dieselcarpenter

The previous owner of my truck had set up for dual battery's. I know originaly it came with only one, and accordingly when he sold it to me he reposesed the second one . It starts just fine with one but I know the newer trucks have duals. I also want to upgrade to either an Otima RED TOP, or a YELLOW TOP. Which is better two or one, red or yellow (deep cycle)?

wannadiesel

If you are going to run Optimas you ought to have two, they do not have the capacity the original group 31 had. Since you live in California you can probably get away with one just fine unless you use the truck for trips into the frozen North.

Red is the one you want.

Tater93

I have a single group 31 yellow top in mine and it starts fine, and powers two Infinity Perfect 12"subwoofers plus Six component speakers.

EClancy

i think optimas are overpriced and over rated. get a big commercial battery from napa.

just my $.02

ares

Red would have more cranking amps, yellow would have more reserve as its a deep cycle. I have one red for starting and a yellow for compressor stereo etc. No problems yet however I dont live in the snow belt.

jjdiesel1990

My 9th year on a $100 NAPA battery in Northeast Ohio.

Tater93

Well when you have speakers that dim the lights when the bass hits sometimes you need to spend a little more money. But I guess if you can afford the speakers, the battery is no big deal

cbtumedic

Got to be careful using the "yellow top" deep cycle batteries aren't intended for constant charging off of an alternator and will develop a memory. They are intended for use in boats where they are cycled down to a lower voltage and brought back up on a battery charger.

ez_lle71

That's why they don't put deep cycle batteries in at the factory! I always wondered why they didin't. Thanks for the info.
ez

farmer0_1

i have over a dozen red top optimas on the farm and one in my ctd. the only one i have dual batteries in is my 2840 tractor. if you put on good clean connectors and battery box it stays that way forever with no acid junk. my time is worth more than cleaning up cable ends and battery trays. just at 100bucks locally.

dodgediesel

Had 2 red top's in mine for 4 years. Best batteries ever with no leakage, that's the great part!!! Get them at Walmart but get the bigger of the 2 red tops...

KRB

But not together on the same vehicle right? Like cbtumedic said, the two types will recharge at different rates. Marine applications have split chargers so the fastest charging battery doesn't limit the rest or vice versa.

ares

Im using a 3 way isolator to isolate the two batteries on my pickup and the trailer batteries.

As for recharge rates that’s not really an issue if the batteries are in parallel they act as one, so they will equalize. The problem is during discharge if one is stronger the weaker one will try to equalize with the stronger one bringing it down. If you separate them with an isolator or a relay you can prevent this, however if you use a relay when you connect them again it will equalize and draw a lot of current off the stronger battery until a charging source can replenish them.

rogerL1961

a lot of the lead acid batteries have a cca of 1100? the Red tops have only 880 or something like that?

Is this possibly hard on the starter?

Is there a larger red top? I never knew that. I haven't seen that one on the optima website. Do you know how many CCA it is?

farmer0_1

when i worked on electric powered pickups years ago we were always led to understand that the issue was on the charging of the battery of coarse these were not isolated from one another and some were in parrelel and some were in series to get the right voltage with enough amperage. we used lead acid deep cycle , what a pain to keep clean post . ten rigs x twenty batteries and at that time i was low man on the totem pole. clean post and check acid with a hydrometer and water level for two years on a weekly basis.