Now that I have my turbojeff battery tray (thanks again turbojeff for the GB!), I'm ready to find a battery and put it to use. I know these trays are sized for 51R and there are several options out there in this standard size, but I was wondering if anyone has successfully used other batteries. In a few searches I've found Braille batteries being used but not sure if there were specific ones that were found to work well or not. Braille and others often do not list a 51R battery, so I'm unsure of which ones to look at. My FD is not my DD, so I'm looking for a battery that can handle being used infrequently and not require staying on a tinkle charger.

Thank you

 

Haha, tinkle charger .

Just get a 51R from a parts store. It's small, it's light, and if it does die on you you can get another one at almost any parts store for a low price. That's part of the advantage with that tray, you don't have to use some exotic battery with it.

Also, the 51R will do awesome at sitting up unlike some of the exotic batteries.

It's also pretty darn light and the extra money and effort spent on some other battery isn't going to make any difference you can feel in the car.

Dale

 

I'm having a hard time resisting buying another optima, even though the store brands state they have better #'s (CCA/reserve cap/slightly less weight) & cost quite a bit less than the optima.

 

I've really never been a big fan of the Optima. They did make a 51R battery at one point, but supposedly there were problems with it and they're not made any more.

I'd probably like it a bit more if they made one that fit the FD well, seems like they really just have a once size fits all that always looks hacked in when it's installed.

And I'm not really sure what's gained with it. I got YEARS out of my old 51R battery I had, sold that setup to a buddy, he ran it for years until he killed it off, probably lasted 5 years. It was an Autozone Duralast battery, they got good reviews from Consumer Reports and I've had good luck with them.

This is one of those areas where people want to reinvent the wheel on. Yes, you do have to downsize the battery to fit most intercoolers, and yes Mazda went WAY overboard with a big dumb battery stock. I like having a battery I know will work and I know I can get easily as it's a maintenance item - there's already too much exotic "I gotta special order that" parts on this car.

Dale

 

Actually Dale, Optima makes a D51R which I just got to replace the Odyssey PC680 in the car. The PC680 which is virtually new just isn't robust enough for street usage. The only complaint is the yellow top which looks like baby poop in the engine compartment.....
I would recommend the Optima. I've had the same Optima batterys in my boat for seven years which is truely amazing for a boat.

 

Here is the old thread about the 51R. I can tell you from experience that Optima batteries are a HUGE waste of money UNLESS you are installing them in a purpose built vehicle.

https://www.rx7club.com/showthread.p...optima+battery

 

Yes, you and Dale are both correct. Optima stopped making the D51R because it was crap. They have reinvented it and now it's back on the market for $170.00 through Advance Auto BUT you can use their GREAT discount codes to get it down to $120.00

I am waiting on someone to make a battery cover and that way who cares if it's is poo-poo yellow.

Check out battery cover!
https://www.rx7club.com/showpost.php...postcount=1328

I know you don't want a battery charger but CTEK makes a great charger which has a setting for the Optima battery! I have two of them and it is the only way I'll keep an Optima in my vehicle.
http://smartercharger.com/battery-chargers/#CTEK Multi US 3300

 

Or you can get a regular battery for $60-80. Just not worth the extra cost IMHO. Unless you have some insane sound system or something like that, in which case I'll come over to your house and punch you.

Dale

 

A battery for $60.00, those days are over
Here is the one I have in my car with the Turbo Jeff tray, just remember you can always find a discount code with Advance Auto to get it cheaper.
http://shop.advanceautoparts.com/web...GRPBATTAM2____

 

I first put a regular lead-acid 51R in my FD in about 2000. I ran that battery for 4 years, I killed it many times by leaving the key on so that fans would run (w/ac button pushed), after 8-10 time it finally died in late 2004 so I bought an Optima which died in less than 1yr on the new owner of my CYM. He bought another Optima but couldn't get a 51R so he bought a 51 (same size but with pos and neg posts reversed), that battery lasted from 2005 to 2012.

I just replaced it with a new 51R Optima yellow top (which is visually OK with a CYM) last month. I was considering going standard lead-acid but I just didn't want ANY chance of leakage so I went Optima. Standard 51R lead-acid battery was about $60, the Optima was $170 because I wanted to get it at that moment so I could drive the car...

Either option will work fine and I have run both while autocrossing the car quite a bit. If you want to save a $110 go with the lead acid.

