Reddit mentions: The best automotive replacement batteries

Batteries are always going to involve trade offs, generally cost vs efficiency and/or life. Your cheapest option is always going to be flooded, and if that's your main concern, go with those and realize you'll probably be replacing them sooner than the AGM. When it comes to batteries, like most things, you get what you pay for. Yes, you can buy 6v 225Ah batteries from someplace like Sam's Club for $85 or whatever, but do you think they are as well made as a Trojan T105 that retails for over $150? Or as good as a Rolls S-290 that sells for twice that? All three have roughly the same specs, but I guarantee they won't last the same. Everybody that advocates flooded batteries seem to think they will. I've used flooded batteries in an off-grid house, I had 3600Ah of lead/calcium 2v batteries that I loved, but I would NEVER put flooded batteries in a van. GOOD ones cost almost as much as AGMs and are at least 15% less efficient. Check out this website for a comparison GOOD flooded batteries vs GOOD AGMs. I don't know what you can get in Canada, but I can't imagine AGMs are that rare there. The one you linked also gave a rating for cold cranking amps, which indicates that it isn't a true deep cycle battery, more like an Optima blue top vs a yellow top, so not a great choice. How about these? I would agree with others though, that one 100Ah battery is likely to be too small.

A few thoughts...

• 12V means you'll need a pretty big stack of LiFePo cells.
  
  That's pretty advanced design for a beginner - your best bet would be to either buy a pre-built pack with charging system, or to try a different battery chemistry. 12V SLA batteries are dirt simple and have great power-to-weight ratios for motors because of their low internal resistance.
  
  
• Sizing the battery comes in two parts, voltage and capacity.
  
  A higher voltage will give you better power and performance out of the motors, but won't have anything to do with battery life.
  
  A larger battery capacity will give you longer life and better high-current performance, but won't have anything to do with motor performance.
  
  Let's put it this way: if you stack 10 AA batteries in series you'll get a 15V battery, but it will still only last as long as a single AA cell. If you stack those same batteries in two chains of 5 cells you'll get a 7.5V battery, but it will last as long as TWO AA cells.
  
  The voltage is a measurement of the potential energy, but how LONG that energy can be put out depends on a battery's amp-hour rating. (7 Ah = 7 hours of life at 1 amp discharge, or 1 hour of life at 7 amp discharge.)
  
  
• This is starting to become a pretty difficult question.
  
  What kind of space and weight requirements do you have? How many watts will the motors be running at? Would you like it to last an hour, a day, a week? What's your price limit?
  
  Picking a battery isn't quite as simple as it sounds.
  
  If you're trying to drive some powerful motors, I'd recommend you get some SLA cells (like these ones here)[http://www.amazon.com/Battery-Replacement-Series-Beiter-DC/dp/B0001XE11K] instead of a LiFePo unless you absolutely need this to be a lightweight system.
  
  SLA will be heavy and bulky, but it will be cheap, put out lots of power, and be very simple to recharge. (12V trickle charger, leave it on overnight) That's much more approachable for a hobbyist.

> LiFePO4 cells are, generally, 1/3rd the weight, 1/3rd the size, 2x the usable power and 3x the cost. Properly cared for, a Lithium pack will last 5-8 years, where a properly cared for Lead Acid pack will last 2-5 years.

I have not tried LiFePO4 batteries yet. However they have not escaped my notice.

There are a number of LiFePO4 batteries on the market today that are drop-in replacements for AGM lead-acid batteries. They're generally more expensive than the AGM, but they claim increased lifespan making them cost-efficient today. Seeing as the entire AGM market hasn't collapsed yet, I'm not so sure about that. It could be, like incandescent bulbs, AGM technology will stick around for a long while as the "low cost of entry" option.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00H7I11P6/ $149.95 12.8 Volt 12ah

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CH4GYQG/ $31.95 12V 12Ah

Pretty compatible specs. But to replace a AGM in a fixed location where weight isn't an issue, the LiFePO4 would have to last around 3x as long (figuring in that there's a cost to test, remove, replace, and recycle the AGM batteries)

I can see where the LiFePO4 would make sense today on things like bikes and other extremely lightweight vehicles, but for vans? I don't think the extra weight is worth the extra cost. But wait, there's more...

