Battery Cable Replacement... (1 Viewer)

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Slim D

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Aug 6, 2007
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los angeles
Went out to start the truck the other day to find my battery was dead. Did a bit of searching on mud to see what battery I should get? I went with the Diehard Marine Platinum PM2 Gr 34. Needless to say, my stock battery cables are to short and wont reach the batteries post:bang:. I’m completely helpless when it comes to electrical stuff. So, how hard is it to replace\extend the battery cables? Is this something a ½ :banana:guy like me can tackle? Any advice is greatly appreciated!

Doran
 
did it a couple of weeks ago, not bad at all. I forget the lengths but it is not to bad, you will have to pull the wire from the starter and the ground wire that connects to the engine. You can trace them with ease. The only other issue is that you might have to cut a notch to allow the fuses come through the battery tray.
 
With a group 34 battery you should be able to get away with the stock cables. You might have to push the fusable links into the battery tray area through the grommet - but many, including myself are running the non-reverse post group 34 batteries with the stock cables.
 
Ok you mentioned a Marine Deep Cycle and your battery dying. Did you replace your MAIN battery with the marine or did you replace the aux. with a marine. Just wanted to make sure. Reason why I say is because you shouldn't use a deep cycle as your main starting battery. Its not designed for large, quick power drains such as your starter.
 
If it turns out that you need to replace the cables to run the battery, Urban Land Cruisers makes some nice ones.

Urban Land Cruisers LLC | Electrical

They aren't cheap, but they are nice and are IMHO fairly priced for what you get.
 
Ok you mentioned a Marine Deep Cycle and your battery dying. Did you replace your MAIN battery with the marine or did you replace the aux. with a marine. Just wanted to make sure. Reason why I say is because you shouldn't use a deep cycle as your main starting battery. Its not designed for large, quick power drains such as your starter.

Yea, the MAIN battery died and was replaced with the deep cycle marine. Looks like it will be going back in the AM for the correct type. Not going with a dual set up any time soon, so this one will be useless for me :doh:. Thanks for the info!

If it turns out that you need to replace the cables to run the battery, Urban Land Cruisers makes some nice ones.

Urban Land Cruisers LLC | Electrical

They aren't cheap, but they are nice and are IMHO fairly priced for what you get.

Thanks for the link. I'm definitely going to replace the cables as they are looking a bit shady!
 
Ok you mentioned a Marine Deep Cycle and your battery dying. Did you replace your MAIN battery with the marine or did you replace the aux. with a marine. Just wanted to make sure. Reason why I say is because you shouldn't use a deep cycle as your main starting battery. Its not designed for large, quick power drains such as your starter.

The Diehard Marine 34M has 880 CCA. It is fine for a primary starting battery - YOU DO NOT NEED TO REPLACE IT.

880 is more CCA than the Optima yellow top I use for a primary battery.

www.sears.com said:
The PM-2 Platinum Marine Battery from DieHard features 135 minutes of reserve capacity and 880 cold cranking amps. Provides power for RVs, trolling motors, marine accessories and starting needs.

It is a rebadged Odyssey which sells as a multi purpose (starting and deep cycle) battery. When my yellow top goes - this is exactly what I am going to use to replace it. Hopefully you have not returned it yet.
 
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The Diehard Marine 34M has 880 CCA. It is fine for a primary starting battery - YOU DO NOT NEED TO REPLACE IT.

880 is more CCA than the Optima yellow top I use for a primary battery.



It is a rebadged Odyssey which sells as a multi purpose (starting and deep cycle) battery. When my yellow top goes - this is exactly what I am going to use to replace it. Hopefully you have not returned it yet.

I will be replacing my main battery soon (no dual setup), so with what is mentioned above, your main battery should not be replaced with a marine deep cycle battery unless you use one like the one with 880 CCA? Would that battery be a good choice or are there better ones? Price doesn't matter to me.
 
I will be replacing my main battery soon (no dual setup), so with what is mentioned above, your main battery should not be replaced with a marine deep cycle battery unless you use one like the one with 880 CCA? Would that battery be a good choice or are there better ones? Price doesn't matter to me.

If you have no extra loads - ie large inverter, winch, plasma gun - then the PM-2 is an awesome battery to go with. It fits easily - but has some terminal issues due to being non-reversed. The LC uses the less common placement of the positive and negative terminals. As I described above you can pull the fusable links into the battery tray area to overcome. The larger PM-1 has some major fitment issues - and your starter does not need the 1150 CCA that it provides.

If I were planning to run a winch on a non dual battery setup - I would look into the PM-1 version for sure.
 
Ok you mentioned a Marine Deep Cycle and your battery dying. Did you replace your MAIN battery with the marine or did you replace the aux. with a marine. Just wanted to make sure. Reason why I say is because you shouldn't use a deep cycle as your main starting battery. Its not designed for large, quick power drains such as your starter.

This is wrong. It even says on the Sears web site that the PM-2 "Provides power for RVs, trolling motors, marine accessories and starting needs." Dual-use batteries like this one do just fine for starting. The biggest reason not to get a dual-use battery if it is only going to be used for starting is that they cost more. But I was surprised at how small difference was in this case: $190 for the P-1 versus versus $200 for the PM-2 (both are group size 34).
 
This is wrong. It even says on the Sears web site that the PM-2 "Provides power for RVs, trolling motors, marine accessories and starting needs." Dual-use batteries like this one do just fine for starting. The biggest reason not to get a dual-use battery if it is only going to be used for starting is that they cost more. But I was surprised at how small difference was in this case: $190 for the P-1 versus versus $200 for the PM-2 (both are group size 34).

