Batteries for Dual Battery systems?

flintsghost

New member
I'm running a blue top optima in my truck as the secondary battery, hooked up with a blue sea automatic charging relay.

I'd like to know more about this "spontaneous combustion" issue. I've been running mine for close to a year without a hiccup.

Keep in mind that LR max said that he had "heard" that. There may be someone who can shed more light on it. The Optima website does indicate that they are "Marine" use batterys and doesn't recommend them for the application as a auxillary battery. They recommend "yellow tops" for auxillary and HD use and "red" is for standard auto starting and continuous charge use. If you don't have to use your auxillary very much there shouldn't be much problem but what do I know. That's why I asked about batterys to start with.
 

Karma

Adventurer
HI All,
In myJeep Wrangler I installed dual batteries with an isolation system about 6 years ago. I started with Optima Yellow Tops because of their reputation. I had nothing but trouble with the Yellow's. After about 4 years (I'm a slow learner) I switched to Odyssey's and have had no trouble. How it goes in the long run, only time will tell.

I do think that the two batteries should match. Any battery engineer will tell you this. This is not trivial; there are good reasons. If you switch one, you should switch the other. After all, we install dual batteries to improve the reliability of our vehicles. Why defeat this by taking shortcuts?

Sparky
 
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flintsghost

New member
FWIW you can connect your winch safely to the post of Odyssey batteries, not an optima.

I guess I don't understand what you are saying. Because it sounds like you are saying I can't run a winch off an optima battery. Since both batteries are built on essentially the same design and run the same things one should be able to run a winch off either. If you don't think you can I would be interested in knowing what your rationale is for that statement.
 

MoGas

Central Scrutinizer
I think he is referring to the side posts. Optima specifically mentions that you should not hook a winch to the side posts. Why? I'm not really sure.
 

MoGas

Central Scrutinizer
BTW, My setup is Red Top for starting, factory vehicle systems, and winch, with a Yellow Top for fridge, inverter, and lights separated by a National Luna system.
 

flintsghost

New member
BTW, My setup is Red Top for starting, factory vehicle systems, and winch, with a Yellow Top for fridge, inverter, and lights separated by a National Luna system.

That's interesting because the system I am installing right now will be a D34 yellow optima as a auxillary battery for emergency use and a Red Top for the main. Tentatively planning on using an
IBS system to control them. I was wondering about what was said and now that you mention it the side posts might make sense but since all optima's don't have them and I've never seen anyone hook a winch up to them, why did he bring that up. The original idea when I asked the question was to get answers about similar or different batteries being hooked together. While I received some pretty good information, I also got a lot of suggestions about which battery to use. That was never in question since my auxillary tray is one of Roger Moody's and it is made for a specific group 34 Optima battery. I also specified to the dealer who got it from the warehouse that I didn't want a D34/78 with side terminals. Just a D34 straight. The Red Top I pick up tomorrow is a group 35 with reverse terminals for the Toyota housing. Thanks for the info. I appreciate it.
 
I think he is referring to the side posts. Optima specifically mentions that you should not hook a winch to the side posts. Why? I'm not really sure.

Well after emailing them to find out why they replied back saying that the internal connections weren't built to handle the amp load for any period of time other than starting they also claimed that this was true for all batteries but that is not the case. A quick email to Odyssey and they said there were built to handle the same load on the side terminals as the top terminals.
Some dual battery setups have a battery laying side ways connecting to the other battery side terminals. So if that were going to be the case an optima may not be the best choice to use.
 
I guess I don't understand what you are saying. Because it sounds like you are saying I can't run a winch off an optima battery. Since both batteries are built on essentially the same design and run the same things one should be able to run a winch off either. If you don't think you can I would be interested in knowing what your rationale is for that statement.

Yes I meant to say side post.
 

zimm

Expedition Leader
if youre not hooking the cells in parallel for extended periods i wouldnt worry. in series, with high voltage and large draws like the UPS systems i install? yes. internal resistance is the reason. but even then, when a customer wants to delay a re battery, i'll swap in a few new ones with the old, and instead of buying 40, they buy 5 and put off the investment another 18 months.

i run sears platinums. cant beat em. they honor the warranty too. i killed one three years in, and it was my bad. they tested it, and handed me a new one. no receipt.
 

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