The thing is, if you can mount the batteries solidly and vent them properly, if you're willing to test and top off the fluids, regular wet deep-cycle batteries blow the doors off of both AGM and LiFePO4.

http://www.atbatt.com/trojan-scs150-12v-deep-cycle-battery-superior-cycling-series.asp

This one has 100 Ah (8x + times the power of either the two above) for $135.84.

(all links chosen for comparison. no endorsement of brands or stores implied)

>This is the most ridiculous argument I’ve ever heard.

57% of US Greenhouse emissions come from transportation and electricity. Both you can absolutely change yourself. Nothing is stopping you from buying an EV and solar panels with a storage system. And in fact it is cheaper to do so now.

Lets focus on electricity, the average daily electricity consumption of a US residential utility customer is 10 kWh. (Which is very high, but whatever) that means that in a year it will be 3650 kWh. If we price it at 13 cents per kWh that's 475 USD per year. Or a total of 38K USD in 80 years (average lifetime of american).

A 5KW solar panel array will cost you 4.1K USD, in a good day it will produce about 25 kWh. Those will last 25 years. (they will still work after 25 years, just that their output drops about 1% each year).

A 10KWh lifepo4 battery will cost you 4.8K USD. This one will give you 10 000 charge cycles with a 65% DoD (that is about 6.5 kWh each night from the battery), 10 000 charge cycles is 27 years. In reality it might last longer because I don't think you're going to pull more than 6kWh each night out of the battery.

The reason why the battery is 10 kWh and the array produces 25 kWh is because it is an off grid system, so you need the extra to get by during cloudy days and the extra size of the battery helps with the cycle life. If you're going to be on a grid tie system you don't need the battery, and the array can be much smaller.

Giving that the average american lives about 80 years, that means that the battery and panels would have to be replace 3 times (in reality you don't really have to replace it all, those products will still work after 25 years, just that their output power and capacity wont be the same).

Either way, multiplying the total of the panels and battery (8.9K USD) by 3 gives 26.7K USD. 30% less of what you would otherwise pay on electricity with the somewhat overkill conditions I used. And of course you don't have to go and dump 8.9K USD at once, you can start with a small system that can be expanded in the future.

And I haven't touch wind power, microwind turbines are cheaper than solar panels and don't need as much battery storage. If you live in an area with average wind speeds over 8mph they are absolutely worth it.

Edit: Just in case, I know I didn't add the cost of the inverter and the solar controller, those two don't have that much of an impact in the total either way.

Worth noting that even though a grid tie system sounds better than an off grid one, it's got several issues, at large scale it isn't easy to implement because the utility company will have to deal administrating the extra production of the solar panels (which doesn't match with the peak hours of demand), also if the grid goes down you can't get power out of the panels as well. It all goes down. And finally you might end up paying back to the electric company because they usually pay you less for the kWh that you produce, as well charge you more in peak hours.

Edit2. The batteries as well can be gotten way cheaper by buying them used, there are lots of those. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L43bArxyszU

Edit3: Here are the panels and batteries that I used for my calculations.

https://www.amazon.com/Richsolar-Polycrystalline-Efficiency-Module-Marine/dp/B07DNP14JY/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=100W+rich+solar&qid=1565595960&s=gateway&sr=8-3

(50 of those for a 5KW array).

Battery: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07PV5FCYX/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_U_x_pMruDb244PVQ

12.8V 100AH (1.28 kWh) 600$. (8 of those for 10 kWh). Need BMS.

I also realized of an error in the calculations and the total of the panels is way less, either way even with the mistake it was 10% cheaper than the grid.

I just installed one on mine the other day here is mine..

