2nd Gen Non-Engine/Transmission Battery, what would you do?

[illflem]

JW, you must be looking at the Yellow Top deep cycle Optimas, not really necessary in our application. Red Tops, which do just fine, go for around $100.

 

[tntway]

so what size red tops do we need? and $100 a piece isn't really more than Die-hards.

 

[jsimpson]

Die hards are no different than Wally Mart batteries, but cost two-to-three times a s much. Down here in the heat of South Florida, I've never had a Die Hard last three years. Optima is the best, but they will outlast their warrantees, which CAN be a disadvantage!

 

[JWhitcomb]

Ok, I had to go to Costco Sunday so I checked the Optima prices. The red top is $103 and the blue top is $144. If I were to buy two right now I would be looking at the blue for my slide in. As I stated before, I have seen two of the yellow on their side fitting in my battery box. The biggest I can fit in now is a group 31 for $102. The two optima's would give me about 20% more capacity but near $300 is steep. The blue is a marine which I assume means it can take vibration better. Anyone know if the yellow is cheaper?

 

[jsimpson]

Optima says the marine battery is a cross between automotive and deep cycle. It has better starting capacity than a deep cycle, and better longevity than an automotive. Price is clkose to the same as yellow top.

 

[fest3er]

According to the cardboardwork that came with my Optimas, the red-top is a standard, starting-duty battery, the yellow is the deep-discharge model, and the blue is a combination of the other two - it's a starting battery, but tolerates deeper discharges better than the red-top.

I bought the red-tops, which is likely the 'proper' choice. Even with the intake heaters running, the batteries don't discharge *that* much.

If I had an application that ran on batteries, with ... infrequent charging, I would use the yellow-top. If I were building a battery-backup system where the batteries are always on charge, but *can* be fully discharged during a power failure, I might consider the blue-tops for that application.

Fest3er