2GN.ORG

^^^ the color?

One says it cranks more amps than the other, but the asshole at Autozone said the red one was better.

Man, for the love of Pete! For those of us who don't know what an Optima battery looks like: -->

Later
Allex

Go to autozone dude

jk

There are only like 3 battery manufacturers in the US.

Johnson Controls
Exide
and Delphi

The difference between models is the thickness of the plates and spacing etc.. More metal mean more capacity. Heck we use the second biggest Motorcraft battery all the time because the BIG DADDY one seems to fail a LOT more frequently. So bigger not always better.

Found this on another forum....

WHAT'S AVAILABLE

Most auto batteries are made by just three manufacturers, Delphi, Exide, and Johnson Controls Industries. Each makes batteries sold under several different brand names.

Delphi makes ACDelco and some EverStart (Wal-Mart) models.

Exide makes Champion, Exide, Napa, and some EverStart batteries.

Johnson Controls makes Diehard (Sears), Duralast (AutoZone), Interstate, Kirkland (Costco), Motorcraft (Ford), and some EverStarts.

http://shopping.yahoo.com/premium/consu ... d=95700426

http://www.1st-optima-batteries.com/index.html
^^^ some Optima battery information....

Marthby wrote:What size Optima are you guys running in your Neons? Mind linking me to a good site that sells them and the part numbers?

i don't have a link, but the d34/78 is what will fit in the neon, with a little modification to the battery tray.

So the yellow optima is better than the red one...?

i just did a little calling around, and my local Autozone had the best price on the d34/78 yellowtop at $160. the 2 other places optima listed as retailers were at $180 and $190.

gilly02le wrote:wet-cell batteries FTL!
Go optima and don't look back, i can run my deck and two amps for a half hour or more without the car running, And it starts right up afterwards. I once left my lights on for about 45 minutes.. came out to my car, checked the voltmeter, and was still at 11.5V. The car started up just fine, forget all these rumors about dead batteries and UDP's.

p.s - guess i should add, i'm running an optima red top(34/78 ), and a obx UDP.

arnt optima bats gel sealed and can only be slow charged, not the right bat for you if you run a udp..

the 34 size battery they say is for Chysler products is just shy of 40lbs....where are all these light weight batteries that I hear about. I have no problem spending on a good battery if it is light weight as well, but I am not going to drop $140+ on a battery that isn't any lighter than what I can get at walmart

Jerome Adams wrote:the 34 size battery they say is for Chysler products is just shy of 40lbs....where are all these light weight batteries that I hear about. I have no problem spending on a good battery if it is light weight as well, but I am not going to drop $140+ on a battery that isn't any lighter than what I can get at walmart

Lighter is not always better......

half_twisted wrote:

gilly02le wrote:wet-cell batteries FTL!
Go optima and don't look back, i can run my deck and two amps for a half hour or more without the car running, And it starts right up afterwards. I once left my lights on for about 45 minutes.. came out to my car, checked the voltmeter, and was still at 11.5V. The car started up just fine, forget all these rumors about dead batteries and UDP's.

p.s - guess i should add, i'm running an optima red top(34/78 ), and a obx UDP.

arnt optima bats gel sealed and can only be slow charged, not the right bat for you if you run a udp..

Optima's are AGM type batteries and they don't necessarily have to be slow charged, uness they're totally drained. If you don't know what AGM is it's absorbed glass mat. The acid is soaked up in fiberglass mat that holds it inbetween the lead plates. The red tops are good for starting/all around use, the yellows are more of a deep cycle for heavy (stereo, amps etc.) use. The optima's will deliver more amps and take more amps usually faster than conventional batteries. I've jump started a Semi tractor with my one battery. They may not be light, but they do kick ass.

asanti wrote:Man, for the love of Pete! For those of us who don't know what an Optima battery looks like: -->

Later
Allex

http://www.optimabatteries.com/

BlackRoseRacing wrote:

Jerome Adams wrote:the 34 size battery they say is for Chysler products is just shy of 40lbs....where are all these light weight batteries that I hear about. I have no problem spending on a good battery if it is light weight as well, but I am not going to drop $140+ on a battery that isn't any lighter than what I can get at walmart

Lighter is not always better......

I understand, but as long as it still meets the factory specs, I would prefer a lighter battery. I dont have an aftermarket audio that gobbles power and my few bolts ons aren't going to make a difference so I don't need a stronger battery. It certainly isn't a show car so I don' t need it to be purdy. Other than an occasional trip to the drag strip or maybe an autoX sometime down the road, it won't be raced so I don't have to worry about that, so shaving a few lbs was my only goal with going with a "better" battery. Oh yeah, I am in southern Mississippi so I don't have to worry about cranking the engine or holding a charge at -20 or anything like that.

Meh, get a lawnmower battery and see how it works for you. It only needs to be around 400-450 CCA IIRC so the CA's should be less. Most of the smaller wet cells are pretty cheap, so it isn't like you're wasting a fortune to see if it will work. You prolly won't see 6 or 7 years of service life from it tho.

Edit: the only potential down side I can think of is if it is a little too weak it will work your alternator more,shortening it's life, and using more fuel, negating any saved fuel from the weight difference.

Lawnmower batteries are not really designed to last that long, there also not designed to take an 85amp charge from our batteries....
If you want a lightweight battery thats strong enough to start your car, than get the Odyssey battery that I linked to above. There's the 680CA model that several 2GN members have used without any problems....
http://forum.2gn.org/viewtopic.php?t=14 ... ey+battery
^^^
Pics from an old FS post...

http://forum.2gn.org/viewtopic.php?t=24 ... ey+battery
^^^
Another Odyssey topic with pics....

http://jmbperformance.com/store/product ... ucts_id=72
^^^
$89 for the PC680 battery....

BlackRoseRacing wrote:Lawnmower batteries are not really designed to last that long, there also not designed to take an 85amp charge from our batteries....
If you want a lightweight battery thats strong enough to start your car, than get the Odyssey battery that I linked to above. There's the 680CA model that several 2GN members have used without any problems....
http://forum.2GN.org/viewtopic.php?t=14 ... ey+battery
^^^
Pics from an old FS post...

http://forum.2GN.org/viewtopic.php?t=24 ... ey+battery
^^^
Another Odyssey topic with pics....

http://jmbperformance.com/store/product ... ucts_id=72
^^^
$89 for the PC680 battery....

Yeah, you notice I wasn't inspiring confidence in that...
That's a good price compared to Summit Racing. I wonder if they price match.....
http://store.summitracing.com/partdetai ... toview=sku

BlackRoseRacing wrote:Lawnmower batteries are not really designed to last that long, there also not designed to take an 85amp charge from our batteries....
If you want a lightweight battery thats strong enough to start your car, than get the Odyssey battery that I linked to above. There's the 680CA model that several 2GN members have used without any problems....
http://forum.2GN.org/viewtopic.php?t=14 ... ey+battery
^^^
Pics from an old FS post...

http://forum.2GN.org/viewtopic.php?t=24 ... ey+battery
^^^
Another Odyssey topic with pics....

http://jmbperformance.com/store/product ... ucts_id=72
^^^
$89 for the PC680 battery....

Thanks!

PS - The Optima Red top I'm using is a 75/35OR optima #