Battery Choice

Julian,

My Optima went dead after one year and wouldn't recharge. Went with an Interstate and it's going on four years. I've also had good service from Ford OEM batteries.

I use a battery tender on my Harley but not my cars.

Dan

I've had the opposite experience with Optima batteries, I've installed them in my cars for many years now and have had no problems.

cowboy from hell

quote:

Originally posted by cat7195:
Julian,

My Optima went dead after one year and wouldn't recharge. Went with an Interstate and it's going on four years. I've also had good service from Ford OEM batteries.

I use a battery tender on my Harley but not my cars.

Dan

I've had the same experience with both Interstate and Ford batteries. I have an Interstate battery in my Pantera.

Michael

Julian,

I have been running a dry cell Odyssey PC925 for 3 years now, and I am very happy with it. It's hard to believe such a tiny battery could crank over a Cleveland, but it does. The best thing of all is it only weights 26lbs. The conventional battery it replaced weighed 41lbs. I bought the battery from Dennis Qualla.
I would never go back to a wet cell or gel battery on my Pantera.

My car is now off the road for the winter, I do have a battery tender but only hook it up for 24 hours once every couple of months. I have a battery kill switch, so there is no drain when I am not using the car. I don't like the idea of keeping the battery tender on permanently. A friend of mine did this on a conventional wet cell, and found it to be totally dry (and dead) 6 months later. I would be interested to know if anybody else has experienced battery failure as a result of keeping it hooked up to the tender?

Johnny

Julian, Im glad you posted this. I was at Ididit's shop yesterday. They have a incredible car show every year. Some truely beautiful cars, rods, you name it show up. The shop is open for tour's just walk around and check out everything, they had somewhere around 1200-1500 cars there!
But I saw some guys running this teeny tiny battery. So I wanted you guys to see it. The people who were running it were very happy with it.
Jeff
DYNA BATT

I am very fond of the glass mat (optima and other brands) batteries. I run them in most of my collector type cars. They don't emit any acid which helps keep the area around the battery corrosion free.

The one problem is they don't recover if ran down. You cannot drain the battery and expect it to come back. I did loose one in the MG over the winter but I think the FI computer or something else drained it. I never got around to turning off my battery cutoff. I am running 2 motorcycle batteries in it now as it fits the battery compartment better.

Julian,
Hello from Perth!
I went with the Odyssey. Had it in my car for the last 4 years. No issues. Costs more then Optima. But the weight difference is huge. If I recall the optima weights 60#. The odyssey was under 40#. So for weight advantage the Odyssey was the way to go. Summit racing carries both.

The downside to the Odyssey is its reserve capacity. It is about 1/2 that of the Optima. So it you have a drain or forget to switch off the key; it can run down quicker. I have a cut off switch to kill the battery. That as saved my butt a few times.

I am very pleased with the Optima with its ligher weight and smaller size.

BTW: I am running the same battery as Johnny Woods. PC925.

Thanks guys, I think I'll go with the Dry cell. On the '74 I have an Interstate battery that came with the car and has never given any problems. I guess now I'm away from home more, I don't get to fire up the GT5 so often.

Steve,

Enjoy Perth, it's a nice City and Spring is a good time to be there. Think yourself lucky!

Me, I'm headed back North tomorrow for 10 days after a 2 day break. The high at the end of last week was 3C, soon be into the -40's! Useless piece of information: once you get to -40, both F and C are the same, just !@#$%^& cold.

Bloody hell, I like that Dyna Batt.. 13.5lbs! that's half the weight of my Odyssey. I know where my next battery is coming from.

Johnny

Johnny I saw a half dozen vehicles with the Dyna Batt, and they were tickled with the perfomance. I wish I had known about it before I bought my Optima. My battery is under the trunk and @$119 I would have gambled to see how it performs.
Jeff

Dyna Batt states - cold cranking amps - not rated.

I wonder why. They state it will turn over a 15:1 compression ratio engine but don't state how may cubic inches the 15:1 engine is. How do you know if it will turn over a hot high compression 351 CI Cleveland.

Everstart Maxx, Full 3 year replacement, $70.00

I have seen the Dyna Batt before and I wished I would have gotten one. I have seen these in street rods with Big Blocks and they say it works great. My next one will be one....

I just got off the phone with PD, and the gentleman told me as long as the alternator supports the battery as it should this battery can handle just about anything they have thrown at it. He told me they have sold this battery to alot of guys with electronic managment systems and have had no issues.
Also he told me that the 15:1 engine they claim in the web page I posted was a alcohol injected big block chevy.
Maybe someone could contact the manufactuer to see if they would be willing to supply a test battery to a Pantera owner. This to me would be great advertising to them, Im sure the GT-40 and Cobra guys would jump on the wagon if they know they work in our cars.
Jeff

Seeing as I started this post and didn't get over to Summit to purchase the Odyssey before heading back to Canada I don't mind being the Guinea Pig here. I'll call and order one tomorrow.

quote:

Originally posted by Cowboy from Hell:
I've had the opposite experience with Optima batteries, I've installed them in my cars for many years now and have had no problems.

cowboy from hell

I checked the date on my Optima and to my surprise it has been in my Pantera for 12 years. I am going to see how long this battery can last.

