Optima Yellow Top Battery

[lekmedm]

Red is a starting battery.
Yellow is a starting/deep cycle battery.

You will have no problem if you run a red, I went with yellow because of extra electronics and for running higher powered lights and such in the future. Since you have a winch you may want to go with a yellow also, but a red wouldn't be a bad choice.

Agreed.

I have a yellow top in my Overland which is packed with electronics. Never had an issue, so I guess I'm pretty happy with it. I put a red top in my wife's Subaru Outback XT, and that's been working out great as well.

Optima is expensive, but it'll give you peace of mind.

[HueyPilotVN]

I have had a Red Top in the Commander for a couple of years with no problems at all.

I just put two Blue Top Optimas in the Stacker for the Car lift and other 12 volt uses.

One important thing to know if you are using two 12 volt batteries in parallel is that you should connect the positive cable to one and the negative cable to the other. When you connect both cables to one battery and simply wire the other one in parallel you end up depleting the first battery faster and if will fail before the second. It seems like it would not matter, but it does. Just a heads up.
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[GPintheMitten]

Thanks guys.

Well I had the auto parts store check my battery. It showed good and so did the starter and alternator using their tester. So I stopped by the dealer to have them check for an unauthorized amp draw. Their tests showed good battery, starter and alternator as well. I only had a few milli-amps draw, appropriate for maintaining the clock, memories etc.

He said with a battery this old, (original over 4 years, with 110,000 miles), it is probably sulfation and I should get a new battery. I went ahead and just got another battery like the one that came with my XK for $150. They cleaned the terminals etc. I had good service with that battery and if this one lasts that long, I'll be happy.

[lekmedm]

I went ahead and just got another battery like the one that came with my XK for $150. They cleaned the terminals etc. I had good service with that battery and if this one lasts that long, I'll be happy.

Shucks, for about $160 you could have gotten an Optima online. For about $70 you could have gotten a decent, original size battery from Walmart. I have heard good things about their batteries, and they have a 3 year warranty, I think.