Battery replacement and opinion
 

Its new battery time, and now spending some time on doing my research.
Eventually , after searching the long line of possibilities of course came across the Optima Yellow Top D34-78 and looking into it ($449 at Batteryworld, but found it on-line for $288 including delivery). Just getting tired of my girls leaving the doors open while camping and find myself have a wimpy slow cranking after an hour, so want to get something that can put up with that kinda 'drain' (besides putting LEDs in)

Now, my question is regarding some info I found:
It stated that the recommended alternator output for it was between 13.5 and 15 volt. I know from my on-car load testing, my (stock) alternator will put out a max to bring the voltage on the battery to about 13.2-4 Volt when running. Not looking into an alternator upgrade , so would that be enough? No use in getting a little nuclear plant in there while it will be sub-optimally charged every time, I reckon.

Curious about the opinions, and also what kind of batteries people run in their XJ. Mine chewed up 2 Century Hi-Performance (type 57) 540 CCA RC 100 within 4 years, ...

EDIT: my in-store load testing of the to-be-replaced Century showed a CCA (well, at room temp) of 350 CCA....

IMHO swap to LED's and tweak the BTS to up the ante on the alternator, I replaced my battery and went for the same one as last time, an AC Delco unit, the last one lasted me 4yrs and that was dead flat secondhand when I got and still lasted me 4yrs, cost around $160 from Sealed Performance Batteries at Yatala....

http://i1182.photobucket.com/albums/...psl2kvrtpe.jpg
http://i1182.photobucket.com/albums/...psmmhenwfr.jpg

This is a Zg spec battery....

I'm also running an optima yellow top but for a diesel so can't comment on the alternator upgrade as i think they run different alternators anyway. Having said that its a great battery. I've had mine for a year and a half now without any issues.


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BTS? And how to tweak? Agree on the LED's.

EDIT: Aah, the Battery Temp Sensor...but how to tweak?

I made a fixed BTS that essentially makes the car think that it's cold, can't remember the actual settings but if you do a search for BTS it should come up...
You can do the BTS, the LED's and a good battery for less then the optima and still get several years from it....
I only have my footwell lights to change to LED, all the rest are done...

If you can't get one like JJ's, a Repco 67, 620ccawill spin it over pretty good. About $170 maybe 3 yr's ago, not maintainance free though. Left headlights on all day when it was a few months old, thought that would have killed it, but still going strong. Regards oldon.

I came across something that related to taking the resistance on the sensor when its cold outside and replace it with a resistor of the same range. Not sure how that works, electrics is not my expertise, but I reckon thats a similar idea as yours JJ, in making the PCM think its cold...