recommend me a battery for my landrover defender

[pippyd]

This morning the drop in temperature (-10 deg over night) highlighted my battery is on its last legs. I had to give it a top up with a charger and warm up the surroundings with a hair dryer....

Anyway I have a need for a new battery for a 300tdi 100 CSW, what would you recommend?

Long term I'd like to have a dual battery setup under the usual passenger seat so I'd like the battery to be small enough for there to be space for another.

On the dual charging front - has anyone got a dual charge setup, if so what do you use?

Cheers, Phil

[flibb]

Think Dads 110 is running a split charge system with a pair of Optima battery's. The setup has a winch and a 1000W inverter running from it, so the large battery can be depleted and a smaller one used to restart the wagon. Isolation is via large switch with 1,2, 1+2 Off settings. Will check the batterys tomorrow if I call in to see them. have seen various mentions of Optimas being used in other peoples vehicles.

[Basemetal]

This morning the drop in temperature (-10 deg over night) highlighted my battery is on its last legs. I had to give it a top up with a charger and warm up the surroundings with a hair dryer....

Anyway I have a need for a new battery for a 300tdi 100 CSW, what would you recommend?

Long term I'd like to have a dual battery setup under the usual passenger seat so I'd like the battery to be small enough for there to be space for another.

On the dual charging front - has anyone got a dual charge setup, if so what do you use?

Cheers, Phil

Have you tried just giving it a full charge rather than a top up? Do you do long enough runs in it to keep it fully charged, or might it just be depleted by short winter runs, cold starts, lights, heater running, windscreen heater, radio etcand not enough charging?

[pippyd]

Have you tried just giving it a full charge rather than a top up? Do you do long enough runs in it to keep it fully charged, or might it just be depleted by short winter runs, cold starts, lights, heater running, windscreen heater, radio etcand not enough charging?

Full charge - in progress right now with my c-tek charger. This morning's was just enough to get things running as I had to be somewhere.
Winters runs could be depleting it but it's used twice daily, 35-45 minute runs, around 22 miles each way.

Cold starts - check.
Lights - check
heater running - hell yes, it's a leaky landy!
windscreen heater - nope, it's a landy
radio - sometimes.

Will have to see what the full charge does for it tonight. In addition I'll have a look what the spec is of the current battery and see if it's up to the job of turning a 2.5 diesel at these sort of temperatures. It seems to do fine when the landy is heated up, on the return run. But then there's heat in the engine and the battery itself being in the cabin will be a little warmer than ambient which could make a difference.

[Nice65]

Have you tried just giving it a full charge rather than a top up? Do you do long enough runs in it to keep it fully charged, or might it just be depleted by short winter runs, cold starts, lights, heater running, windscreen heater, radio etcand not enough charging?

My journey every morning consists of a 1/4 mile run down the road to where I keep my work truck, and running all the electrics for 5 mins, plus the cold start (diesel engine) has highlighted the need to replace my battery. I got a load of internet prices and reviews, but Halfords batteries seemed to review quite well and the prices were reasonably competitive. TBH it's much easier just to walk into a shop, look at a chart, and buy. You'll need a decent cranking ampage for a diesel obviously, cold diesels need a huge kick up the bum in winter.

[pippyd]

Think Dads 110 is running a split charge system with a pair of Optima battery's. The setup has a winch and a 1000W inverter running from it, so the large battery can be depleted and a smaller one used to restart the wagon. Isolation is via large switch with 1,2, 1+2 Off settings. Will check the batterys tomorrow if I call in to see them. have seen various mentions of Optimas being used in other peoples vehicles.

Thanks flibb, information gratefully received. I'll look in to the Optimas, there seems to be a whole range of them.... I take it he's running the two in the original tray under the passenger seat?

Cheers, Phil

[Basemetal]

One of our cars does 2 x 2mile runs a day and in winter this isn't enough to keep the battery charged, so every two weeks or so it gets a 24 hour trickle charge. The battery is healthy (all green discs in an indicator battery), it's just a consequence of the car's duty cycle and the lower temperature performance and extra demands of winter makes it critical.

I trickle charge via the dashboard power socket for convenience.

When I ran air cooled BMW bikes I used to have 3kW fan heater on a time switch in the garage that heated the engine block/sump for 15 minutes before I went out to start the bike in Winter. Made a huge difference to starting, and the engine oil was ready to go from the off. Same thinkning as the block heaters in some Canadian trucks, and the coolant heaters you used to be able to buy here..

