviews by other LR owners. I am sure lots of other batteries would work, but I want only the best for my baby :D
 
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Snwbord24

Guest
I don't know who you could be talking about Rob. If you continue to wheel with me you may need more than dual optimas :D
 
F18Guy

F18Guy

Well-known member
Mar 30, 2004
2,185
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Down by the big rock
Peter,

Some folks have a large amount of powerful lights, large winch, refrigerator in the back, laptop in the front, welding gear, air compressors and so on. You should see what these folks run off their dual battery set-ups. It's amazing.
 
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Disco Mike

Guest
Rob,
I went to dual Red Tops because of my winch, 3 HID's and my Engle ice box. My 9500Hi Warn winch can max out at around 450 amps, one thing about running 2 batterys tied together, your winch won't run nearly as hot under a long hard pull due to the combined battery output and 130 amps from the alternator.
I removed the original battery box and just made a frame out of one inch angle iron for the batterys to sit on and tied them down with 2 long battery ties and a strap, cost me about $45.00 in total after getting it powder coated.
Mike J.
 
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bri

Well-known member
Apr 20, 2004
6,184
155
US
I have a superwinch X9 and run an ARB freezer fridge.

I get about 2.5 days on the single red top when running the fridge. I have worn the battery to nothing with the winch. Mind you I had to winch for hours. Every 30 min or so I had to wait and let the battery charge. Sometimes is was a bit scarey, because I know if I let it go too far and stalled I would not be able to restart.

Brian
 
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Steve83

Guest
Optima has a great rep & REALLY good marketing, but the last time I read all the way thru the fine print in their warranty, they SPECIFICALLY voided the warranty on any red-top installed in a vehicle with ANY aftermarket electrical accessories. That means that if you add a cigar-lighter-powered reading lamp, you're not supposed to use red. Yellow only. Maybe they've changed the warranty since then...

Another reason I didn't buy Optima is the price/warranty ratio. ~$150 (at that time) for like 2 years, prorated (back then). Pretty lame considering a Ford/Motorcraft Silver Series was $80 with the first 3 years free replacement and then 5 more pro-rated after that. And I've driven thru towns with NO national auto parts stores (certainly not an Advance or NAPA), but they had a Ford dealer! So IMO warranty service is gonna be better on an OEM battery.

The last reason was CCA - the Optima isn't rated as high as a good lead-acid battery.

This was the link where I found all the specs on Optimas:
http://www.dcbattery.com/
 
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