 

I have had great results with optima batteries in my FD so far, planning to get an optima for that badass tray I got from turbojeff.

 

Optima Yellow 51, can't tell if it's reverse of not, I got used 2nd hand is working great for me too. I drive the car less then 100 miles a month though and always unplug my battery for storage, it works great. (2-3 yrs)

Every few months I take it out and recharge it with a smart charger. Seems to be working very well for me (hope I didn't jinx it), except my smart charger always seems to boil it... so I can't charge it the way they recommend it...

 

I will never use a standard lead acid battery again. A few years ago I had an alternator bracket holder on another car to work loose and it allowed a pulley to touch my lead acid battery causing a spill of acid in my engine bay. Good googa mooga what a mess. AGM batteries will never spill, the connections stay corrosion free, and the underhood areas around the batteries never rust.

Exide is now making an AGM 51r under the name Exide Edge. 1 shop has it online for $160. Better specs than the Optima.
http://www.exide.com/Media/files/Dow...n%20spread.pdf

Regards,
Justin Wade

 

I've had 2 optima yellow top 51R's die in 2 years now. Just replaced it with a $80 Batteries Plus something or other because I'm sick of replacing more expensive batteries. How much worse could it be?
Car draws 73ma with everything off, not sure if that's a normal rate, but it doesn't seem excessive.

 

Ok, so you have scared me. I looked at the Exide battery but it has a UGLY blue top, which is almost as bad as the yellow top. Advance has agreed to take my year old battery back for an upgrade and give me full credit towards a yellow top. Now I have to find someone to make me a simple plastic cover for it .

 

Dam_ you wadejg, after you scared me. I had to have one .

Advance Auto was able to bring me one in with a fresh date! There are coupon codes out there to help with the price .

Optima also has a $25.00 rebate on any battery purchased before May, 31 2012

http://www.optimabatteries.com/rebate/

 

^ Thanks for the rebate info, planning to get one this week for that awesome turbojeff tray.

 

This is how mine looks after my install, I have some carbon fiber sheeting left over, I'm going to see if I can come up with a cover.

 

Last one, turbojeff's battery trays are awesome.

 

The engine bay looks clean; do you have a pic of the entire bay? +1 on the battery cover I would love to see it once you are finished. Will the cover go down the sides enough to cover ALL traces of yellow?

 

That battery tray does look nice.

On the note of batteries, I recently had my battery die in my FD as it lost its charge because SOMEONE left the door open too long :P upon returning from my deployment I could not get my old battery to hold a change so I condemned it and researchedy next purchase. It appears that optima at one time was a fantastic company with fantastic batteries. In recent years they were bought out by Exide in which the latest batteries they have put out labeled Optima have been shall we say, crap. Typically lasting give or take two years according to various reviews. I believe consumer reports led me to the best car batteries on the market along the lines of this:

Costco batteries - good quality battery with the Costco return policy. What more to be said?

Walmart batteries (ever start) - again fair return policy and good quality.

They also listed out dura last as a fair battery. I personally drove myself to Walmart and picked out a new everstart. Upon bringing my old worn out battery to the counter, the lady checked the battery date to see if it was under warranty. It turns out my old battery was birthed on april of 2002! Silly lil Walmart battery lasted 10 years before it finally gave up. $95 and I was on my way with a new battery that I expect to last another 10 years.

Hope this helps in your decision to not reinvent the wheel on something as simple as buying a battery.

Matt

 

You NEED to fix the power wire coming off of your battery. It is rubbing against a sharp piece of sheet metal and can easily cause a short and maybe a fire.

 

^^^^This is reason enough to go w/a AGM battery. It only has to happen ONE time and you will wish you had one.




I've had my share of Optima batteries trust me when I say it’s not the battery. I had an attitude about them before I figured out what I was doing wrong. They get a bad reputation because people especially auto parts stores have no idea how to maintain them. You cannot hook an Optima battery up to a normal charger and expect it to work. Invest in a CTEK charger and you will never have to worry about your battery.
http://smartercharger.com/

 

Good point, I would also NEVER run a red cable to a negative terminal. You are asking for some idiot to hook something up backwards .

 

Thanks for the comments about my engine bay, I have more pics in my album. Point taken on the sharp edge thing, thanks. That is some thing that I am addressing. The red cables are part of the ground wiring system, I do need to do some rearranging on them. I appreciate the feedback but if I let someone work on my car that can't tell the + from the - terminal then I would be the idiot.