Battery questions.. a few odd ones and some regular ones...
 

Ok, well this cold weather we have been having leads me to believe it has killed my batteries, 3-4 year old mopar replacements. I am looking at a few options.

First option 2 750ish CCA regular batteries roughly $80 a piece (guess)

Second option 2 Optima Red tops 800CCA each roughly $120 a piece

Third option 1 Optima Red top (800CCA) and 1 optima yellow top (750CCA) we are talkin a major cash investment here... like around $300

My main questions are... Do you reccomend I go with the optimas or the traditional batteries?

Next question, the way our dodges are set up would it be smart to run one Yellow Top and One Red top? I fell like this combination, if setup right would probably be the best, however Im not sure if it would work right without an isolator. What do you think?

Let me know, tim

I just installed new batterys today in mine, they was $69 each, they are around 900 cca, I work closely with a battery guy making battery packs , for where I work at, (offshore)to start up d-399 cats, he told me that both or all of the batterys should be the same, the smaller one will work harder and try to pull the biger ones down, but 50 cca is not realy that far from each other. i dont know a lot about the Optima batterys, but I have heard they was realy good , for me I go for the option 1 , just becouse I cant seam to spend that much on batterys :D
jman

https://www.dieseltruckresource.com/...threadid=59351

I havne't tried Optimas yet, but they are what I'm going to replace any of my currents with when the time comes.

i replaced mine with a battery from advance auto parts came with 3 yr free replacement warranty. about 80 bucks. my opinion on batterys is after 3 years anything can happen. one is going to have to replace most of them shortly after. ? how many actual battery builders are there is the US any way. had a friend in florida 40 yrs ago that had his name put on the batteries he sold from a factory. a small busines only about 40 by 60 with 2 repair bays.

There are four companies that make 100% of the batteries in the US. They all have different grades though.
Never mix two different batteries, the weaker one will ruin the good one.
Only battery I use anymore are Optima Red Tops, no corrosion equals elimination of at least half of all battery problems.

I went with the yellow tops cuse of a espar, 1600w stereo , air comp. I think deepcycling batteries are the way to go for me. The cost of these Optimas is high but after 14 mouths I am very happy that I did buy them. That and they stay clean.

Optima (or the Costco/Sams equivalent) don't leak and will take a lot of abuse.

Our trucks, in the winter, seem to abuse their batteries. The old fashioned style of flooded lead plate battery can't take the abuse.

Kind of funny you say that, everytime I had a problem starting my diesel I ended up needing a new battery. After one jump start the battery was always ruined, I guess the current going through it ruined it everytime. The battery was supposed to be made specially for diesel use and yet it wouldn't last.

Just out of curiousity, has anyone up in the brutal cold try running on just one optima? I forget the exact value for the factory output but it seems like the Optima puts out a bit more juice plus they claim that they put out more power in the first 10 seconds of starting than a normal lead acid does.

Well i was looking at a smaller group 34 battery from autozone that was rated at:

850CCA 1000ca and 105min reserve, but they only had one in stock...

I ended up going with a group 27 (factory) battery with 750CCA and 1000CA rated at 130min reserve.

They are traditional style batteries and were about $75 a piece after tax and core exchange.

They include a similar warranty to optima... 3yr free replacement, 8year prorated. I figured what the heck, if they go bad I can get them replaced. I was on the fence about getting twin optimas, but just couldn't swing it.

Thanks for the help and input.
-Tim