Exactly, for me the deep cycle capacity is important because my kids constantly leave doors open or the lights on otherwise. The yellow top has been drained to 0% 5 times now and it still comes back to life well when charged.
 
I would like to see some evidence of this. DC batteries have a very specific internal design that is best suited for slow draining. Just because it has 880CCA does not mean that internally it set up for quick discharges. The book I read on the 12 volt systems, and my only bible, is 'Managing 12Volt Systems' and it explains in great detail the internal design of each battery type. I would never use a DC as a main starting battery. If you guys want to, have at it.

The Diehard Marine 34M has 880 CCA. It is fine for a primary starting battery - YOU DO NOT NEED TO REPLACE IT.

880 is more CCA than the Optima yellow top I use for a primary battery.



It is a rebadged Odyssey which sells as a multi purpose (starting and deep cycle) battery. When my yellow top goes - this is exactly what I am going to use to replace it. Hopefully you have not returned it yet.

This is wrong. It even says on the Sears web site that the PM-2 "Provides power for RVs, trolling motors, marine accessories and starting needs." Dual-use batteries like this one do just fine for starting. The biggest reason not to get a dual-use battery if it is only going to be used for starting is that they cost more. But I was surprised at how small difference was in this case: $190 for the P-1 versus versus $200 for the PM-2 (both are group size 34).

Exactly, for me the deep cycle capacity is important because my kids constantly leave doors open or the lights on otherwise. The yellow top has been drained to 0% 5 times now and it still comes back to life well when charged.
 
I would like to see some evidence of this. DC batteries have a very specific internal design that is best suited for slow draining. Just because it has 880CCA does not mean that internally it set up for quick discharges. The book I read on the 12 volt systems, and my only bible, is 'Managing 12Volt Systems' and it explains in great detail the internal design of each battery type. I would never use a DC as a main starting battery. If you guys want to, have at it.

LOL - look at the Odyssey web site man. ...or any site that sells them - here try this one: Odyssey Drycell Car Batteries the 2150 is the PM-1 the 1500 is the PM-2 - and they are being sold for Everyday Vehicles.

Why don't you share some of that great knowledge why you cannot use an AGM battery for starting?

www.odysseyfactory.com said:
Some batteries provide enormous cranking power. Others, deep cycle reserve power. The revolutionary ODYSSEY® battery is designed to do both.

How is this possible? The answer begins with flat plates made of 99.99% pure virgin lead - not lead alloy. Pure lead plates can be made thinner, so we can fit more of them in the battery. More ODYSSEY battery plates mean more plate surface area. And that means more power – twice as much as conventional batteries.

In fact, ODYSSEY batteries are capable of providing engine cranking pulses in excess of 2250 amps for 5 seconds – double to triple that of equally sized conventional batteries, even at very low temperatures. And they can handle 400 charge-discharge cycles to 80% depth of discharge.

This extreme combination of power and performance makes ODYSSEY batteries perfect for a range of applications, including automotive/LTV, marine, commercial, and powersports.

Hey, I find most of your posts extremely informative - but you are flat out wrong here.
 
Thanks for info. So it looks like this battery will work, which is good. My only issue now is trying to extend the cables; today!
 
Hey, I find most of your posts extremely informative - but you are flat out wrong here.

This may very well be and perhaps Odyssey HAS managed to combine a starting battery with the benefits of a deep cycle. That's all fine and good. I am telling you that I WOULD NOT do that for myself. I will ALWAYS be using a dedicated starting battery as my main battery and a deep cycle as an aux.

I may be wrong in that Odyssey can do both, I am not wrong in deciding to NOT do that for my own vehicle.
 
Why don't you share some of that great knowledge why you cannot use an AGM battery for starting?

I never said you can't use an AGM for starting. AGMs are pretty much the best batteries you can get for your trucks.

All I said is you shouldn't use a deep cycle for starting, rule of thumb.

Now Odyssey does say they can do both, thats fine. Not for me.
 
This may very well be and perhaps Odyssey HAS managed to combine a starting battery with the benefits of a deep cycle. That's all fine and good. I am telling you that I WOULD NOT do that for myself. I will ALWAYS be using a dedicated starting battery as my main battery and a deep cycle as an aux.

I may be wrong in that Odyssey can do both, I am not wrong in deciding to NOT do that for my own vehicle.

That is not what you were saying here though...

Ok you mentioned a Marine Deep Cycle and your battery dying. Did you replace your MAIN battery with the marine or did you replace the aux. with a marine. Just wanted to make sure. Reason why I say is because you shouldn't use a deep cycle as your main starting battery. Its not designed for large, quick power drains such as your starter.

... it is specifically designed for large, quick power drains such as your starter. Three years and running on my Yellow top - which is also designed for both starting and deep cycle - but only 550 CCA, which is more than enough for starting as well.
 
That is not what you were saying here though...

... it is specifically designed for large, quick power drains such as your starter. Three years and running on my Yellow top - which is also designed for both starting and deep cycle - but only 550 CCA, which is more than enough for starting as well.

I'm sure it DID work great, I'm telling you I never will again. I have been down this road on more than one occasion and never did I have a shorter battery life then when I used a deep cycle as my main. Once I learned a little more about what makes up the difference between standard and deep cycle, I only used standard for my main. I have never ever had an issue since and I've had no name batteries last me 3x as long.

Perhaps you can do that with the Odyssey now but a deep cycle battery will never find its way into my main again, I don't care who makes it.
 
Man I'm a hack with too much time on his hands, I wouldn't follow me into a grocery store :flipoff2:

Not at all man - we just disagree on this.
 

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