optima Battery

[strangenuts]

Everyone seems to love them. What I don't get is they don't seem to have many amp-hours on most of them, for their size at least. Can anyone tell me what the story is with them?

optimas can be discharged down to 0 and then still recive a charge from an alternator... a normal battery can only be discharged to around 70% without doing damage to battery. so if you have a 100ah battery you really only have 30ah that is usable whereas my optima has 66ah and can use the whole lot safely time and time again without damage. if you discharge a normal battery more then 5ish times it will be stuffed.

Interesting.

[Blackie2008]

I think it's more like you can only use 70% of that without damaging the battery. The bloke I bought my calcium battery off said that my 105AH battery was the equivalent of about a 65AH AGM battery.

On another note, I bought a D27F yellow top today and wow, I've never heard the hilux start so fast. $280 wasn't a bad price I thought.

[Blackie2008]

Thanks for the advice everyone

[glennmac2]

Does anyone no for sure what you can discharge the yellow tops down to without damaging the battery ?

[Hiluxd4d30]

I'm not exactly sure but I have pulled the yellow tops down a heap over the last couple of years and are still running the engel and have charged up quickly no problem.

[anthony kemp]

Does anyone no for sure what you can discharge the yellow tops down to without damaging the battery ?

on there site it says 100% discharge is 10.5v and it can be discharged more then 300 times in its life

[tubbers]

I see above a D27F as a starter battery. That's 12" (309mm). My hilux seems to only have a 10" starter battery (254mm) - the plastic tray only looks that big too. Did toyota change the main battery size at some point (mine is 2006)? My winch on the weekend was struggling, and the dash lights faded - I think the starter battery is on its way out. Has anyone fitted a larger starter battery (and what parts needed changing)?

[anthony kemp]

mate there is heaps of room where the started battery sits. my mate has a huge CAT battery for his starter.

[BIGFOOTJR]

Be careful with fitting heavier and larger batteries, the wheel arch has limits and would cause stress fractures throughout the wheel arch.

Consider relocating if you want more juice

[XsQuiZiT]

I see above a D27F as a starter battery. That's 12" (309mm). My hilux seems to only have a 10" starter battery (254mm) - the plastic tray only looks that big too. Did toyota change the main battery size at some point (mine is 2006)? My winch on the weekend was struggling, and the dash lights faded - I think the starter battery is on its way out. Has anyone fitted a larger starter battery (and what parts needed changing)?

I just trimmed the lip on the plastic tray on the engine side so the battery can sit further over

[apSlain]

I see above a D27F as a starter battery. That's 12" (309mm). My hilux seems to only have a 10" starter battery (254mm) - the plastic tray only looks that big too. Did toyota change the main battery size at some point (mine is 2006)?

Heya, just bumping up this comment again.

Pretty much in the same scenario - got an '06 and looking for a new battery. I'm especially looking at the Optima D27F. Has anyone fit one as a starter battery and does it fit in the tray or will I need to modify the tray?

Sneaking this comment in at work otherwise I'd go out and measure it

[flip9]

Pretty much in the same scenario - got an '06 and looking for a new battery. I'm especially looking at the Optima D27F. Has anyone fit one as a starter battery and does it fit in the tray or will I need to modify the tray?

Sneaking this comment in at work otherwise I'd go out and measure it

I'm curious as well. My battery is on its way out.

Let me know where you buy the battery from. The cheapest i can find is like $340

[tubbers]

I cut the lip on the factory tray. It overhangs the tray now. My thought was the tray is to trap leaking acid etc, and the Optimas are sealed and don't leak, so no risk cutting tray. (i had a century battery that was total junk and leaked acid everywhere - so i guess the tray is important if you don't go sealed AGM batteries

i got mine on ebay from autoelecau. I used one of the ebay 20% sales. After the discount it was $267 !!! nice!

I now have 2 of these batteries, connected through a redarc isolator. No winching problems now!

[aandy]

Obviously the tray size changed somewhere along the line, mine is a 2011 update SR5 and a D27 fits in no problem without cutting the lip.

Because of the odd shape top of the optima, the battery hold down clamp doesn't work great, a strip of old fan belt under the clamp rectifies this problem very well.

[Torsion]

Best battery I've ever purchased.
Will not go back to any other type of cranking purpose battery, changing over to Optima's for all my cars.
Fits in the lux perfectly, no mods needed anywhere, original Toyota battery hold bracket is retained.

Same as Tubbers, purchased via autoelec, they posted it to my front door.

[apSlain]

Cheers all.

I wonder when the tray size changed. I see that tubbers has a 2006 model and Torison has a 2008, and 2008 was when the HiLux received a minor facelift so that could be the change date? tubbers, do you have a Euro 3 '06 (no EGR)?

I wonder if I could get a battery tray from a wrecker from a newer model HiLux and have it fit the same in my 'Lux...

EDIT: remembered to measure my battery today - it's just under 12" with minor room to spare on the tray. I think the Optima should just fit. Now to decide on the D27F or D27M...

[adman001]

Bumping this up again... I have a single battery right now, and it's totally buggered. I'll be moving to a dual battery system in the next few weeks but I have a few concerns about which batteries to choose.

I run a winch and have 2 lightbars & 2 spotties. My plan was to get a Redtop Optima for the main cranking batt, then relocate the winch, lights and even stereo to a Yellowtop Optima above the wheelarch (or similar dual/deep cycle, whatever fits).

Is this a smart setup? I'm nervous the winch may not run reliably off the secondary battery, in which case am I better off running a Yellowtop as the cranking battery (with the winch attached), then a deep cycle battery for lights and a future fridge?

07 3.0L D4D if that's useful....

[Critter350]

I don’t have first hand experience, only sharing what I’ve read here so please keep researching. The Optima’s seem to have a low AH rating compared to many others available. Most people also seem to say the AGM’s are more susceptible to the heat in engine bays. Most people connect their winch to the starting battery, as you’ll never be trying to start the engine while winching, main battery will have higher cranking amps and priority charge from the alternator. Spot lights, if your only using them while driving, should be on cranking battery. Camp lights and stereo work well on the lower cca, higher ah aux battery, and you can still start the car after an all nighter.


Cheers
Crit

[DeadlyBeast]

As Critter cited - Most run winch off cranker - alternator can give the most available amps to this
A few bridge the two batteries when winching

A couple of related links:
http://www.newhilux.net/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=27536
http://www.newhilux.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=19138

[William_Foster]

I am thinking of getting a couple of Optima Yellow Tops for my 2013 Diesel as I have been churning through auxiliary batteries in the desert and tropics.

I just wanted to check before I make a purchase (given that I live on a remote island) does the D27F definitely fit in the ARB bracket? I am guessing a D31A won't. I am a little nervous reducing from a 105ah to 66ah.

Also does the standard cranking battery holder only fit the D27F? or does a D31A fit?

Thanks in advance.