Optima Battery

[Old_Days]

I am thinking about buying a blue top marine deep cycle for a extra battery for the Truck Camper and also use it in the boat when I am not camping. Anyone have good luck with this battery?

[Denny___Jami]

If was to replace my Optima D34M 55 AH I would go with the D31M 75AH ones. They would still fit my tray and give some more capacity.

Denny

[full_mosey]

Old Days wrote:
I am thinking about buying a blue top marine deep cycle for a extra battery for the Truck Camper and also use it in the boat when I am not camping. Anyone have good luck with this battery?

I have two 55AH Optimas, a yellow and a blue top(see my profile). I do not plan to replace them with Optimas, mainly because they are too pricey for the AH rating.

My preferred replacement is the Deka mfgrd grp31 AGM from Sam's Club in Eastern states. In OK, we get Johnson Controls. Luckily, I am planning to be in TN this summer when I will buy them there because they will be Dekas.

The Enersys(Sears Platinum, Odyssey) are also very good AGMs, however when you compare by $ you will see that the Dekas provide more AH. I use an automotive Sears P-4 AGM as a starting battery in my van. Sometimes I use it to help out while dry camping.

Here is a link to my recent post about my performance experience with a 5+yo Deka.

HTH;
John

[n7bsn]

narcodog wrote:
... Another thing to look at they only have 55amphrs. For about the same price you can get an AGM with more amphrs.

Due to the way the Optima cell is designed it is possible to have a rectangular cell AGM with more AmpHrs

[Old_Days]

Thanks I learned a lot about Optima Battery's.

[wa8yxm]

OPTIMA batteries are great batteries for slamming over ruts or logs or rocks or waves or other "Send for your kidneys later" activities. (Can't recall if that line was Bob Hope or Phillis Diller, they were in so many movies together).

But if what you want to do is store power.. The OPTIMA has only about 60% of the capacity of the self same size AGM battery,, also 60% of the weight.

This is why I never recommend Optima unless.. See first paragraph.

[Almot]

Old Days wrote:
I am thinking about buying a blue top marine deep cycle for a extra battery for the Truck Camper and also use it in the boat when I am not camping. Anyone have good luck with this battery?

They are too small capacity for serious offgrid camping, IMO. You need a a few of them in parallel, which means a lot of dough, as they are not cheap. For a short stay or in the boat - can't say. Matching too very different batts is not a good idea.

[MEXICOWANDERER]

Good point naturist. Really depends on how long the hatfields and McCoys spend in the parlor together.

[naturist]

OP said "extra" battery, which brings up a very important issue: if you run two batteries in parallel, they need to be carefully matched, lest one of them kill the other prematurely.

If you put a new battery in beside an old one, both will die early, killed by the mismatch. You can put one on the load, run it until it is low, then take it out and run the second battery until it is low, but if you have a traveling battery that swaps between use A and vehicle B, is run in parallel with another mismatched battery one each end, it will result in bad juju for all three batteries.

If you want to put two batteries in your camper, buy two identical ones, put 'em in, and leave them alone.

[MEXICOWANDERER]

An OK light duty battery IMHO especially if it's going to get knocked around moving it from boat to camper and back. There are more powerful batteries with the same case size. Sears AGM batteries are good batteries, don't let anyone fool you. If Optima turns you on, go for it IMHO.

My 10 watt LED's that consume 2.6 watts are a testament that "Words Are Cheap"

[Semperfi_66]

I have 3 under my bathroom sink for a year and a half, work great 205 amphrs

[bobndot]

This has more amp/hrs than the blue top and they work very well.
If you use two batts, I would use two of equal type/size/age for peak performance. Deep cycle batteries should be charged and discharged at the same rate.

http://www.dekabatteries.com/assets/base/1741.pdf

[Old_Days]

I have been reading reviews about sears agm deep cycle battery's and they are not really impressive. I do appreciate all the help and advice.

[Greydennyhawk]

I have one starting Optima and two deep cycle optima batteries in my Bass boat, for the last 4 years.
No problems, they are lighter in weight, no water to add, seem to hold the charge longer.

[narcodog]

I have had three and they all went bad, two were covered under warranted. Another thing to look at they only have 55amphrs. For about the same price you can get an AGM with more amphrs.