Odyssey vs. Diehard Platinum
- Thread starter adventureduo
- Start date
dwh
Tail-End Charlie
40 to one at a time.
Looking at the manual:
http://www.odysseybattery.com/documents/US-ODY-CM-02_0107_000.PDF
"The OMAX-40AS-3B and OMAX-50AS-3B chargers were designed to charge up to and including three 12V batteries in sequence. When charging in sequence, only one of the three banks is on at a time. Every few minutes, the charger will alternate which output is on and which outputs are off. Each output will continue to turn on and off every few minutes as long as more than one bank is set to charge. If only one bank is connected to a battery and turned on, then it will charge continuously.
NOTE:
Since each bank is on only half or one third of the time during charging, the absorption phase could last 8 or 12 hours instead of only 4 hours."
Bulk 14.7v, absorb 14.7v until amps<100ma or 4 hours whichever comes first, float 13.5v-13.8v.
Airmapper
Inactive Member
I'm looking to install a Diehard Platinum / Odyssey in my Xterra soon, but I'm confused on which is best. My uses will be hardly demanding at first, but sometime in the future (as in well before this battery dies) I hope to mount a winch. I have no immediate plans to install a dual battery setup, it's in the back of my mind, but I'm waiting for more need to arise before making that happen.
According to their website, I only have 3 DieHards I can choose from, which is also what I can pick up locally. Group 35, 65, or 34/78
Group 35 supposedly fits stock without mods. It has 850CCA @ 130 minutes reserve. Weight, 50lbs.
Group 34/78 will fit with minimal mods (longer cables). It has 740CCA @ 135 minutes reserve. Weight, 53lbs.
Group 65 is unknown to me if I can fit it. I'll throw it in for giggles in the event I could make it fit. 930CCA @ 135 minutes reserve. Weight, 60lbs.
Now, information I read in the past indicated that Group 34/78 had a significantly better reserve (Amp Hour I suppose) than the stock fit Group 35, making it preferred and Xterra owners were extending their cables left and right. The numbers I see only indicate a 5 minute difference, and this seems to be a negligible to me. My thoughts are why bother if it is so miniscule. Perhaps the designs have changed recently bringing them closer in specs?
Any advice would be appreciated. I'm looking to the best battery that I hope I'll be living with for a LONG time.
According to their website, I only have 3 DieHards I can choose from, which is also what I can pick up locally. Group 35, 65, or 34/78
Group 35 supposedly fits stock without mods. It has 850CCA @ 130 minutes reserve. Weight, 50lbs.
Group 34/78 will fit with minimal mods (longer cables). It has 740CCA @ 135 minutes reserve. Weight, 53lbs.
Group 65 is unknown to me if I can fit it. I'll throw it in for giggles in the event I could make it fit. 930CCA @ 135 minutes reserve. Weight, 60lbs.
Now, information I read in the past indicated that Group 34/78 had a significantly better reserve (Amp Hour I suppose) than the stock fit Group 35, making it preferred and Xterra owners were extending their cables left and right. The numbers I see only indicate a 5 minute difference, and this seems to be a negligible to me. My thoughts are why bother if it is so miniscule. Perhaps the designs have changed recently bringing them closer in specs?
Any advice would be appreciated. I'm looking to the best battery that I hope I'll be living with for a LONG time.
dwh
Tail-End Charlie
All batteries have specs; CA - cranking amps, CCA - cold cranking amps, RC - reserve capacity, AH - amp*hours.
Batteries designed and sold for cranking over an engine, generally don't do well when repeatedly deeply drained. Those will list CA, CCA and RC in the specs.
Batteries designed and sold for deep cycle use can crank over an engine, but generally have a bit lower CA and CCA numbers. Those will list AH in the specs.
The difference in RC and AH is in how they measure it. To get RC, they put a 25 amp load on the battery and measure how many minutes it takes (at 80 degrees F) to run the battery down to 10.5 volts (that's dead for a 12v battery).
To get AH, they figure out what load it will take to drain the battery dead in X hours. Generally, amp*hours are specced at "the 20 hour rate", meaning that from full to dead over a 20 hour period, it will supply a total of X amp hours. For instance, a battery which can supply a 5 amp load for 20 hours would be a 100 amp*hour battery, or "100ah @ 20 hour rate". Sometimes though, the specs will list the 10 hour rate.
Generally, you can tell which purpose the battery is designed for by which specs they list.
Odyssey however (and presumably Diehard Platinum) are a different sort of animal. They are designed to be used for either cranking or deep cycle use.
For a which, which can draw anywhere from 50 amps to 250 amps depending on load, the RC and AH numbers are pretty much useless.
CA and CCA numbers are how much max current the battery can supply for a short time (to run a starter). Unless you do a lot of winching for many minutes, you can ignore the RC and AH numbers and just get the most CA/CCA you can fit in your truck.
Airmapper
Inactive Member
Thanks, very informative post there. For my uses at the moment I don't believe I can go wrong. I still would like to cram a 65 in there, but it is probably unnecessary until I build my truck up more. If I find the direct replacement is not enough, then really I should be thinking more about adding a second battery.
SuperTrooper
Observer
I just charged my group 65 diehard platinum yesterday. It was reading 12.5 resting with my DVOM. I hooked it up to the ultimizer charger and it only read 12.3v and 25% on the charger. It ran one cycle overnight and it's now resting at 12.9v! I never had any other problems with the battery. Even at the lower resting voltage it would start my Trooper after sitting for weeks in below 0 temps.
thethePete
Explorer
^ Um, every time you start your rig, it charges it to 14.4v more or less and up to as many amps as your alt will put out if required. It reduces current as required. Basically if you run your truck once in a blue moon, there's nothing to worry about. People are over thinking this whole charging thing. It's an automotive battery. It is meant to charge and run off an automotive electrical system. This means sitting with a very slight parasitic draw on it while the vehicle is off (usually less than 60mA), and will charge around 14.4v while the vehicle is running. Your alternator, however, is not designed to recharge a battery. It is designed to keep it topped up while the vehicle and electrical systems are operating. The battery is simply intended as a shock absorber, if you will, to soak up any draw that exceeds the alternator output.
toyotech
Expedition Leader
Thank you. Saved me from buying a special charger lol.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
The special charger is needed when recharging a discharged battery as it requires a specific profile to charge correctly to maintain service life. If you buy the battery charged and never allow it to discharge, your alternator will be sufficient.
Sent from my GS3 on Cyanogenmod with the older / better version of Tapatalk!
Sent from my GS3 on Cyanogenmod with the older / better version of Tapatalk!
teotwaki
Excelsior!
Just some feedback that I did purchase one of these Bosch AGMs and the $20 coupon took quite a while to be validated. I mailed it into the rebate center back when this topic came up. It sat in their center for a few weeks before marked as "received" on 2/25 and I just saw online that the rebate was just mailed to me a few days ago. That drops the cost of the battery down to roughly $122