[Guest]

I was hoping that the great people on this board might give me their opinion on which is a better battery for offroad. I'm kind of leaning towards the orbital because of the dual top post plus the side post. That would make hooking up a winch real easy. I all ready have dual batteries, with an isolator, but I'm sick of cleaning battery acid residue out of the engine compartment.

price is about the same 130-140 for the optima, 135 for the orbital. carparts.com carries them both so I can get 20% off using their current coupon...

My name is Ted, and I'm a Jeep-a-holic. /wwwthreads_images/icons/laugh.gif
[email][email protected][/email]

 

[688]

Hey Highhood,

They are the same exact battery, both made by Interstate Battery, just different badging. I run the Orbital with marine terminal connectors for all four posts, works great. also check out for additional info. http://bbs.off-road.com/wwwthreads//showflat.pl?Cat=&Board=offroadjeepshort&Number=456876&page=1&view=collapsed&sb=5

'83 CJ-7 nothing original but the tub and axle tubes

 

[338]

The Exides and Optimas, resemble each other closely, and they are both, a Spiral Core Technology, battery. But they are not excactly the same. I would imagine, that Excide, bought the rights from Optima or something along those lines,(just speculating), and Excide geared up a factory to get their version to market. But they are not identical, the cases are not the same size, the excide is about a 1/2" taller and the Optima is wider, I found this out when mounting the 2 of them side by side in a very tight dual battery tray that I had built for Optimas. With a new Excide installed along side a 3 month old Optima, the Excide battery, began to get weak after about 1 month, and failed to be able to take a charge, one night durring heavy use, on the Fordyce trail, about 2 months from new. They (Checker Auto) replaced it, and it has held up OK for the last year as a back up battery, (but has not been pushed hard). I have not hooked up a dual battery system, with my V8 yet, so the Optima is in the starting line up at the time.
In my personal opinion, (based, only on a very short history with the Excide) I would not trust the Excide as much as the tried and true, Optimas that have never let me down. If I had to choose one battery to be able, to get me home, in the worst conditions, my money would be on the Optima.

Jeff
89 YJ
Wow, you can get a nice tan on your arms, from welding with no shirt on.

 

[688]

Well there you have it folks! The definitive word. I refuse to argue with Jeff, and realize that someday, if I'm lucky, I might grow up to be as hardcore as he is. Truth is, I'm just not THAT hard on my equipment, but I'll gladly take the advice of those who have learned their lessons the hard way.

I noticed that the bodies on the two batteries differ, when I put my yellow-top in next to my Orbital (have a rubber puck spacer to hold it in). The Orbitals still have a great warranty, so if this one goes bad, I'll have it replaced free of charge. Until that fateful night I'll run it in my dual battery system along with the real-deal-yellow-top.

Thanks for the correction H8.

'83 CJ-7 nothing original but the tub and axle tubes