Batteries for the dunes

[busasandrail]

So heres what I have going on, A few weeks back my battery of four years went bad. It was an odyssey battery #PC680, and for all I could tell it was a pretty good battery. But when I went to order a new battery they were on national back-order because of some manufacturing flaw.? So I ordered up a powermaster battery similiar to my old odyssey. All seemed fine for a few trips, The car ran great with no indication of problems, like blown fuses, stuff not working or any crazy smoke leaking from anywhere. Until this weekend, Im on my fourth trip out for the day and then all the sudden the car stumbled on me, like the power was shut off, sooo I "B" lined it back to the trailer to see what was up, thinking maybe the fuel was running low. Got back and started to trouble shoot the problem. Starting with the fuel, nope not that, then the power commander, nope not that either, fuses, nope, relays, nope, switches, nothing seemed wrong and of course right on cue the problem went away (probably because the battery cooled down?). So back out I went. I get the to back side of the dunes and then it starts to act up agian, but this time its worse and before you know it the car is completely dead sitting in the dunes, luckly not far from a staging area. So I call it a day because it was getting late anyway.
Now back home and tore apart the battery is acting just like the old odyssey battery did, it will show 12 vdc until you put a load on it then its dead, plus it wont take a charge. So my questions is what is the battery of choice of the dunes, I have heard that Odyssey batterys are no good through the grape vine, and have first hand account with a powermaster so should I go back to the odyssey or do some thing different? BTW the odysseys are back in stock so I could warranty the powermaster for a new powermaster or get a new odyssey what do you guys think?

[dunerocket]

Odyssey has worked fine for me, but I think in my new car I will have an Optima.

[arrowhead]

Jerry I have had an Odyssey in Junior for 4 years but one thing I have found is that if the battery gets low (accidently flipped on the HIDs) and the alternator will not bring it back on it's own I have to put it on a charger and bring it all the way up. My alternator is charging 14.4v but this problem has happened more than once. Got my battery on Ebay of course. They like a fully charged battery and they are too small for my load tester in the shop so the first time it happened it thought it was done.

Have you checked for a small battery drain? If not I can lead you through a test to find minute drains

Don't hesitate to call me
Dale

[punkur67]

I had an optima and smoked two starters. The Yamaha dealer told me that is was cause the battery was too big. In theory a motor should only draw how many amps it can use but for some reason the electrical theory went right out the window with my car. Swaped it out for the stocker and had no prob for two seasons.

[arrowhead]

I would really dispute that theory. I'll bet the Yamaha dealer does not sell Optimas.

I used to be a strong Optima backer and easily sold 100 of them over the years but this past year I have had at least 6 fairly new ones just fail period and my local NAPA dealer has stopped handling them because of warranty issues consequently I have become a little gunshy

[masterfabr]

Originally Posted by arrowhead

I would really dispute that theory. I'll bet the Yamaha dealer does not sell Optimas.

I used to be a strong Optima backer and easily sold 100 of them over the years but this past year I have had at least 6 fairly new ones just fail period and my local NAPA dealer has stopped handling them because of warranty issues consequently I have become a little gunshy

Interstate Batteries makes ones just like the optimas.Does Interstate perhaps make the Optimas or are they actually made by Optima in their own factory?

[punkur67]

I LOVE optima batteries and have them in all of my rides. That is why I used one in my sand car. I just wnet through 2 starters on the first two trips of my car and at over $200 each I wanted a solution. I put in a stock one and have not had a problem since. Just did not someone to have the same problems as me. Im shure there are many mbn members that use them in their cars.

[masterfabr]

Originally Posted by punkur67

I had an optima and smoked two starters. The Yamaha dealer told me that is was cause the battery was too big. In theory a motor should only draw how many amps it can use but for some reason the electrical theory went right out the window with my car. Swaped it out for the stocker and had no prob for two seasons.

Your dealer is FOS plain and simple.More likely was a poorly grounded starter.

[arrowhead]

Optima was bought out a year ago and that seems to be when the trouble started. They did make Interstate's for them.

I still have older Optimas in my m/home, forklift, shop truck etc. some over 8 years old

[masterfabr]

So they made the interstates and not the other way around.Thanks for the info.