[Vwdiesel] Speaking of Batteries

[pmdolan at sasktel.net]

Just walked by my F450 and had a peak, those are Odyssies (bought from 
Cdn prairie chain "Battery Direct" for those who live out here). 
 IIRC, Sears sells a top brand (Oddysey??) relabelled for a really 
good price as well. 

On Mon, 23 Jan 2012 08:48:18 -0800, Roger Brown <r.c.brown at ieee.org> wrote:
Back in the '90s, the Optimas were a good battery.  I put one in my 4x4 
back in '97 and it
> worked well, later moved that to my VW pickup.  That was back when 
> they only had one size and the 3 colors (red=starting, yellow=deep 
> cycle, blue=marine).  But the last 10-12 yrs, the red tops have 
> declined in quality.  The problem with the normal red tops is if they 
> get drained too far too many times (and too many can be as little as 
> 1) they will not take a charge.  For a long sitting rig, a blue top 
> would be a good choice, they combine the starting current of the red 
> top and the deep cycle capacity of the yellow top. 
>
> In my 4x4 now, I run Odyssey batteries and those things seems to last 
> and last.  I got over 10 yrs. out of my first set and am about 5 yrs. 
> into my second set.  I also have one of those in my current '82 
> pickup, a PC1200. 
>  On 1/23/2012 5:27 AM, pmdolan at sasktel.net wrote:
> > In my exerience, Optima batteries have been a disaster.  They were bit
> > talk in the Ford PSD community several years ago, and I bought a pair,
> > as did many others.  They did not deliver any better performance than
> > the original flooded cell batteries, cost a lot more, and did not last
> > very long at all (actually shortest life of ANY I have used).  I also
> > had 3 Orbitals in aux/winch position on my F450, and they were no great
> > shakes. 
> >
> > If you want really good batteries, you can buy AGMs from quite a number
> > of suppliers now.  I paid far too much at Napa for the one in our
> > MkIV, but we have bought several from West Penn for Ford 7.3, Dodge 5.9
> > &  6.7, Miata, etc. and they have all been very good.  It has only got
> > down to -37 this winter, and so far no battery issues with AGMs. 
> >
> > HOWEVER:  you are dead on regarding chargers.  You can NOT use an
> > old, low buck, analogue charger on your AGM batteries - either for big
> > charge or as battery tender.  You definitely need the new generation
> > of "smart chargers".  When I counted up the cost of all of the AGMs I
> > have around here, I ran out and spent about $600 on one large
> > charge/boost, one small charge/boost and a tender for them. 
> >
> > On Sun, 22 Jan 2012 14:44:31 -0800, William J Toensing
> > <toensing at wildblue.net>  wrote:
> > If you have a vehicle that sits around a lot, use one of these battery
> > tenders&  a top of the line battery. I have not had a good experience
> > with one Optima Battery I have as I couldn't charge it with a regular
> > battery charger or a battery tender float charger. I have stayed away
> > from the Optima as they cost well over $100 at Costco&  Sam's Club,
> > double the price of an ordinary battery. In my motor home I got 12
> > years out of two lead acid 12 V industrial type batteries using a
> > battery tender to keep the batteries at their full float charge. Maybe
> > I have bad luck with one bad Optima battery&  I have never bought one
> > new. Would like to hear from the rest of you on how well Optima
> > batteries have served you, how long they last, etc. 
> >> It would be nice if all of you would say what part of the world you
> >> live in. I know Will lives in Alaska. Some of the problems&
> >> solutions are climate related. Bill Toensing, Nevada City, CA
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>
> --    Roger
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