Things you will need

• Fish finder this is the Garmin striker which I've heard great things about
  
  
• A transducer mount...i use the a similar transducer mount as OP which is really nice you can pull it up out of the water when in shallow water
  
  
• Battery .. really any 12v 7AH battery like this would work just fine and some even come with a charger
  
  
• Battery box I used an plastic Ammo box from harbor freight filled with foam and drilled a hole in it for the wire and sealed it with silicone and put an inline fuse in it as well
  pics
  
  That's pretty much all you need to install one and when you do the transducer cable is really long and it has to be you can't cut it ,the length is designed and it has the right resistance in the cable for the finder to read it properly
  
  Let me know if you have any questions

Here is a very small solar setup. It would be enough to charge a laptop for perhaps an hour of daily use and keep a decent number of rechargeable AA and AAA batteries charged.

• $149.99 RENOGY 100 Watt Monocrystalline Photovoltaic Solar Panel Module
  
• $18.61 Sunforce 7 Amp Charge Controller
  
• $156.40 Optima 8006-006-FFP 34M Deep Cycle Marine Battery
  
• $25.99 Whistler Pro-400W 400 Watt Power Inverter
  
  $350.99 (~£210) for a 100-watt solar system, 50Ah battery and a 400-watt inverter. Your prices may vary since you're in the UK. You will also need some wires to tie the components together and something to mount the solar panel but those you can get at your local home improvement store.
  
  Caveat: The charge controller is only good for a single solar panel. It's also more cost effective to get larger batteries and inverters if you plan on building it into a larger system. For that larger system follow the plan in my previously linked post.

Physically, I don't think it would fit. Your Elantra really uses what's called a BCI Group 47 battery.

Dimensions:
9.70"L 6.90"W 7.50"H

Your Optima you picked out is a Group 35.
9.10"L 6.90"W 8.90"H

The almost 1.5" in height may get close to the good. Your OEM cables for the terminals probably will not reach the extra height based on the engine photo I found.
http://image.automotive.com/f/hyundai-elantra-2013-road-test/46100970/2012-hyundai-elantra-coupe-engine-bayjpg.jpg

My experience with Optima is poor. Most of that production moved to Mexico years ago. Early Optima's (late 90's, early 2000's) were good quality. But you saw a quality drop in the number of warranty returns.

If you're in that market of battery, go for the real stuff. Odyssey.
https://www.amazon.com/Odyssey-PC1200MJT-Automotive-LTV-Battery/dp/B002496GK8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1493661693&sr=8-1&keywords=PC1200MJT

Product dimensions on Amazon for the PC1200MJT are wrong. Real dimensions are: Dimensions L x W x H (in) 7.87 x 6.66 x 7.60. MJ = Metal Jacket, T = Terminal. There are non MJ versions, but it givens the battery a bit more heat and physical projection. You need a T version for automotive terminal. Otherwise they're a recessed screw terminal.

You may need some modifications on your vehicle make sure the battery fits and installs correctly. Do not leave a battery loose in your engine bay.

It may be better to buy locally (more $), but if you have warranty concerns (even if you do buy the Optima), it's a lot easier to deal with them locally.

• CellLink B ($220 USD) - This is the standard dash camera battery pack that people would associate with dash cams.
  
  
• Optima Yellow Top car battery ($180 USD) - This is a replacement car battery.
  
  So there is 3 different types of Optima batteries, Red/yellow/blue.
  
  Red: Normal cranking battery.
  
  Yellow: Dual purpose cranking/deepcycle starting and for supporting energy consuming accessories.
  
  Use yellow top when electrical loads are higher than average or when the discharge cycle is more than a typical engine starting battery, and vehicle with significant electrical loads that may exceed the alternator output need the yellow top battery. This could also include vehicles that have a lot of electronics from the factory such as a mini van with power sliding doors, a dvd player. Especially if the dvd player is used when the engine isn't running.
  
  When in doubt use the yellow top battery.
  
  Blue: Either a dedicated starting or a deepcycle battery marine/RV use.
  

Replacing a 12v battery is incredibly easy. Assuming you have a 3rd gen you can get this battery for $150, I'd imagine one for the 2nd gen would be similarly priced and maybe even the same battery. Dealers overcharge like crazy for mechanic service. I'm sure you can find some for the 3rd gen as well, but for the 2nd gen there's this cooling fan assembly for $250. No idea how easy it is to swap that out, but I'd imagine it's not impossible to do on your own, and I think it'd be worth the $490 difference.

