Recommended batteries for overland travel?

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DillonOnTheCoast

10 Year
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My 60 has a dual 12v battery system with a 12v isolator. I've been having a difficult time keeping my batteries charged. Since I don't want to get rid of my fridge, amplifier, laptop charger, auxiliary lighting, or high output headlights, I decided to upgrade the alternator (you can see how well that is going here) and to consider replacing my batteries.

Currently the main vehicle circuits are on a yellow top Optima while the auxiliary devices draw off a blue top Optima. Both are dual-purpose batteries.

There is a lot of conflicting advice on this. Most people fall in the extremes of two camps:

  • AGM batteries are like battery nirvana. They charge more completely from a vehicle alternator and are more suited to overland travel workloads.
  • Only a fool would go for those new-fangled gel things. What you want is the largest battery you can fit. So what if they dry out and fail in the tropics?


My blue-top is a 55AH battery. That doesn't seem very large. Still, I do value reliability and that seems to be where AGM shines.

The PO installed the batteries. I am not all that attached to them. People are trying to convince me to ditch them.

I'll be using them for a long roadtrip through Latin America.

What do you say?
 
I use 2 x 670cca for cranking and have a 105 amp fullriver deep cycle AGM. It will run my 80 litre fridge for 3 days using the fridge economically.
Ive only used it twice but it worked well.

Have you thought about recharging a fridge battery with some solar panels? This would take some load off your alternator and the panels would also work whilst driving.
If you have sunny weather ,the panels may give you all the fridge power you need.
Theyve come done in price a lot recently and you could probably get away with a 40-50 amp deep cycle battery with lots of sun

If your cranking batteries have been severly discharged a few times ,I would be reluctant to trust them on a long trip.
 
Thanks for the thoughts but you've just raised a bunch of new questions.

I thought you shouldn't mix AGM and non-AGM batteries, even isolated. True?

I use a 30watt solar panel that clips onto my battery. It produces around 2.5a. I haven't come across anything that could be permanently mounted (and take off-road abuse). Recommendations?

Why the Optima hate? Is it about Optima's specifically or AGM in general? I don't want to replace them because of rumors and anecodetes but I would replace them if I had something to back it up.

Roscoe - the cranking battery hasn't been run down - just the auxiliary blue top one.
 
Do some searching on Optimas - they just don't make them like they used to.
 
DillonOnTheCoast said:
...Why the Optima hate?...
Click to expand...

I worked as a line tech for 20 years. I have several bad memories of Optima equipped vehicles in my stall that after I left the key on or a dome light on for too long, or for no apparent reason at all wouldnt crank, wouldnt jump, wouldnt charge. A lot of customers assume repair shops are trying to rip them off anyway so not fun telling a customer they need a new battery when they didnt have a problem before they brought it in.

I've never owned one, and my experience is purely anecdotal, but Optima batteries just seem fragile to me. My experience has been that when an Optima fails its usually catastrophic. Rather than fading slowly over time, it turns into a voltage sucking black hole without warning. Not something I would want in the backcountry.

Sorry I cant help you with your other questions. Beyond my expertise. Hopefully someone with more experience will chime in here.

:popcorn:
 
I ran dual red tops in my 96 Yukon 6.5TD. got about 6 years and 100000k miles.. No overlanding just driving and camping. i just replaced them with autozone brand batteries. I had good luck but then they were just starters for me..
 
I run a single Sears Die Hard Platinum Group 34 battery. Last week I went on a trip and had my fridge plugged in for about 10 days. Worked like a charm. Even when parked at night, I could run the radio and charge my laptop for 3-4 hours (and run the fridge) without having any issues. Great batteries.
 
I have a single Die Hard Platinum PM-1 and last spring down in Baja it was good for running my ARB fridge at 32 degrees for 3 days at a time without starting the cruiser.

Great batteries that have been flawless on the worst roads in Baja.
 
You want the biggest physical size battery with the lowest CCA and good amp hours. Don't get sucked into high CCA, all they do is pack more plates in the battery and they end up touching one another and killing batteries.

Kirkland batteries by Johnston have always served me well.

I will never do optimas again. I had red tops for starting and a blue top for the fridge. Killed them twice after one season.

I currently run DEKA AGM Intimidator and LOVE them. Best batteries I have used to date.

I also picked up a set of industrial AGM batteries for the trailer. They held a charge over the winter. Very happy with that new fangled technology.
 
My optima in my land cruiser lasted about 2 years. My regular Kirkland batteries from Costco have generally lasted as long as I've owned the vehicles they are in. I suppose I'd want one 1000+ CCA battery and one big deep cycle on an isolator.
 
My experience with the redtop optimas is that they are expensive and FAIL way sooner than they should. As folk have stated, it's generally a catastrophic failure, running fine one minute, hop back in to start up again and dead as a door nail.

Just NOT worth the money. They should rename them Optimistic since you need to be, if expecting to get more than 4 years out of them and in my case they failed before that.

The kirkland in my jeep is 7yrs old and still running strong. I now have kirkland brand in my 80 (dual batt system).

cheers,
george.
 
I had one Red Top in my 4Runner that lasted for 8+ years before going bad. Then I went through two replacements over the next 6 months before finally giving up and going to an Odyssey.
 
Bighead said:
I had one Red Top in my 4Runner that lasted for 8+ years before going bad. Then I went through two replacements over the next 6
Click to expand...
Similar here. Going on 6 years of flawless red top use in my DD, so no complaints their. But.....I bought a yellow top for rally car (big night lighting system and communications and nav gear) first one lasted 18 months, second one 12 months, on third now... Only good thing is Autozone keeps replacing. Exploring replacement sealed batteries for rally car and something robust for LC100, current OEM has 8 years on it....
 
From this and other threads, I gather that people don't like Optimas because they don't give warning when they fail and anecdotally they seem to fail sooner than they should.

Based on that, I think I'll just run them till they fail and and replace them when that happens. I'll go for one good high-CCA cranking battery and one deep-cycle battery (no more hybrids).

1tontoy said:
Have you ever tried to charge an Optima?
Click to expand...

Yes. The only time I have problems is when I take lots of short trips after running down the aux battery with the fridge/stereo.

If I go for a nice long highway drive or I plug it in and charge it in the garage it works fine.
 
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