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Best Battery?

BigBoss

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Hey All,

I'm starting to think that my battery in my Omega is on the way out, is there anything I should look for in a new battery?

Cheers
 

Boonz

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one with a minimum of 600 cca and minimum 95 reserve capacity
 

greenacc

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Thats pretty much means get the V8 battery for your V6 so you have some reserve power. Its in your owners handbook, it lists 2 batteries - get the bigger one. From memory its a DIN65LH. Century ones are about $200. I got one of those a couple of months ago and its going fine
 

Zerone_V

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I was searching the exact thing a couple of months ago...

A lot of people recommend Optima Batteries..
I bought an Optima Red Top 34R becuase the battery terminals are around the right way for the VE commodore, and I didnt want to stuff around to much trying to extend the battery cables / modify the connectors to get a Yellow Top to fit.
(The Yellow Tops are a better battery, but the most suitable one, the Yellow Top 34 has the battery posts around the wrong way).....

Having said that, the Red Top 34R required a little bit of dicking around to get it to fit, and the connectors to fit. (They needed to be straightened, and a spacer needed to be added so the battery was held in place...
Sooooo, I kinda regret getting the Red Top, and Wish I had gone for the Yellow top....

Here are some pictures of the Optima Red Top 34R fitted to my VE
www.carmodder.com • Fitting an Optima Battery to a VE

You can see on the very first image that the negative battery connector needed to be bent horizontally, so as it cleared the battery...
 

BigBoss

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Thanks for all the input lads :)
What is the advantage of the optima batteries?
 

greenacc

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What do you use your car for ? just normal driving, or do you have a fully sick 10 thousand dollar system with Huge subs that draws a heap of power ? That's the usual reason people go looking for weird and wonderful batteries
 

BigBoss

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It is no $10,000 system but i do run a custom sound setup with a sub n amp combo and would like the ability to run it for a decent amount of time without the fear of it not starting the next morning.
 

Zerone_V

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What do you use your car for ? just normal driving, or do you have a fully sick 10 thousand dollar system with Huge subs that draws a heap of power ? That's the usual reason people go looking for weird and wonderful batteries

I would have agreed with you in the past... Before I owned a VE....

The VEs (Especially the CalaisV with all its electronics) have a penchant for killing batteries...
It got to the stage where if I didnt drive my VE for more than 2 days, I would need to stick the battery on charge for an hour or so before I could start it...
(If I could start the car, then I had no issues, as a 5 minute drive would charge the battery back to normal)...

I knew that buying a new battery would extend this period of time, but the way I figure, I will be keeping this car for at least 5 years, so I may as well get a good battery so as I dont have to replace it again within the 5 year period.

The main advantages of the Optima batteries are,
1) Maintenance free (No big deal really, there are a lot of batteries that are maintenance free out there for cheaper)...
2) Deep Cycle, means that thing can recover from a low voltage state, without lead sulphate building up and increasing the batteries internal resistance.
3) Very low internal resistance, means the battery can deliver cold cranking amps at lower voltages, meaning that you car is more likely to start if left for long periods of time...
4) 5 Year warranty in the USA (In Ozs, typically they have a 3 year warranty)

An Optima battery will cost you around twice a standard battery, but it will handle a lot more punishment and abuse. (I.E. In CarPC on with engine off, constant electrical loads without the engine running, ability to start at lower voltages),
and as long as you dont really abuse the thing, it should last at least twice as long as a standard battery...

The Red Top 34R has the following specs
Cold Cranking Amps : 800
Capacity : 50 Ah
Reserve Capacity : 110 Ah

If you look around, you should get yellow / red tops D34 Yellow top or 34R Red Tops for around $260-$280Au with free shipping
 

BigBoss

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Cheers Zerone_V definitely something to think about
 

greenacc

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I must have been lucky so far, I've only had 1 battery issue with the Berlina, and that was the day the original battery turned 5 years old and suddenly croaked on me, never to start again.
The Calais has a bit more bling but it just makes me wonder, what's wrong with Holden's electrical engineers, were they asleep when the VE was designed ? Surely they can add up all the electrical load the systems are going to place on the battery and weigh that up against suitable battery options. It seems like they just 'built' the VE rather than 'Engineered' it. The problems you speak of with the car not starting are bloody unacceptable in a modern car.
When it comes to sound systems i have absolutely zero knowledge, so i can't offer any advice on their power requirements at all.
 
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