Lightweight battery thread
 

At the NA mod stage of lightweight battery mod... looking for some people’s personal experience with different batteries DDing year round in cold weather no tenders and lasting for years.

Thinking about the largest shorai battery but it would be a pricy waste of money if it failed, and I park outside atm so don’t feel like a tender or winter battery swap. Or looking at the 11lbs Braille or Deka (anyone test or know for sure if the Braille is just rebranded Deka despite advertised CCA being roughly half?)

PNW coldest it gets is maybe mid-high 20s late at night for a month or two. I have no accessory/sound system mods draining more power. Rarely drive for less 10mins but sometimes can go up to a week without driving.

I have an odyssey pc680 since 11/17.
I had it na and turbo. Just as good as any size battery. It's died from me leaving my obd in for days without driving it but a quick charge and it's up and running.
Actually works way better than I expected.
Would I recommend it? Well I'll buy a new one even if it stopped working after a year. I love it.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...f4416cc051.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...f740349c17.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...540b9a25c3.jpg

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Thanks for your feedback. I’ve looked at the 680, it’s on the potential list but still semi heavy. I’m really either looking at Deka etx14 really cheap and pretty light. Or the 5lb shorai but the cost to risk is scaring me. So I’m leaning to the cheap Deka but idk how reliable in cold weather it is. But for the price almost worth the risk.

Just an FYI, your Odyssey PC680 is an AGM battery and letting it die will severely shorten its life - your best bet is to put it on a battery tender whenever the car sits for more than a few days.

@86TOYO2k17, if you didn’t like @Strife26’s Odyssey PC680 because of weight, you’re definitely not going to like my Odyssey PC925. That said, here are a few photos of how it looks in my car:

I changed my battery to a smaller one when the original died. It has similar specs with the one used in the BRZ RA Jdm car. Keep in mind that I don't have heated seats, any stereo or in general high power consumptions. I gained around 9lbs, but I wouldn't do it if the original battery stayed healthy.

http://i64.tinypic.com/16a5sev.jpg

https://www.ft86club.com/forums/show...postcount=1965
It gave up the ghost after about 4 years of use.

aim for a lithium battery, not an agm. If you do not drive a lightweight agm battery every day it will die very quickly. A lot of auto parts stores are starting to sell lithium batteries because they are both light and strong.

Also figure out how you are going to mount it before you buy it. Also note you can buy solar powered trickle chargers for the battery, so you do not need an actual plug to charge the battery when you turn the car off.

I have the Braille 11 pounder. My car doesn't get used during the week so I usually give it a start or mid week evening drive to keep the battery happy. It unfortunately died once however I think that was due to my aftermarket amplifier (installed by previous owner) draining power while car was off. Since I have fixed that there has been no issues and would recommend. Lithium would be a better option however I believe the cost is significantly higher.

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Yeah, I paid about AUD$1200 for the Voltphreaks battery but the nice thing is it has a cut-off switch when the voltage drops below a certain level so there is always enough juice to crank the car.

Can anyone list "relatively" lightweight battery but with capacity as much as of stock's? I'd wish to pay more for lighter, but as capable as stock one, instead of going all way for the very lightest, but which can hold charge only for few days tops in winter without using battery tenders and such.

Optima OPT8020-164 35 RedTop is a Group 35 battery as stock and about 10lbs lighter. But the reviews at Amazon are not very good although it is supposed to be a good brand.

5 lb. battery
 

Mini Shorai -
First 2 years of winter use up to 3 days parked and the car would start, but at arctic temps it was on a tender. Now I prefer a normal battery in the winter for peace of mind.
Sixth year tracking and D/D, Shorai 5 lb. battery still going strong !
:thumbup:

mrg666: you don't happen to know if mentioned optima battery will also fit size-wise or some mount/tie down modification needed? I'm not well versed into battery "form-factors" and on which size dimensions/shape types/whatever alike i should look for. As for optima .. weren't yellow tops ones to get?

Group 35 size spec is in the following link
https://www.jegs.com/Sizecharts/bcigroup.html

And Optima 8020 is within those limits
https://www.optimabatteries.com/en-u...ing-battery/35

IMHO, it should fit just fine although height is about an inch shorter. There is enough thread on the stock ties for an inch lower height.

Edit: Optima agrees with that
https://www.optimabatteries.com/en-u...2.0L&find=find

720 cca is total and insane overkill for a stock twin. 500 is plenty even in the worst conditions, and if you don't see much cold weather you can get away with 360 or less. That is with the car being driven daily or keeping the battery on a tender. 500 or more is plenty to never ever have to worry about the battery.

why?: imho linked one was chosen less so looking by starting current but rather by amperage/charge. At least in EU/UK stock twins battery was 48Ah, linked optima one - 44Ah. Though hmm .. then again here stock battery for several owners often ran flat and was changed to 65Ah one (IIRC 28800-YZZJA or 28800-YZZJB) for free by toyota.