[johnknights]

I ran an Odyssey Battery, very well spec'd massive CCA ratings for there size, but not cheap http://www.odysseyfactory.com/ a wee trick I have picked up over the years on a cold morning is listen for the heater plug relay dropping out. so turn your key to heat, and you should hear a clunk as the heater plug relay closes, then the heater light will go out but the heater relay is still providing current to the glow plugs. If you turn the key now there is less amps to power the starter. If you sit tight and wait to hear the second clunk as the timer drops the heater plug relay out you will have more precious amps to swing the beast into life. used to make quite a difference on my 200tdi and still does on my Mitsubishi.
hth
John

[mojofilter]

The optimas seem to be well thought of, then if you go for a dual setup you can have a yellow as your 2nd battery!

My dual charge setup is just an anderson plug to a similar capacity battery that I can connect / disconnect at will.

[johnknights]

If your thinking spiral cell technology then don't forget Exide Maxima spiral cell battery, usually cheaper than the optimas, the other expensive but worth it brand is Varley red top http://www.varleyredtop.com/ . You could just save the money, hit your local motor factors and buy two lead acids that will fit under the seat.

[pippyd]

The optimas seem to be well thought of, then if you go for a dual setup you can have a yellow as your 2nd battery!

My dual charge setup is just an anderson plug to a similar capacity battery that I can connect / disconnect at will.

Simple is often best. I'd be happy with that kind of setup plus a battery isolator switch in there to disconnect the two without diving under the seat

I ran an Odyssey Battery, very well spec'd massive CCA ratings for there size, but not cheap http://www.odysseyfactory.com/ a wee trick I have picked up over the years on a cold morning is listen for the heater plug relay dropping out. so turn your key to heat, and you should hear a clunk as the heater plug relay closes, then the heater light will go out but the heater relay is still providing current to the glow plugs. If you turn the key now there is less amps to power the starter. If you sit tight and wait to hear the second clunk as the timer drops the heater plug relay out you will have more precious amps to swing the beast into life. used to make quite a difference on my 200tdi and still does on my Mitsubishi.
hth
John

Thanks John, I'll listen out for that tomorrow morning.

So what sort of cold cranking amps should I be looking for in a battery?

Anyone have experience of the Numax CXV? found cheapest here at £65.00. Investigating what kind of technology they use but I can get 2 of these for dramatically less than one Optima. Mind you I know jack about batteries so I don't know the pros or cons of any of these yet

One of our cars does 2 x 2mile runs a day and in winter this isn't enough to keep the battery charged, so every two weeks or so it gets a 24 hour trickle charge. The battery is healthy (all green discs in an indicator battery), it's just a consequence of the car's duty cycle and the lower temperature performance and extra demands of winter makes it critical.

I trickle charge via the dashboard power socket for convenience.

When I ran air cooled BMW bikes I used to have 3kW fan heater on a time switch in the garage that heated the engine block/sump for 15 minutes before I went out to start the bike in Winter. Made a huge difference to starting, and the engine oil was ready to go from the off. Same thinkning as the block heaters in some Canadian trucks, and the coolant heaters you used to be able to buy here..

I bought the other week a dash mounted charger point for my ctek with battery level indicator, I just need to fit it.....

[mojofilter]

Simple is often best. I'd be happy with that kind of setup plus a battery isolator switch in there two disconnect the two without diving under the seat

That's a rare slip from you pip!

My second battery isn't under the seat at the moment, so I don't have that problem! I basically only take it if I think I'm going to need it

On my mates heavy discharge tester, 300A is the bottom of the green band, which a battery should be able to hold for 10 secs to 'pass', dunno what sort of current a TDi needs to spin it over nicely when it's cold though?

[pippyd]

The temptation to go in and edit your post is great But I shall resist and not corrupt! I'm looking at the Optima's at the moment, all this battery technology I know nothing about, I'm happy to pay more for a battery if it's going to give me better performance - longer life etc...

That's a rare slip from you pip!

My second battery isn't under the seat at the moment, so I don't have that problem! I basically only take it if I think I'm going to need it

On my mates heavy discharge tester, 300A is the bottom of the green band, which a battery should be able to hold for 10 secs to 'pass', dunno what sort of current a TDi needs to spin it over nicely when it's cold though?

[Dogoak]

As others have mentioned, I'd also go for an Optima, red top starter battery, long life and dependable.

[pippyd]

As others have mentioned, I'd also go for an Optima, red top starter battery, long life and dependable.

How much longer is the expected life of an Optima versus a typical lead acid battery?

Another question to you all. Going along the lines of the mojo style simple yet elegant solution of two batteries in parallel.... Are there switches out there that I could use that would allow me to crank the engine off battery 1, or battery 2, and importantly off both at the same time if needed? Specifically without there being a loss of voltage to the built in alarm/immobiliser that's likely to set it off!?

Cheers, Phil