Online it looks like a cheap $35 battery. Good enough in a pinch, shit for long term.

Junk...

But yes jumping from a car is perfectly fine, so long as the car is off. The bike will draw the amps that it needs from the car when you try to start the bike.

If you start the car, then you shove those amps down your bikes throat. More specifically, your stator and/or regulator/rectifier's throat.

Dual batteries is something on my to-do list, but don't know if it'll ever become a priority. I'm kind-of a budget-minded overlander, and have this dual-battery stuff in my Amazon jeep wish list for "someday"...

M.O.R.E. JKDBT0709 07-11 Jeep JK Dual Battery Tray (I realize you said your's is a '12)
T-MAX 47-3800 Dual Battery System

You can pick one up from Amazon for $156

https://www.amazon.com/ACDelco-ACDB24R-Advantage-Automotive-Battery/dp/B010GKJ8F6

Installation is fairly easy. What the other guy said is true that the CCA's doesn't mean anything in a Prius as it is only used to power electronics and not to start the ICE itself like a normal car.

If you ran the battery totally dry, it's hosed. You need a new one.

Now, I don't know the year of your bike, but a 2012 Ninja 650R can use the YUASA YTX12-BS

I used this selection tool

A quick check found it for ~$68 on Amazon

Revzilla recommends a slightly different model for the same 2012 650R for about $112, although I've found Amazon often has them cheaper. Don't trust Amazon to tell you if it'll fit correctly, however. They got it wrong for my Triumph but Revzilla and Yausa both agreed on a part number.

I'd put in your specific Year/Model into one of those two websites and order a dry-charged battery. You'll need to get a trickle charger that'll do 0.75A or 1A at most, and it'll probably take an overnight cycle for the initial charge before you can install it.

Two 158w PV Panels - $268.00

ECO-WORTHY 20A 12V/24V MPPT Solar Charge Controller - $102.00

2 to 4 (as you can afford them) - Optima Batteries D31M 75AH Battery - $218.85 each

Whistler Pro-2500W 2,500 Watt Power Inverter - $193.46

You need to also get what ever you need to mount the panels on what ever surface your choose to put them on. Use cheap flexible copper pipe to connect the batteries together rather than paying for expensive heavy duty battery cables. You will need heavy duty cabling to connect the controller to the battery bank and the bank to the inverter. Keep those runs as short as you can. Get a few good heavy gauge 100' extension cords to run from the inverter to you appliances. Batteries are temperature sensitive, so if you keep them outside, build and insulated box for them.

EDIT:FYI - the links that have Amazon referral codes are from Steve Harris's website battery1234.com which has tons of good info about just this thing. I left the codes there since I pulled the info from his site.

Do not purchase a Taiwanese battery from Autozone or WalMart.

Buy a Yuasa factory sealed maintenance free battery.

The battery you want is a Yuasa YUAM7212A YTZ12S Battery

https://www.amazon.com/Yuasa-YUAM7212A-YTZ12S-Battery/dp/B000WK0ZA8

http://store.yuasabatteries.com/k/search?q=YUAM7212A+YTZ12S&x=17&y=9

Amazon is cheaper than Yuasabatteries.com...

Factory sealed batteries will last the longest.

The first factory sealed Yuasa maintenance free battery I ever owned was in my 1994 FZR1000.

It lasted eight years.

The second Yuasa battery was one I had to fill myself and charge up. It only lasted six years.

Taiwanese batteries from Walmart only last three years at most.

If there is a bottle of electrolyte in the box, it's not a factory sealed battery.

210ah for $210 is a pretty good deal. But if they are used, don't do it--never buy a used battery unless you exactly how much they are used and HOW they are used.

