Are all truck batteries created equal?

No, blue top is deep cycle. Yellow top is deep cycle plus cranking duty. Red top is cranking only. I just got a yellow top battery for myself today, cannot wait to get it.

i
Reply to
Ignoramus20463
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spec sheets and instructions.

jsw

Reply to
Jim Wilkins

true, BUT on that truck fitting a second alternator in there isn't easy. Now if you want to give up the A/C then it gets much easier.

I have duals batteries in my S-Blazer for a similar reason. When I respond to a scene the second battery keeps the lights working while I shut down the main. I also have a dual battery master switch, on-board charger/inverter and shore power connection as well as a 1KW generator in the back if the event takes over about an hour. Basically I built the system the same as an emergency vehicle.

Reply to
Steve W.

I was just going by what he said. :( , The most unusual intermittent dead battery problem that I found was a guy in Florida. Every once in a while his pickup would not start at the end of the day. Come to find out that his Lab which he took to work every day, very nice dog by the way, would lay down on the floorboards of the drivers side and rest his back on the brake pedal turning the brake lights on and discharging the battery.

John

Reply to
John

Real "gell cells" are very few and far between today - technology has left them behind.

Most are now starved electrolyte AGM (absorbed glass mat)

Reply to
clare

Not true today with maintenance free batteries. They are shipped wet. VERY FEW lead acid batteries today are shipped dry - the exceprion being motorcycle batteries and cheap utility batteries - the vast majority (other than industrial deep cycle etc) are maintenance free sealed or semi-sealed batteries.

Reply to
clare

You are correct - but if he leaves the laptop on for too long the deep-cycle capable battery will live another day.

I've been told it is BS and I don't know what I'm talking about, but in a course put on by the BCI a number of years back they said the average lifespan of a non-deep-cycle, calcium or antimony alloy automotive battery is cut in half EVERY TIME it is discharged by 80% (or to 20%) of it's capacity.

At that time the "Delco Freedom Battery" was a common example of that technology and there were many came into my shop after leaving the lights on too long that would not take a charge - PERIOD - having had their lifespan reduced by a lot more than 1/2. This was in the mid '80s, and batteries have changed some in the intervening years - but I still see batteries fail shortly after being discharged too heavily a few times.

Reply to
clare

I see Optima is now selling the yellow top as a dual duty battery For many years they were sold as a "deepcycle" battery only, and the blue-top was sold as a dual duty battery, primarily for marine use where they would start the inboard or outboard motor, and run the trolling motor as well..

You won't go wrong with the yellow-top regardless how they are advertised. There are better batteries available , but not for the price.The Hawker Genesis and it's "brothers under the skin" are one technology that, in my opinion, has some advantages over the optima

-but not a major issue.

Reply to
clare

OK, just picking one size out of the mix - a group 34.

The Blue 34M is 1000ca, 800cca, 100 reserve, 50 reserve @ c/20. 0.003 ohm resistance and 38.4 lbs. The red 34 or 34R are also 1000 ca, 800cca, 100 reserve, and 50 reserve @c/20 with 0.003 ohms resistance, and is half a pound ligher (aprox) at 37.9 lbs

The yellow D34, on the other hand, is only 750 ca, and 870cca, but has a 120 minute reserve and 55 reserve @ c/20. The resistance is also lower at 0.0028 ohms, and it weighs a whopping 42.9 lbs - in the same sized case.

These numbers tell you what the advertizing does not. The YELLOW top battery is THE deep cycle battery. The red top and the blue top are extremely close in both construction and specification and are heavilly biased in their design to motor starting duty. The blue battery has a bit more weight than the red one, which points to a slighly more deep-cycle design than the red one, all else being the same.

Reply to
clare

The dual battery master switch IS better than a battery isolator, and the "coach battery" setup you are using is a proven setup. There are lots of guys running second alternators though - and on machines with a lot less underhood space than a Chevy half-ton. Lots of "thunder cars" have a second alternator to run the sound system - so it IS doable. Your auxiliary generator is another alternative which, for Iggy, is not terribly practical.

There are several ways to address the problem and neither yours or mine are wrong.

Reply to
clare

Another of the more difficult to diagnose intermittent problems!!!

Reply to
clare

My first car (61 Ford Galaxy) had an odd electrical problem that would kill the battery, and several mechanics gave up on finding the cause. My first clue was that you could listen to the radio by turning on the parking lights, and turning on the left turn signal. The tail light had a dead short between the two filament terminals. It took me longer to replace the lamp and lens than it did to find the trouble. My uncle was upset, because he sold the car for $100, since no one could fix it. :)

Reply to
Michael A. Terrell

Very good. These dischares really do ruin regular starting batteries.

i
Reply to
Ignoramus20463

Not an odd accurrence at all. Quite classic in fact. Took just the right combination of actions to make the battery go dead though.

Reply to
clare

Autocar and Brockway trucks sometimes became a real nightmere. 24 volt start 12 volt run. All with positive ground.

John

Reply to
John

I am very happy. The old battery that I have right now IS interstate. It discharges to the point of not starting my truck, in just two hours with a laptop that I forgot. (I spent those two hours mig welding at my friend's, it was cool).

i
Reply to
Ignoramus20463

Senior son had a 68 firebird that had to be driven every day to keep the battery charged. After several rescue calls, I traced the problem to a rusted out horn relay. Gerry :-)} London, Canada

Reply to
Gerald Miller

We had a battery go low voltage over night, every night.. So once started we ran it ,all was ok. Then one night we disconnected the battery earth, in the morning reconnected it and it started fine.

So even with everything switched off there was a current draw somewhere. We put a meter on it and found it was 5 watts. Eventually we found it!! it was the boot light switch had stuck in the on position when it should have been off with the boot shut. one didnt see the light on in the day time!! as it was positioned up under the rear parcel shelf.

Reply to
Ted Frater

I currently have a yelow optima battery in my diesel Vitars. Never had one so good. Best ever.

Reply to
Ted Frater

Just another thought, on a ferguson T20 1956 2 ltr diesel tractor I bought for my sons birthday when he was 9, we picked up from our local reycling place some 5 yrs ago a s/h Bosch calcium/silver, it sayson the label which we fitted to his tractor. Its still on there now, gets run every week at least once, always cranks fast even in the cold and ischarged by a 10 amp dynamo with a standard regulator. well keep it going till it dies then get another from the recycling place!! As for long life batteries, for out outback system, were off the grid, i came by 3 tons of Alcad alcakine batteries in wooden crates there in

316 stainless cells. They were ex railway emergency signalling standby . They were 10 yrsold when I got them. There in use now, we charge each day from the discharge percentage of 85% to 100% over a 1/2hr period. They are expected to have a service life of 50yrs. IF we wanted to replace these from Alcad as new, we would have to find in the region of $50,000.00 I got them for $60,00 a ton from the scrap yard. Cant be bad!!.

Ted In Dorset UK.

Reply to
Ted Frater

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