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Battery?!

23K views 55 replies 32 participants last post by  kdilly 
#1 ·
I know this topic has been done to death. But which battery would you use in your jeep if you were 100miles from anyone? If you absolutely, positivelly, need to know your jeep would start when you turned the key...what battery would you choose?
 
#6 ·
Ditto on the yellowtop. That should realistically last 10-15 years.

But for the money I always go Napa Legend 75. Never a problem and I get a discount as my paw-in-law owns a NAPA... Anyway they are made by Exide - one of the top "consumer" battery makers and should last 5-8 years if you don't beat the plates too bad.
 
#7 ·
I'd just get a new one. I've given up on trusting large name brands of batteries...choose one that looks pretty and enjoy....(I would avoid Optima, read up on them and you will too...)

I think a good battery maintainer is more important that the battery brand. (esp if you aren't driving the vehicle daily)
 
#8 · (Edited)
In my and a lot of other's personal opinion, Optima's batteries, like their 34/78 Yellow Top and their D34M Blue Top, only USED to be superb. They were the batteries to go with until their quality, again in my personal opinion, took a nose-dive after Optima was purchased by Johnson Controls (JCI) and they moved their manufacturing to Mexico.

Now, after me personally having THREE prematurely failed Optima batteries, two Yellow Tops and one D34M Blue Top (same internally as a 34/78 Yellow Top), you couldn't GIVE me an Optima battery.

In my personal opinion... if you want the very best battery with the very best warranty (48 month free replacement and 72 month prorated replacement vs. Optima's 36 month replacement warranty), go with the Diehard Platinum or an Odyssey P1200. Odyssey manufactures the Diehard Platinum for Sears.

Not only does the Diehard Platinum and Odyssey hold up far better than today's Optimas do, again in my personal opinion, they have a LOT more battery inside the same space. Optima's spiral-wound cells don't pack as much battery into the same space as Odyssey's and the Diehard Platinum batteries do. Check their weight for the same size battery... Optima's weighs substantially less than the same size Diehard Platinum or Odyssey does.

Here's why there is "more battery" inside the same case of the Odyssey/Diehard Platinum than in the Optima... the Diehard Platinum/Odyssey design is on the left, Optima's is on the right. That's why the Optima doesn't weigh nearly as much... it's not packed with as much battery inside the same case size.

I'm close to buying another Sears Diehard Platinum battery for my present Jeep, maybe this week, after the previous Diehard Platinum I installed went bye-bye in the Jeep it was in was stolen.
 

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#17 ·
In my and a lot of other's personal opinion, Optima's batteries, like their 34/78 Yellow Top and their D34M Blue Top, only USED to be superb. They were the batteries to go with until their quality, again in my personal opinion, took a nose-dive after Optima was purchased by Johnson Controls (JCI) and they moved their manufacturing to Mexico.

Now, after me personally having THREE prematurely failed Optima batteries, two Yellow Tops and one D34M Blue Top (same internally as a 34/78 Yellow Top), you couldn't GIVE me an Optima battery.

In my personal opinion... if you want the very best battery with the very best warranty (48 month free replacement and 72 month prorated replacement vs. Optima's 36 month replacement warranty), go with the Diehard Platinum or an Odyssey P1200. Odyssey manufactures the Diehard Platinum for Sears.

Not only does the Diehard Platinum and Odyssey hold up far better than today's Optimas do, again in my personal opinion, they have a LOT more battery inside the same space. Optima's spiral-wound cells don't pack as much battery into the same space as Odyssey's and the Diehard Platinum batteries do. Check their weight for the same size battery... Optima's weighs substantially less than the same size Diehard Platinum or Odyssey does.

Here's why there is "more battery" inside the same case of the Odyssey/Diehard Platinum than in the Optima... the Diehard Platinum/Odyssey design is on the left, Optima's is on the right. That's why the Optima doesn't weigh nearly as much... it's not packed with as much battery inside the same case size.

I'm close to buying another Sears Diehard Platinum battery for my present Jeep, maybe this week, after the previous Diehard Platinum I installed went bye-bye in the Jeep it was in was stolen.
So Jerry, what's your personal opinion?
 
#10 ·
Personally I like my optima yellow top. But then again haven't really experience any others. I trust it. I went fishing for three days and we took a friends truck we left my jeep at his house. Little did I kno I left my lights on. When I get back home three days later I relized that they were on. When I went to turn my jeep on, it started just like a charm.
 
#12 · (Edited)
Little did I kno I left my lights on. When I get back home three days later I relized that they were on. When I went to turn my jeep on, it started just like a charm.
At 8.73 AH (Amp Hour) two 55 watt headlights draw at 12.6 volts, not to mention the tail and running lights that were also on, the ability for a battery to last three days with the headlights on doesn't compute. At least not with the amp-hour ratings of the Optima, Odyssey, or Diehard Platinum. Or is my ancient electrical engineering math wrong?
 
#11 ·
I personally went with the Diehard Platinum P4. So far it has always been then when I needed it. No matter what the conditions or how many electronics I have had turned on at the same time.
 
#15 ·
Thanks for all the advice. The last few batteries that I've bought were Optima batteries and I never had any problems with them. However those were batteries for just regular in city use, so if they failed it wasn't that big of a deal. But with Jerry Bransford's very informative post, the current trend of things and the fact that I often jeep solo out in the Mojave...I'm going to Sear today to get a Diehard platinum P4. Thanks again jeepsters!
 
#22 ·
Nevermind, I just verified the Diehard Platinum 3478DT is back after a short hiatus. The good news is they are going on sale for $20 off from the regular $199 price May 1st. I think the current no-name battery my Jeep came with is probably going to go bad about that same day. ;) :D
 
#24 ·
I myself swear by the yellowtops and have never had issues with them and in 5 years of selling them at work I have never had one come back. The Oddyseys are supposed to be a really good battery but up here they ar emore than 2x the price of the optima so KNow one I know has ever tried one. Kinda hard to justify 500 bucks or more for a battery.
 
#26 ·
$500?? :confused: Is the Canadian dollar that much different from the U.S. dollar right now?? Where'd you get that price from? Odyssey PC1200 batteries, which is similar to the Diehard Platinum 3478DT, only go for $200 to $222 U.S. on a Google search.

Odyssey PC1200 - Google Search

The Diehard Platinum 3478DT is currently $199 and will be on sale for $179 May 1st.
 
#27 ·
Not much availability up here. So the price goes up. Not many people have heard of them because therre really arent many distributors. American company. Down there thee are more distributors and places with more buying power that move more volume. Therefor the manufacturer. give those distributors a better price so they can sell them cheaper.
 
#30 ·
Most of the offroaders here in BC run the Yellowtop and I have yet to hear of one failing. Mine was about 5 years old when I crashed and it never gave me an issue. even cold starts at -40 and not plugged in, she started good.
 
#33 · (Edited)
Optima, Odyssey, Exide Orbital, and Diehard Platinum batteries all use the same AGM (absorbed glass mat) technology which means the acid is in paste form, not liquid. The acid paste is soaked into the (fiber)glass matting which is placed between closely packed layers of lead. No spillage is one of the benefits to AGM, the other being that it is shock and vibration proof when compared to a conventional battery that suspends its lead plates in liquid acid.
 
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