Ok, so as the Title says i basically need a good quality brand, with a good history. If not, just a say in to which type of battery i should purchase?

After researching a bit i saw that a 16v Battery can be pretty ugly. So, now i know i should not get one of those. I basically want to either narrow down my choices, or hear other peoples opinions on their experience with the specific battery he/she purchased.

My car isnt loaded with alot of enhanced electrical components. So I can say a low voltage one would work just fine. But any posts, or comments are greatly appreciated.

Please list me the following (if you can)

1. Price
2. Brand
3. History & Personal Experience.

Thank you!

 

I would say Oddessy, or some other closed glass mat style battery (or gel cell). They cant explode (like traditional batteries), and they are just in general nicer. (weight and all that)

http://www.dcbattery.com/ Go there, they tell you whats up with the products, and that will help you more than i can.

Ive used Glassmat, and Gel Cell batteries for a marine air conditioning business, and they worked great for that, but pretty sure they would work just fine in an automotive application as well.

 

i use an optima yellow top. its a deep cycle battery and it is an amazing battery. i got the battery free from a guy that i work with that was selling his car. so as for price, you've got me. i think its close to $170. it is a deep cycle and i like that about it. i can use the electronics longer with the car off and dont have to worry as much about killing the battery. i use it in my 10AE and it hasnt let me down yet.

 

Great!

Thanks you guys. I will also look into those, Mazdaverx713b the price is pretty jaw droppin' but im sure you get what you pay for. In your case... that doesnt apply

Rotary Noob, that sounds nice as well. Now i recall one of my buddies talking about this gell style battery.. I will look into those.

Any other posts are welcome.

 

if you were interested, the opitima is also a gel cell.

 

what ever you do, DO NOT go to auto zone to get a battery......the last one i bought was sitting on there shelf for 5 months.........about a day later it die WHILE I WAS DRIVING and i had to get it towed home at the cost of about $160 which they wouldnt pay for even though it was there battery that caused the problem.(and no it wasnt a bad alternator

 

sorry double post....

 

Was that one of those DIE hards?

 

What self-respecting 7 owner doesn't have AAA? $75 a year and I get free 100 mile towing (used that for 2 parts cars), 2 gallons of gas if needed, free roadside assistance... etc...

 

I have an Optima Yellow Top. I am very impressed with this battery. It lost its full charge several months back when the car was sitting, and after a few hours on a charger, it bounced right back! No traditional battery can do that.
-a

 

Deka.

I personally run only Deka in my vehicles since Optima went to crap a few years ago after they started selling in all the discount stores. Never had an issue. In fact I messed with my fuel map a bit too much a few days ago trying to eliminate some bogging and ended up making the car too lean to start...at the side of the road...in traffic. Stupid, I know. But the point is my Intimidator ran the car on the starter up a random driveway, and then for the next 10 minutes of tweaking the fuel map while cranking for probably a total of 5 minutes...and then still maintained above 11V during cranking when I finally got the car started.

My personal favourite is the Deka Intimidator but it's not a cheap battery at about $200 retail ($165 or so wholesale).

Most generic auto store batteries are all made by either Interstate or Excide and are basically the same. However you get what you pay for because many of the generic brands just slap their sticker on the "bottom of the bin" units.

 

A dumb one. I didn't have it for two years... and then I finally threw down on the $75 and then had to get towed three times in the next 10 days.

 

I'd also say get an Optima.

I had a Red Top Optima in my 3000GT VR4. Couldn't afford the Yellow Top
the difference is that the red top is not a deep cycle. It has all the other benefits of a sealed gell cell battery. I was VERY impressed with it's performance starting my '76 Nova which was sitting for over a year. I had the car cranking for at least a minute and a half and the battery didnt slow down a single bit. it also had side AND top mounting terminals so I could swap it in and out of vehicles easily. and can be mounted in any posission ( I had it mounted on it's side at a very odd angle in my oldsmobile)
I am deffinitely buying another one for the Vert.

I think I paid $130 w/ 5 year warantee for the 850CCA version

 

I have two '88 S/4 N/A's and I use an Exide "MARINE" Spiral Cell Battery in each one. They have been in the cars since2002 and still going strong. They cost about $120 and have an extra set of posts with wing nuts (on top) for other connections if needed. In my opinion the Best of the Best. Oh yeh, and absolutely no maintainence and NO CORROSION !

 

Ahhh... I am learning more and more. Aaron, thanks for your experience, and a thorough input. I think my list is narrowing down very close. Now, this Exide and Deka is there a specific auto shop i can pick this up? Or is this online, shipping based?

I will look around after work today and see if i can get my hands on either one of those. At this point i dont think cost is going to be an issue. Just as long my electronics dont fry, or on the other hand not recieve enough current/electricity.

I suppose my final question is

Where can i grab me some of these batterys, and are they online or pickup? Im in LA or SoCal just for a note.

Thanks All!

 

Optima batteries are available at many auto stores. I think walmart even keeps a small stock of them.

I will also point out that I have seen a few cases with Optima batteries where after being fully discharged, a regular cheap battery charger is not sufficient to charge them up again. you need somehting more heavy duty to get it to hold it's charge again. I always take my batteries to local shops for charging though, so it's nothing I've encountered myself.

 

Duralast baby. I've had no problems with it so far. (Had it about 8 months now.) I dislike Autozone myself but when it comes to a battery... well, to me, a battery is a battery. It gets the job done.

EDIT: As for price, I think I paid around 60 bucks.

iSP33D-for-J3SUS

 

I agree with the person that bought the Autozone battery and had it fail. I worked at Autozone for a year and I had so many batteries come back due to bad cells and such. Personally I won't ever buy another wet cell battery again. My yellow top Optima is great. One day I took it to a buddies house to move some rigs he had. It started all three of his vehicles quickly. It then got left in the back of his Toyota for two weeks, and when I finally put it back in my Jeep it turned it over no problem. I swear by them now.

 

I've had excellent luck with the batteries from o'rielly's (don't think you have any in Cali.) Its about 60 bucks and has 550 CCA, 675 CA. I use those in all of my cars and have never had a problem with them. They always throw it on the charger to make sure it doesn't have dead cells and starts with a full charge, but I might just have particularly nice employees here.