OEM battery took a dump. I don't have the reciept and need a new battery. I am not sold on the Optimas as one already took a dump on me (in my 55). I hear alot of good chatter about odyssey and pimp swears by excide orbital extremes. Anyone have a size of part number? How many CCA? I got to get the wifes 80 back online tonight so help me out. Thanks
What size Odyssey or Orbital Extreme for an 80??
- Thread starter drohweder
- Start date
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Get an Interstate. They are ubiquitus and there are a million dealers. In addition, Toyota thinks enough of them to use them as the OEM replacement battery supplier in the US.
Dan,
You'll want a minimum capacity equivalent to a Group 34 and finding one with "Reverse Terminals" makes fitment in your 80 much easier. A standard Group 34 will work but you may have to loosen up the wiring harnesses to get things to reach. If you go with a shorter battery than the TruStart then you need to get a spacer or something (1x4 block of wood) to raise the battery a little.
-B-
You'll want a minimum capacity equivalent to a Group 34 and finding one with "Reverse Terminals" makes fitment in your 80 much easier. A standard Group 34 will work but you may have to loosen up the wiring harnesses to get things to reach. If you go with a shorter battery than the TruStart then you need to get a spacer or something (1x4 block of wood) to raise the battery a little.
-B-
- Thread starter
- #5
Found an Optima 0s6 (or something) retailed for $160 somehow I got a dealer discount and scored it for $99. It about the same size as the original TrueStart (OEM) and I didn't have to do any mod or spacer to make it fit. Its got a Replacement warranty for 24 months pro-rated after that for another 36. Couldn't beat the price and I heard lots of good stuff about the Orbital extremes on this site. Thanks for your help. The forum scores again.
I have an Odyssey 1200, have only managed to kill it once (after some extreme usage), and then I just flipped the switch and cranked off my backup.
This thing is super tough, and built to mil-spec (Hawker is a military contractor). Even has the steel outer case to help protect from small arms fire. Also very small footprint, so you can put a couple quarts of oil, a rag, and a funnel in the battery compartment as well (like I do). And it has the reverse terminals. More complete drain cycles and longer shelf life spec'd as compared to an Optima Yellow Top. Can surge up to 1200 amps for five seconds for cranking (normally something like 750 CCA).
For the price (same as an Optima) it is a superior battery in every way. I will never buy a Yellow or Blue Top as long as the Odysseys are available.
My $.02,
This thing is super tough, and built to mil-spec (Hawker is a military contractor). Even has the steel outer case to help protect from small arms fire. Also very small footprint, so you can put a couple quarts of oil, a rag, and a funnel in the battery compartment as well (like I do). And it has the reverse terminals. More complete drain cycles and longer shelf life spec'd as compared to an Optima Yellow Top. Can surge up to 1200 amps for five seconds for cranking (normally something like 750 CCA).
For the price (same as an Optima) it is a superior battery in every way. I will never buy a Yellow or Blue Top as long as the Odysseys are available.
My $.02,
- Thread starter
- #7
Guess what. That battery was my first mod to the 80. Pretty lame huh? Can you even call it a mod when I needed one anyway? At least my truck is no longer 100% OEM.
Okay, now I'm confused, I called a local Odyssey rep and he really tried to talk me out of one! He told me that the typical Odyssey batt is basically for motorcycles and that the larger ones are still smaller in CCA and size than most regular batts. He also told me that Hawker and Optima originally were the same, that they have split somehow but they started as the same with Hawker being a mil-spec supplier division of Optima? He admitted he was not absolutely aware of all the particulars but thought that this info was more or less correct. He also told me that more and more the larger Odysseys that he sold are coming back within a year to a year and a half. He stated that the Optima has a better warranty, better price and better performance overall? He also stated that he never has had problems with Optimas coming back. Lastly he stated that his vehicle application chart show the 80 series as a 24F group series battery not a 34 group (the F denotes reversed terminals). Anyway, thought I would run this by the fine folks here and see what you say. The Odyssey was more expensive by about 50 bucks so I'm inclined to think that he would rather sell me one of those but he really worked hard to convince me otherwise. Any thoughts? Thanks.
Turbo, well, you can read through this forum and quickly find a lot of posts complaining about Optimas. That said, I still have 2 in my truck. Red = main, and blue = 2nd. As soon as I they dump, they will be replaced with real batteries.
pound3151 said:
how do you do this mod?
Junk said:
Right, I searched and searched and ruled out the Optima totally due to the problems so many have had, BUT, I thought that the consensus ( if there is such a thing here ) was that the Odyssey was superior to the Optima for sure and also to regular wet lead acids in general. After all the searching I started calling Odyssey dealers to check price and availability. I was super surprised that the top Odyssey dealer tried to talk me out of one. He was brutally honest but basically bashed the battery's performance and the battery's reliability. Like I wrote it was the most expensive battery he sold, so, he would have made more money selling me that one; I guess he is tired of getting them back. I have some time to think this through as my current Toyota OEM Truestart is still working but today I took a long washboard rough road and at an overlook, after about thirty rough miles, I opened the hood just to take a look at all the components and such and saw that there was residue of batt acid all around the square cell covers, no liguid, no leak, just residue. I also saw that the top of the batt was bulging a little. I did not think that this was normal. Although the previous owner was meticulous with maintenance of any sort, I am not aware if, or when, he replaced the batt. I want to address this prior to problems but just when I was set on the odyssey, things got muddy!!! Damn I hate mud, on the ground, or, in my mind! Several other posts that the search showed stated that with the exception of the no leak thing, a regular wet lead acid batt is superior in many ways to a dry cell batt. Thanks in advance for any other advice.
Or maybe he has a huge inventory of Optimas that he wants to move, so he'd rather sell you one of those...
Everything I have read and heard and experienced points to the Odyssey as the better battery. He is correct in that the two companies used to be one, but Odyssey was NOT a division of Optima. Odyssey is a division of Hawker, who is a military supplier (anyone ever heard of the Harrier?). A few guys from Hawker/Odyssey broke off on their own and formed Optima to exploit the consumer market. Not bad batteries (I use Red Tops for my more "normal" vehicles that never see anything but pavement). But if my life depended on it, I'd take the Odyssey.
BTW, if you check the specs and the info from Odyssey versus the same info from Optima, you'll find that Odyssey's performance specs are better and so is their warranty. Not sure why he claims otherwise. I've abused my Odyssey for two years, only managed to kill it once, and then I just cranked from the backup and it came back fully online. No worries.
Everything I have read and heard and experienced points to the Odyssey as the better battery. He is correct in that the two companies used to be one, but Odyssey was NOT a division of Optima. Odyssey is a division of Hawker, who is a military supplier (anyone ever heard of the Harrier?). A few guys from Hawker/Odyssey broke off on their own and formed Optima to exploit the consumer market. Not bad batteries (I use Red Tops for my more "normal" vehicles that never see anything but pavement). But if my life depended on it, I'd take the Odyssey.
BTW, if you check the specs and the info from Odyssey versus the same info from Optima, you'll find that Odyssey's performance specs are better and so is their warranty. Not sure why he claims otherwise. I've abused my Odyssey for two years, only managed to kill it once, and then I just cranked from the backup and it came back fully online. No worries.
