Oddesy batteries

[SteveL]

Anybody try once in their bronco? How are they compared to an optima?

 

[EPB72]

Time will tell? Using the pci1500 and a ruff stuff clam shell style battery tray I do have multiple regular customers with them, and one pair is still going strong since 2012 but is in an 08 LC with about 400k heavly used, really wouldn’t consider an optima as I have seen many many failures that I consider premature, in customers vehicles, in the last 25 years or so..,,

 

[okie4570]

My first red top optima lasted 13y. The next two lasted 1.5y each. Haven't bought one since.

 

[Timmy390]

Every manufacturer is making AGM batteries these days. I'm a huge fan of East Penn They make Deka and a host of rebranded batteries such as NAPA and the ones I use, Duracell sold at Sams. All my batteries are either Wal Mart house brand or Duracell.

Tim

 

[MarsChariot]

Only use Odyssey batteries. Optima not so much anymore for the aforesaid reasons.

 

[kman67]

Ive been using Oddesy batteries for about 5 years. I left something on over night and drained one of my batteries. It wouldn’t charge to over 11.5 volts after that. I bought a nice charger/desulfator Battery Minder
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01D3SWXUA/?tag=classicbroncos-20 that can also charge lithium batteries for future use. I left it on my battery for about a week and it now can hold a charge at 12.5 volts again.

Batteries Plus has a sale every once in a while where you can get up to $30 off. This sale ends on September 8th

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[1969]

I put an Interstate Battery AGM in everything I own.

 

[Broncobowsher]

Back in 2011 I got a Diehard Platnium, a rebadged Oddesy for my daily driver. In AZ my daily driver is well known for getting 2 years out of a regular battery. At 7 years old I thought I had a slight slow crank one winter morning. I went ahead and replaced the battery, I got my money out of it. The 2018 battery is still in there today. Recently got a battery tester. The battery is over 6½ years old and tested 100%. I think it was 3CCA under the original spec.

I'll counter that with the new truck I bought in 2021 (December of 2020 build) and that flooded cell battery is showing 60% and I am shopping for a group 27 Oddessey to drop in. That battery is proving to be very difficult to find.

Back in 2018 I also bouth another Oddessey for my boat. It get the project car abuse/neglect of not being used regularly and if I remember I might put it on a battery tender for a night once every few months. It was testing as a good battery but needed a charge. Forgot what it tested at.

Never had one leak. Never had one suddenly fail.

My Mother's car got a rebadged diehard (like I did in 2011) in maybe 2012, I am pretty sure that battery is still in use.

Yes, I am a fan of them. They cost money, but you get value for that money.

 

[pbwcr]

Odyssey group 65 in the bronco after 4 years still as good as new.
JL Jeep after 3 years. Same size. I Abused for sure with winching and leaving the lights on. Still l good as new.
From what I read the use of pure lead is the reason for long life and recovery from abuse.

 

[Apogee]

Odyssey has always been a really good battery in my experience, though in any big industry like the lead-acid battery industry, there's always shuffling and consolidation going on among the various manufacturers and investment groups. It used to be Hawker Energy, then I think Enersys bought them out, nowadays I'm not sure who owns them. I used to run all Hawker batteries (Sears Die-Hard Platinum series), but since the decline of Sears I've been running the DEKA/East Penn Mfg Intimidator AGM batteries with good results.

I see a lot of people hype up Interstate batteries, and I understand why, but just for the record, they don't manufacture anything. They're an engineering/distribution company the basically pays companies like East Penn Mfg (DEKA), Johnson Controls (JCI) before they sold their battery division to Clarios, Exide, Enersys, etc., to manufacture their batteries under contract, so it could be one manufacturer one year and another the next. There's also a regional component since shipping batteries is expensive. If you've ever been in a battery plant and walked through the final assembly lines for the batteries, there are stickers for all sorts of brands you'd recognize from all of the major OEM's, to the aftermarket stuff for Napa, Autozone, WalMart, etc.

 

[Broncobowsher]

I was running Northstar before they merged with Oddessey. Last I knew, still manufactured in Missouri.

Many years ago I got a tour of the Delco, actually Delphi, battery plant. The name changed a day or two before I went through. For some, you can date that. All the batteries there were for a single client. The battery cases were leak checked with high voltage. If they could get an arc to go through, it was a bad case.

As for my battery that only lasted 7 years, I forgot to mention how much I abused it. I know twice I ran it near dead by leaving the ARB fridge running all night long. Forgot to turn it off after getting back from the grocery store. And I am sure there were a few other run downs with that fridge that were not to the slow crank situation as well. That was 7 years of abusing the starting battery as a house battery as well.

 

[toddz69]

Another vote for Odyssey batteries. They're all I use in my Bronco. My first one lasted at least 8-9 years and it's actually still being used in my shop as a windshield wiper switch tester. I used Optimas back in the 90s/early 00s when they were made in CO before Johnson Controls bought them. My first Optima Red Top lasted about 10 years.

Todd Z.

 

[Broncoblood]

i put an odyssey battery in my Turbo S sideXside rig and it fires up every time even after sitting for months,
it amazes me every time!

ODYSSEY PRIDE

 

[pbwcr]

My son in-law worked for Johnson Controls back in the day, All the relatives and friends bought Optima yellow tops and picked them up at the warehouse in Denver.
Yes they lasted for many years. Both of those Bronco still have the Optima's after years since they were sold. I had two batteries per vehicle and bought 4 of them. Cost was $25 each.
Sadly they moved the whole operation to Mexico and it years before that version became as good as the Denver product. I guess they have worked it out these days , but I do no t know.
I tried East Penn AGM next and that was a big mistake. Odyssey was next.
The LJ Jeep I sold 3 years ago it still running an Odyssey. The new Jeep had the battery die while I was in Baja and it now has a Chinese made Interstate.
Turned on that battery was another East Penn with a very short life. Sigh

 

[ntsqd]

When I bought Snowball it had a Motorcraft battery in it with "DEFECTIVE" hot stamped in it. The PO told me it was just a battery that he had laying around and not to expect too much from it. Shortly after getting it home in 2019 I put a Group 65 Odyssey in it and moved the Motorcraft to the newly created 'house' battery position. During my big brakes/4W disc/D60 swap it got pulled down to dead when I forgot to switch it back off after needing battery power for something. I put a trickle charger on it and left it alone for a week (not like I could drive the truck anyway). Even after abusing it like that the Odyssey has never given me any trouble.

I have not ever had great results from Optimas. At best they've been equal to more generic batteries that cost less.