That's interesting. So you are saying a 11lbs Deka/Braille AGM would be less reliable if not daily driven then say a 5lbs Shorai?

Mounting seems pretty simple ill just buy some brackets and hardware form home depot, a lot of DIYs on that.

I can hook up to a tender and run an extension cord from my garage, but it would be a hassle to do on a daily. If i knew i wasn't going to drive for 4+ days i would probably do that if needed though. I haven't used a tender before, is it still safe to use with hood closed outside in the rain?

I have a 2lb shorai battery and it works great. Only problems is if i leave the car in auxiliary mode for too long it was drain the battery but a quick trip to oreillys and its back on charged 100%

Li-ion batteries don't work well at cold temperatures. Cold climates require lead-acid battery, AGM or not.

Whelp, it probably isn't the greatest way to go, but I emulated an old thread from this forum to install a group 51R battery using JDM parts.

I used this stuff:

Tray-Battery, 82122CA010
Rod-Battery Fix, 82161AG001
Holder-Battery Fix, 82182AG010

And a group 51R battery, which weighs about 5 pounds less than stock. Mine has worked well for three years now.

Optima turned to crap a while ago. I wouldn't bother with them anymore. I went through two yellowtops in my truck in 4 years. I used to deal hundreds of them at my old job and the failure rate started going through the roof on them.

I have a Braille. I like it. See my build for my pics of the install.

https://imgur.com/7OOVO4i

Yes that is true, however tiny agm batteries die very quickly if not driven or charged daily. If the point is to save weight, lithium is far superior. And if you need some sort of charger, might as well get as much weight savings.

I had a deka in my Yaris. It died after I let it sit for a day or two, and I couldn't revive it at all with a tender. Maybe I received a bad battery, maybe I went in blind without a plan, but either way it made me question whether or not agm batteries have any place in daily driven vehicles.

It depends on the weather you'll face. But Anthony has shown that his Shorai can take cold weather. If your going to face a month of sub freezing temperatures, you'll need a tender no matter what you buy.

Remember you can also buy solar power battery tenders. I haven't looked into them enough so I'm not sure how practical they are or exactly how they work. I had a bad experience with a deka battery up in Mass, so I just don't trust them. I'd strongly suggest figuring out a way to keep the battery on a tender if at all possible, it really really sucks when you need your car to start and it totally refuses to.

Amazon reviews indicate a similar trend. Johnson Control manufactures them. They also seem to manufacture Autocraft for Advance Auto and Duralast for Autozone with planar AGM configuration. Do you know anything about them?

No, I switched to Northstar for work stuff and Odessey in my personal rigs.

My car has sat for 5+ days at a time without issue. Idk if you mean months, but a week here or there isn't bad and it's died and seems to be running strong. I'd buy it again, and again.

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My car has sat for 5+ days at a time without issue. Idk if you mean months, but a week here or there isn't bad and it's died and seems to be running strong. I'd buy it again, and again.

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The best thing about a Braille is you can feel it in the dark.

Are you having any issues with your odyssey battery? I just picked up an Odyssey battery.

I have a 2lb shorai battery. The lightest of the light.

None - it’s been great and can go two weeks without being on a battery tender and still start the car. It’s not the lightest solution, but it’s significantly lighter than OEM and still very practical for a daily driver in the real world. I’m very happy with the battery and mounting solution.

Which Shorai in particular?

Since this came back up, I'll add my 2 cents.


My only experience with light weight batteries is with my Lotus. I installed a Braille AGM. The car has an alarm. If I don't drive for 4 or 5 days it is dead. Hooking it to the tinder is just part of the daily routine now.

I thought this Shorai: https://www.shoraidirect.com/en/p130...ty-case-type-3
could withstand our not so cold winters with less than 10-20 days per year below zero temps but from what I read here I should review my decision...

It is a very tight fit with the catch can. I have the same setup as you. My only problem was i disconnected the battery sensor on the negative side to make everything fit. I did my own custom battery tray mount.

http://IMG_3249.jpg
http://IMG_3250 (2)

Found this article about how Li-Iron batteries work on cold climates, they work fine up to 0F/-17C degrees just need different crank process from lead acid batteries at low temperatures:
https://www.batterystuff.com/kb/arti...rformance.html

I decided to go with the largest shorai battery, with my custom tray that secures the battery way more then oem does. it’s 5lbs 15oz. Car is garage kept and winter just started. Havnt used a tender yet. Last week it got down to 26F with ice on ground. Car cranked up better then oem used to and after sitting for 48hours over the weekend. Havnt let it sit more then 2days though. After winters over I’ll have a better personal review of a shorai for year round DD.

Over 1 year on Odyssey PC680, no issue, mostly DD, very mild climate, no issue over a long weekend of no-use but I don't think I've left it for a week or more yet. Will know next spring probably. My commute is usually 15-30 minutes.

Not bad for a ~$120 battery that is two day delivery from Amazon and worth ~10 lbs of weight savings, OE battery is $200+ iirc.

A 10lbs weight savings is within the range of feasible without too many sacrifices.