EDIT: here it is on Amazon, 5 star reviews out of 6 reviews, so pretty good battery I'd say. http://www.amazon.com/Powersonic-PS-12350NB-Battery-Nut-Bolt-Connector/dp/B0010AI3LM

To kind of answer your question I'd buy 2 of these (because I'm cheap) and connect them in parallel (positvive to positive and negative to negative).. Giving you 400Ah Dicharging the batteries@20h, and 320Ah@8hours.

 

To add solar you'll have to do:

Wh/(amount of usable,good sunlight)=Size of solar panels

The amount of usable sunlight is around 4~5 hours per day.

Your Wh is 101.3Ah*12v=1215WH

1215Wh/4.5hours= 270Watts

Now taking in consideration your charger efficiency, lets say 85%:

270W/.85=317W

So 317W of solar, but I'm sure 300w would be fine.

Sure thing.

I am running this battery
Optima Batteries 8027-127 D27M BlueTop Starting and Deep Cycle Marine Battery https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001UFXHQI/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_3lL4yb7C6Z6P6

Which I installed in this box
MinnKota Trolling Motor Power Center https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001PTHKMG/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_coL4ybRZADD52

I use this charger to keep it ready to go
Stanley BC1509 15 Amp Automatic Battery Charger https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001U04MSU/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_xnL4yb0GFAMKG

I like the MinnKota Trolling Motor Power Center as it has a carry handle, terminals to hook up my charger, and two 12v cigarette lighter outlets. I use one outlet for my 12v adapter for my CPAP machine and the other to keep my cell phone charge. It also has a simple meter to show the battery charge.

Using this setup I can get 6 night for summer camp and still have at least 75% charge on the battery.

I found a couple of really good looking battery deals, what do you think of them? Are they sketchy?

https://www.amazon.com/LiFePO4-Lithium-Phosphate-Off-Grid-Applications/dp/B07QZGFP2S/?th=1

https://www.amazon.com/lithium-LiFePO4-Battery-Electric-Batteries/dp/B07LBFQGKX/?th=1

Do you think the extra $100 is worth the pre-packaged BMS on the 12v100ah options?

I am also thinking about getting the Maxxair 5100 through Amazon, the manual opening one. The reviews on Amazon seem to indicate that if the fan fails it's really hard to get service/replacement. Does anyone have experience with this?

What do you all think of just taking out the starter battery and replacing it with a lithium one, and using that for the house battery?

Let's convert to Wh. Wh considers voltage and it a much better measure of energy.

USB power banks often list mAh using the voltage of the cells inside it, which have have a nominal voltage of 3.6-3.7V, instead of the output voltage. This is almost certainly for marketing since it results in a bigger number.

It's best to do a discharge test and determine the Wh expended in each increment, then add them together, but in this case all we can do is use the nominal voltage to do this conversion. The math is mAhV/1000=Wh, for 51.8 Wh.

This Optima deep cycle car battery has 55Ah. Using AhV=Wh with a nominal voltage of 12V, this battery has 660Wh.

Even if we assumed efficiency resulted in 15% losses, my guess is that a typical fully charged automotive battery would easily handle charging your power bank overnight.

Looks like the difference is ampere hours and physical size. Amazon says 10 amp hours for the ytx12-bs, 12 amp hours for the ytx14-bs, and 18 amp hours for the ytx20-bs. Just put in your bike and it should tell you what fits, I just got the ytx12-bs for my '08 naked, so will see how well it does in a couple days.

This battery ($65) yuasa or this battery ($41) Chrome pro? Regulator = $45. Stator $100+. Reg and stator combo = $105. So do I even need the stator? Thanks!

I was thinking something along lines of this:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001UFXHQI/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_3nGMAbT1DKVYR

This battery has 66 AH so this could run a fan for 12 hours as long as its under 2 amps or so.

Another option would be a dual battery system that you could charge from your alternator. This battery would be completely separate from your starting battery. This would also be cheaper than a solar system. I did something like this in my van:

https://youtu.be/1zrwHyy4qyY

So the 5 gallon water tank lasts you all day?

