Hi Guys

As some of you may know, I haven't been active on the forum for a little while

Last year I decided to quit my job and start my own business.

In order to do this I had to cut back on my spending. Part of this cut-back meant I had to take my car off the road for quite a while

Well, business is starting to go well now and I'm hoping to get my car back on the road by the end of the year

As it's not been out for a run for quite a while the battery is now completely dead and in need of replacement

Whilst I'd like to fit an Odessey or similar I don't think it would be fit for my circumstances

Basically, my workplace is around 5 miles from my house, meaning my commute is only 10 minutes at the most

As my commute is so short I don't think there will be enough time for the battery to recharge, meaning a smaller battery would be flat in no time

The weather is pretty poor in England too which would also effect battery performance

Taking the above into consideration, I think I'd be better off going for a larger battery with high cranking power

Does anyone know what the standard battery power was, and what I should be looking for this time round?

The current battery is 700amps and 80amp hours, and that still used to drain pretty quickly!

Thanks
Ant

 

I am not sure any battery will work.....I find doing a long drive 2x a week is critical (meaning over 45 minutes...). I have an Optima Red Top and even it struggles if I don't use the car....if you get one of these, the poles are reversed...don't have the model number, but fyi...search.

So, I'd get one of the fancy 100$ computer controlled trickle chargers and just plug the car in (cig lighter is easy if you have a garage). In the states, we have DieHard units at Sears that are strong, but I had one and if I left the car for a long time...it had issues. The biggest Rennline sourced Odyssey did not work for me at all...and my car was a DD...at the time two 30 minute commutes every day and if I took 2-3 days off, no go.

Jeff

 

I bought a $45 battery conditioner at my local motorcycle shop and it works a treat for keeping the battery right up to snuff for the times it stays parked too long. It's really small (about the size of my fist) but it works amazingly well for motorcycles or cars.

 

I have had quite a few friends experience issues with the optima batteries. If you are going compact you should look into a Deka. Many of those motorcycle batts are just not enough.

 

Can you describe the "issues"? I have always thought Optima batteries were the best you could get (Excluding the $2,500 lightweight batteries for the P Cars).

 

I used a Diehard E2 group 47 battery, it fits in the OEM tray and uses the stock bracket. It uses the last hole in the bracket and saves 10LBS. I never had any battery problem. The European 996 GT2 came with the same size batterie.

 

Any chance you could let us know the model of what you picked up? I've been researching battery tenders/conditioners lately and would like to make a good choice for my cars and motorcycles. Thanks!

 

The issues were with starting the car first thing in the morning. The battery just didn't seem to function as well as the larger ones.

 

Why do you want a lightweight battery in the first place? If you are driving back and forth to work I doubt it's really racy where you'd get any benefits from the lighter battery. It's certainly not worth the hassle unless you are aiming for some on track performance where every lb counts. Even then, you would probably be better off keeping the small battery for track days and using the bigger one during the daily driving.

Just my opinion.

 

Here it is...

 

Just fitted a Bosch Silver-top

It's 780amps and 78amp hours

It's slightly shorter than the previous battery (11 inches, versus 12.25 inches)

Hopefully it'll be well suited for my circumstances.....and just incase it's not, it's got a 5 year warranty

I forgot to weigh it, but I'll do it when I take it out next week

 

Battery died last week
Managed to get nearly five years out of it, so I'm pretty happy with that!


Just about to replace it with a Varta Silver F18

Specs:

800CCA
85ah
315mm x 175mm x 175mm
5 year warranty

Lets see how it goes