Lightweight battery thread

[mrg666]

Originally Posted by churchx

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

[why?]

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.

[churchx]

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.

[86TOYO2k17]

Originally Posted by why?

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.

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?

[Dr. BRZ]

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%

[mrg666]

Originally Posted by why?

aim for a lithium battery, not an agm.

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

[T-Steve]

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.

[NoHaveMSG]

Originally Posted by mrg666

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.

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.

[Irace86.2.0]

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

https://imgur.com/7OOVO4i

[why?]

Originally Posted by mrg666

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

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.

Originally Posted by 86TOYO2k17

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?

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.

[mrg666]

Originally Posted by NoHaveMSG

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.

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?

[NoHaveMSG]

Originally Posted by mrg666

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.

[Strife26]

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.

Sent from my HTC U11 life using Tapatalk

[Strife26]

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.

Sent from my HTC U11 life using Tapatalk