I have had an Interstate for 3+ years...no problems, and the car sits a lot, unfortunately.

 

Have used a Diehard (size 48 as I remember); would drain it down during winter storages. Got used to keeping a voltage controlled trickle charger on it.

Now have a Optima 75/35 Red Top. Drained it down to absolute zero one time because I left the trunk lid open which left the interior lights on. Was able to recharge it successfully and it doesn't seem to have suffered from the abuse. Haven't gone thru a winter, tho. One concern raised is that the positive terminal is somewhat exposed and might need a cover added. Search the archves, lazybones, for this discussion.

 

I'd say you have 3 choices:

1. standard lead acid battery (OEM, Diehard, or other size 48), but they all require a vent which causes corrosion especially when you use a trickle charger. Shortest life, but is cheapest.

2. Optima 7535 redtop which has little chance of venting (yup can vent under some unusual circumstances), longer life, little more expensive, bolts right in. Most people very happy with this approach, but some have had problems with weeks of storage.

3. I just installed an Odyssey PC1200 sealed battery which does not vent at all, lasts longest, is more expensive (most expensive of 3 choices). It is smaller than OEM but mounting is not OEM. West Coast Batteries sells the batteries and a mounting strap that will work if you get a longer mounting bolt. See another thread(page 2) for more discussion on the same topic at

https://rennlist.com/forums/993-forum/162036-lightweight-battery.html

I've posted a picture of the Odyssey PC1200T installed in the trunk on that thread.

 

The only real dry cell of the bunch is the Odyssey,Optima are spiral cells technology,still they are acid type.Odyssey is the best of the bunch.,cheers,Sonny.

 

I have used Diehard in the past, until one exploded in my 993!! After that incident, I will spend the extra money so I don't have to ever clean battery acid again. I'm currently using an Optima red. The car is a daily driver, so I haven't experienced slow drain from long term sitting.

 

Optima Red Top, now 3 years old. A drop-in fit. I also use a battery maintainer that I've hard-wired in. With a maintainer, most any battery should last for 5+ years, IMHO.

 

Pete I am interested in how did you hard wire the trickle charger? Do you have any pics?


Tom

 

Did one myself, and if you can't figure out how to do it, I'd say have somebody else do it.

1) get an ordinary electrical cord.

2) get a male and female two-prong connector (Radio Shack, hardware, or auto store)

3) wire one connector to the cord.

4) cut the alligator clips off the battery charger/maintainer wire leads. Take note of positive and negative lead.

5) wire the other connector to the maintainer leads (I also added about 6 ft. of wire to the maintainer leads to allow the maintainer to lay on a shelf far away from the car).

6) Look at the positive battery terminal. On my car there was a little threaded end sticking out the battery teminal on the bolt/nut that crimps the terminal connector. I added a closed end spade connector to one end of the cord (choose the right cord lead; make sure you pick the positive lead) and scrounged a nut that fit on the battery terminal crimp bolt. Then I bolted the cord to the battery terminal.

7) For the negativle cord, I likewise crimped a spade connector to the lead and bolted it in place using an existing body mount ground connection.

Hopefully that'll give you some hints.

 

I bought one of these for my battery:

Battery Maintainer

It comes with everything you need. It has an end that you connect directly to the battery and alligator clips. Both have plugs that you can connect/disconnect from the charger. I hardwired the o-ring one on my Redtop. Works great.

I know they are not a sponsor, I hope I don’t get in trouble.

George

 

Or, if you aren't in the mood to pay inflated Griot's Garage prices, you can get a Deltran Battery Tender for a pretty good price here:

http://www.accwhse.com/batteryt.htm

I've purchased several battery maintainers from them. They were a little slow to ship, but always came. YMMV.

Griot's used to relabel and sell these Deltran products, but probably found a less expensive import to resell.

Chip

 

My battery maintainer, like many, came with ring terminals that I fastened to the bolts on top of the battery. The maintainer has a L bracket that fits under the battery to hold it in place. I had to make up a small extention cord of fairly thin wire to stick out from the hood (you have to fully close the hood or the light will stay on) to go into the external extention cord I dropped down from the ceiling. It helps to have a brightly colored flag on the cord to keep from driving away with it still plugged it!

 

Found on another board this useful info:
Autozone -> Duralast batteries
Advance Auto -> Autocraft batteries

"DuraLast builds batteries for Johnson Controls. This is a good thing.
Autocraft is built by a company recently taken over by Exide. Exide has a bad reputation in the battery repair/reselling industry. They tend to be cheaper and sourced overseas while maintaining a 'made in America' façade. Excide batteries are the typical Wal-Mart, Sears, Can Tire type batteries.
To be fair some Johnson Controls batteries may also be sourced in places like Mexico but have a far better reputation. Johnson Controls typically build the above mentioned 'premium' or 'gold' labelled batteries... they also build Optima."

 

I have to reccommend the Odyssey, I had one rebadged as a 'stinger' brand in my 73. Tiny, gobs of cranking power in the cold, and still had plenty of juice after 2 months of sitting outside in the winter under a car cover. Expensive but worth it, prob won't need another battery for a long long time.

 

Optima Red =33.4 Lbs
Odyssey PC1200 =38.2 Lbs
Optima Yellow =44 Lbs
Porsche OEM Batt =46 Lbs