Which Optima?

[gscudder]

Ok folks, I'm going the Optima route in the the 5er Toyhauler, we will be fulltiming in it and am tired of the******battery the dealer threw in our new unit.
I want the no fumes worry free Optime, I have a generator and need cranking amps so which one Yellow or Blue top?

Thanks again!
Gregg, Lisa, Buddy and Izzy!

[wa8yxm]

I just bought a new Group 27 for one side of my battery bank.... The old one appeard to be drawing current when it should not and only showed 10 volts after days on the PDI 9180 (The rest of 'em showed higher).

I have said this before
Group 24, about 75 amp hours,
Group 27, Confirmed today 95
Group 29, Confirmed yesterday 105
Group 31, about 130

GC-2,230

NOTE the weight of the battery (Save for the GC-2) is porportional to the amp hours. NOTE also that is at the 20 hour rate.

GC-2 has half the weight per amp hour, but it also has half the voltage so you need to put 2 of 'em in series.

Optima is 60% of same footprint non-optima battery

Flooded wet, Maintenance Free, AGM, makes no difference.

Marine Deep cycle try to keep 'em at least 3/4 full

DEEP CYCLE 1/2.

[MEXICOWANDERER]

The army motor pool, off-road racers, and four-wheelers who bounce down the Rubicon Trail choose spiral wound absorbed glass mat batteries because they are far more resistant to G-forces, than a flooded lead acid battery, and significantly more jolt tolerant than a conventional construction absorbed glass mat battery.

And for no other reason, period.

Consumers may opt for the spiral wound cell battery for many reasons, but none of those reasons should include the words "best" "highest capacity" or "best value". Not even "Longest lasting".

Spiral wound cells excel in one area. For the life of me, I cannot envision a street driven recreational vehicle needing that attribute.

A just to clarify opinion...

[EsoxLucius]

Change can be good.

[gscudder]

The reasons that I was planning on going with an Optima are;
1. After using them for the last few years of service in the Army they hold up well and we have never had to replace one in our vehicles.

2. They do not need to be vented and I'm kind of scared to have a standard battery that needs venting for potentially explosive gasses right next to my generator thats between two propane tanks....

3. My family includes several diesel and heavy equipment mechanics and operators that also swear by them.

There you have it..

I will stay with whatever my dealer replaced mine with until it craps out.

Gregg

[MEXICOWANDERER]

I'm going to sneak into this thread using a different approach

ORIGINAL POSTER

A single question por favor...

Why are you choosing an absorbed glass mat battery with spiral wound cells rather than a conventional style AGM that has a lot for amp hours in the same size case?

Maybe the OP's answer will clarify the information.

[mlts22]

I've had a single g24 before... and the furnace sucked the thing dry on a mid-30 degree night. I'd go at least with a larger size, or graduate to two deep cycle golf cart batteries in series.

[time2roll]

Time to review your usage, storage and charging habits.
If it is a single group 24 it will always be marginal for off grid camping.

[gscudder]

Ok, the dealer has ponied up and given me a new battery for free, soooo I will be staying with whatever they put in for awhile, thanks for the suggestions, I will keep them in mind!!!
Gregg

[msiminoff]

gscudder wrote:
I'm going the Optima route in the the 5er Toyhauler, we will be fulltiming in it... I want the no fumes worry free Optime , I have a generator and need cranking amps so which one Yellow or Blue top?

What will you be using this battery for? Is it your house battery or will it be used exclusively for starting your generator? Will you be dry-camping or have hook-ups? How will you be charging it (be as specific as possible)?

As others have already stated, an Optima is probably not the best choice. Honestly , you may be better served by a high quality FLA deep cycle battery (e.g. Trojan). If you are dead-set on using an AGM battery then I suggest that you consider a Lifeline or Sears Diehard Platinum..

Cheers
-Mark

[mlts22]

I asked this same question. A blue-top is what I was thinking about getting, but when I saw the limited ampere-hours the batteries had, for the top tier price, I definitely would look elsewhere.

There are AGMs that may not look at funky as the Optimas, but will give you a lot more amp-hours, the same life, and be cheaper.

Oh, Lifeline batteries are US made, and Optima batteries were once US made, but now they come from Mexico. Call me insane, but I try to buy US whenever possible.

[Denny___Jami]

Blue tops are the ones you want, I was in a store not to long ago and I see they make a bigger one with more AH. I've been using 2 blue tops for 10.5 years with no problem, 9 of that was with a single stage charger until it died I now have a 3 stage. We just did a little trip over 5 weeks and only had electric hookups for 5 days and the batteries work just as good as they did 10 years ago.

Denny

[wa8yxm]

OPTIMA is a very very very bad choice for a Motor home or trailer.> Very bad.

Here is why

First. of all the battery options save "Exotic" it is the most expensive
And second. they have only 60% of the capacity of a standard battery of the same size.

A far, far, far better choice is the LIFELINE AGM.. This is the cadillac of AGM batteries..(Optima is an AGM by the way) so you get over 50% more capacity (and weight) for the same footprint. and about the same price Just make sure it is a TRUE Deep cycle, not Marine rated.

Personally.. I prefer the lowest cost option (A pair of GC-2 Golf car Flooded wet cells) but. that is my preference.. But you'd like an AGM, epically a Lifeline, much better than that Optima.

[red31]

The blue top have both a post and threaded terminal.

[time2roll]

D31T

How many are you getting? You do have a three stage converter/charger yes?