Battery life depends on other factors in addition to the manufacture. The charge rate/current is critical, over and under charging especially bad and very possible with the crappy regulator that was used in the Pantera. When the AMP meter is shorted as some owners do, there is no indication of current direction until it's too late.
Temperature extremes, heat is worse than cold, the best place for the battery is the original position. This battery design has low self discharge properties or low leakage current which is why it does not need to be on trickle charger over long period of disuse. The battery in the picture is 5 years old, sits all winter never charged for starting in the spring. Some of the electronics in this Pantera consume small amounts of current all the time and still no problems. Smaller and lighter about 1/2 the weight of conventional batteries. It would be better if it was black!

I had a Optima Yellow top battery, was good, lasted ages , and as long as it did not go dead flat, recharged real quick.
However if it goes dead flat too many times it will not recharge, which is what mine has done
And they are very heavy, so now it now makes a great paperweight !!
I now run a standard battery, i can buy 3 of these and still be in front !

There's an Optima battery in Justin's car, he has left lights on at least 3 times over night, run the battery down to zip each time. So far it has come back fully to life each time. I've never seen a lead acid come back that way, they always come back weaker (higher internal resistance) when they are allowed to be drawn down.

I have no reservation about recommending the Optima, but I'm not adament either. I'm sure the Odyssey is a good battery, although it doesn't appear to be designed for automotive use (no posts). With a model number with "PC" in it, I would assume it was designed for uninterruptible power supplies.

The Dyna Batt looks promising too. I'm eager to read feed back from those of you who buy them, a few years down the road.

Julian make sure the charging voltage at the battery is steady at approximately 14 volts, at idle and when you rev the motor, or else your new battery will suffer the same fate as your Optima.

cowboy from hell

quote:

I'm sure the Odyssey is a good battery, although it doesn't appear to be designed for automotive use (no posts). With a model number with "PC" in it, I would assume it was designed for uninterruptible power supplies.

George,

As with the Dyna Batt the Odyssey is available with top posts, top & side posts or no posts, depending on your application. All types are readily available at Summit Racing and rated as automotive batteries with various cranking amperages available.

I too run an Odyessy, and for those of you who like"bling", the make a real nice hold down as can be seen here. In addition, I have seen options such as the metal jacket chromed and the posts reversed. Not to mention you can mount them in any desired position, including upside down.

I've used a Dyna-Batt for almost 4 years now and have never had a problem. It's no different than any other battery to me. I should replace it this winter because of it's age. I will be looking at another lightweight battery I've seen guys using by a company called Braille. They are lighter and smaller still. For the price, I can't think of a better way to pull weight out of the car.

Julian,
Please report back to us on the Dyna-Batt, I am very interested.

Thanks,
Art

quote:

Originally posted by Joules5:
Seeing as I started this post and didn't get over to Summit to purchase the Odyssey before heading back to Canada I don't mind being the Guinea Pig here. I'll call and order one tomorrow.

Are you using the Dyna-Batt in your Pantera? What kind of conditions? In Illinois, I would imagine you drive it in both hot and cold weather?

Thanks,
Art

quote:

Originally posted by korina:
I've used a Dyna-Batt for almost 4 years now and have never had a problem. It's no different than any other battery to me. I should replace it this winter because of it's age. I will be looking at another lightweight battery I've seen guys using by a company called Braille. They are lighter and smaller still. For the price, I can't think of a better way to pull weight out of the car.

My two cents alwasy buys an Optima. The 4 cars we have now all run them. Our new '71 VW bus ran for 10 days before I knew the generator wasn't charging the battery. I figured it out before I was stranded when I finally had a hard start. I don't have experience with some of the others mentioned but no doubt there is some good stuff out there.

The Dyna Batt has never let me down and I have used it to death. I've run it down before with Lucas shorts and it's always come back. I took the battery in my Pantera out of an old SVO Mustang that I sold and in the SVO I ran a fancy stereo and lights and all that. The car get's put away when salt is on the ground but the Pantera comes out when the pavement is clean. I will definitely buy another or maybe the Braille battery which is even lighter still. By using this battery you are pulling 30 or maybe 40 lbs. out of the front of the car. What do the Optima or Odysseys weigh? Maybe 40 or more lbs.? It's a No Brainer as far as I'm concerned.

I found this article on the Dyna Batt. It appears that it and possibly the Oddyssey is a rebadged battery manufactured by Hawker. You can also get specs on the battery through links. The Hawker is substancially cheaper. Interesting article with lots of information on these types of batteries.

http://www.stealth316.com/2-dynabatt.htm

WOW Dennis, awesome find! That stealth site is loaded with battery info.
Jeff

Hey wait, it seems that the Odyssey is also made by Hawker:

http://www.gotbatteries.com/items.asp?params=batteries/...-2016/SL105/37L105S5

http://www.gotbatteries.com/products/slabatteries/Odyssey.asp

Good info, thanks Dennis!

Art