So, let's shave that 4 hour run time down to a mere 1 hour, and you'll have plenty forever. Building it smaller (since you're only building ONE of these systems) doesn't save you a whole lot:

Loads per day: 32.5 Watt-hours.
Days without sun: 3
Hours of sun per day: 4

Panel needed: ~25 Watts. (You only need ~8 watts for your load, but I figure you'd want to recover from a cloudy day or three with only one day of full sun, so that's where the extra wattage comes in!)

Battery Storage Needed: ~100 Watt-hours; a 35 amp-hour, 12-volt battery would be fine, and keep you above 75% SoC most of the time. Long as the cart's outside and in the sun every day, the battery will last a long time!

Charge Controller: Cheap 10 amp PWM still works.

A specific shopping list because I'm waiting on a video to render before I can get on with my night:

Solar Panel:

https://www.amazon.com/Monocrystalline-Newpowa-Quality-Module-Marine/dp/B01M9B6RQI/

Charge Controller:

www.amazon.com/PowerEZ-Controller-Battery-Intelligent-Regulator/dp/B074TB6FS8/

Battery:

https://www.amazon.com/Powersonic-PS-12350NB-Battery-Nut-Bolt-Connector/dp/B0010AI3LM/

Water Pump:

https://www.amazon.com/Seaflo-Diaphragm-Pressure-Caravan-Marine/dp/B00DLKT4OO/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?ie=UTF8&qid=1522996286&sr=8-1-spons&keywords=SeaFlo+water+pump&psc=1&smid=A3EBZ5HHZPL73

Wire:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01M0YDC6K/

This isn't copper, it's CCA, but for this amount of current really... :/ You're talking only a few amps at only a few feet, so it should be fine. (I mean, you're gonna get max less than 2 amps from that panel down to the controller, so really, you're not going to be pushing anything.

You can also use landscaping wire, if your hardware store carries 12 AWG landscaping wire. It's good for random small solar projects, or cut apart an old 12 AWG extension cord. (Or even 14 AWG if it's pure copper.)

The main thing I'm picking up on is secondary battery voltage is 12.5, and main battery voltage is 13 volts when the car is at idle. I'm going to assume the battery isolator is a diode; a diode will drop .7 volts. Replace isolator with a relay version with some thing like this, just make sure it has the 4 connections.

Next is going to be wire size. For 200 amps, you need big wire. Big wire going from the alternator, to the isolator, to the second battery, and finally to the DC load. Also keep the wire distance as short as possible. I'd recommend 2/0 welder cable.

Battery. Even with the car/truck running you are asking a lot from the secondary battery. Go with a good / expensive battery. Your looking for a deep cell battery. I don't know much about batteries, but this one looks good.

Ones like these use solid cells.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000MSDKMA?cache=b17de3e5c7d081ecf4596c51ddc9dc18&pi=AC_SX110_SY165_QL70&qid=1411819313&sr=8-8#ref=mp_s_a_1_8

My neighbor recently bought this:

https://www.amazon.com/Optima-Batteries-8020-164-Starting-Battery/dp/B000MS9VZK

And the negative terminal was loose so he returned it. Amazon required him to pay return shipping which was IIRC over $40. Good luck getting credit for the return shipping.

I changed my starter and battery when I changed my coils and plugs. Starts instantly now and there's no more hot start issue.

The starter was cheap, like $100. Don't buy the starter from Mazda, they quoted me $400 for it. But the battery was about $160. Just make sure your battery has enough power.

Here's the battery I got

Optima Batteries 8020-164 35 RedTop Starting Battery https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000MS9VZK/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awd_kCy-wb2GSERYB

There is a tutorial to scratch build an Optima battery, and it is quite simple. Let me see if I can find it.

Edit: here is a tutorial.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B010GKJ8F6/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

If you dont mind ordering online replaced my 12v on my 2005 with this, took about 15min.

$148.56 with tax and coupon applied.

absorbant glass mat, which was in my 07 and seems to be in most, but not sure about Gen 1, if that's what you have. I used this for my 07

I bought this one on Amazon last week. I installed it in my 2010 myself in 45 minutes and I'm a shitty mechanic. $168

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B010GKJ8F6?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title