Best Cold Weather Battery?

[Jared]

I take my '95 RRC everywhere- summer or winter. I parked the sexybeast right outside of Leadville, Colorado this past weekend- and went to a backcounty hut for a few days. The temps at night fell below -20 deg F. When I tried to start the beast (mid-day on a sunny, beautiful day) it almost wouldn't turn over. Several attempts were made before it eventually caught and fired- only to die, repeat, etc. It finally started and kept alive.

I think this is a clear case of a less than adequate battery- if not, please speak up. If it is just the battery, I would like to know which battery out there would best meet my need (cold weather).

Thanks- Jared

[OkieRover]

How old is dat battery?
I have trouble with my 1993 LWB when the temps here in Oklahoma drop below 20 F.
I think the best cold weather battery is .... two batteries! I'm working on getting a second.

I usually buy Interstate Batteries. And if it fails me once I take it back and get a new one. That's what warranties are for. They always tell me there is nothing wrong with it but I insist they replace it.

I've had trouble with batteries I've drawn to dead before, seems like they never really get fully charged again.

[Irvin]

In addition to owning a 92' Rover Classic, I own several late model Cadillacs and various SUV's. Believe it or not in the cold upstate NY winters , Wal-Mart ever-start batteries work GREAT. Check your battery cables for wear and corrosion and rust. You might consider replacing the cables. Go to your nearest marine(boat) supply store and buy the correct length cable for your Rover. This marine cable is used alot to run several batteries at a time, and is WAY cheaper than Rover replacement battery cable. WAL-MaRT battery& BOAT CaBLE. Of course heated garages, synthetic motor oil, jumper cables, work well also. GOOD LUCK!!!

[rovertech]

i have an optima gel cell batt in chicago and never even had a slow crank. they r a little more expensive (about $175) but well worth the money they r guaranteed 4 life and i saw a demo where the batt even worked after being shot with a 9mm the gel cell technology is awesome.

[hamrendan]

I leave the lights on in my car alot ( dont ask ) My optima red top holds a charge for a heck of a lot longer than most regular batteries, and when you go down to zero you can still charge it back up with little memory effect.
MY 2 cents

[Funrover]

Optima here....... I do the cold highelevation trips here in CO also, my optima has never let me down, even after all the abuse

[keptin]

looks like optima is the way to go. You can get the Red tops from costco for $99 now!! If I were you i'd go deep cell with a yellow top; would be much better for winch and lights. Because I have a disco II I am opting for the optima D31M marine blue top battery. Its huge; a massive batt. the size of nearly two, but I dont have to alter anything to fit it and also dont have to deal with all the 2 batt stuff ive heard about.


(big)

[AdrianL]

So, if you are to choose the Yellow Optima, which model is suppose to fit the 95 Classic LWB?

I found the Marine Blue Optima and the dimension is 12.813"L x 6.5"W x 9.375"H Will this fit the Classic 95?

[rmuller]

keptin - with the disco2 you just need to put in a dual battery tray in the existing place (and find a new place for your jack) .. no modifications or anything... then drop in two batteries and either run them with an isolator or in parallel

[sven]

Originally Posted by Jared

I take my '95 RRC everywhere- summer or winter. I parked the sexybeast right outside of Leadville, Colorado this past weekend- and went to a backcounty hut for a few days. The temps at night fell below -20 deg F. When I tried to start the beast (mid-day on a sunny, beautiful day) it almost wouldn't turn over. Several attempts were made before it eventually caught and fired- only to die, repeat, etc. It finally started and kept alive.

I think this is a clear case of a less than adequate battery- if not, please speak up. If it is just the battery, I would like to know which battery out there would best meet my need (cold weather).

Thanks- Jared

If I dont drive my 95 LWB for a few weeks, the battery will drain. I had an Interstate then I switched to a Optima red....still same problem. I traced the voltage leak to the factory amp and CD changer in the trunk, apparently they get constant 12V power even when the truck is turned off. Its enough to drain the battery especially in the winter months. Now I pull the amp fuse whenever its parked for extended periods of time.....all good now!

[keptin]

Originally Posted by rmuller

keptin - with the disco2 you just need to put in a dual battery tray in the existing place (and find a new place for your jack) .. no modifications or anything... then drop in two batteries and either run them with an isolator or in parallel

really? Do you have this setup? If so, can you post some pics? Explain a bit about the isolator....I know about parallel, but does the isolator effect batt. charging or anything (in a pos. or neg. way). I was mostly doing this to save cost, and to not mess with much, but if I can do it without major modifications (ie....worse then bumper cutting) then sure np.

Are the duel batt. troubles that I heard about true? Stuff like if one dies, then it drains the other, and stuff like that.....dont have specifics, only stuff over time. Different companies make kits that fix this supposed problem by diverting power to the batt. with the least charge or something.

If you have this setup did you buy the duel batt. tray? If so, from where and how much?---a link would do....

now im very curious...two yellow tops sounds fun

[rmuller]

Nah I don't have it in place yet.. i'll be putting it in sometime in the next week or two.. haven't been motivated to spend the money on the dual yellows yet.. I do have the battery tray though, you can get it at www.aedofab.com .. they also sell an isolator and have descriptions of how to use it. I like the use of the isolator because you can allow the one battery to drain, then switch the solenoid to get the other one.. perfect for camping or real long winchings

[keptin]

hey looks sweet, but now that im looking at the numbers its starting to become an expensive proposition. The D31M batt. is around $200 and = 1.5 yellows. Where as the yellows are about $175/batt. and then you must buy (or fab) a tray at the least. Perhaps I will stick with my giant D31M...but I will see. It will be a while before I get a winch; need to get an HD bar first, and I dont work during school, so its like $900 for HD bar, $1200 for winch (at least for the Huskey 10 that I want, but so expensvie), and then there are other goodies/necessaries (perhaps rocksliders, and more...) $???.....*ouch*. Seems like every dollar counts; I dont want to do it "cheap", I want to do it right. Though the D31M looks like a good solution considering I wont be doing any super crazy stuff for a while.

[Rovin4life]

Since I started at working at sears and I owned a few diesels I can tell you the best thing is really a regular interstate battery with the correct amount of amperage. Secondly clean th terminals. a clean battery has less resistance.

that also goes for the cables.

finally since living in Upstate NY it gets mighty cold in the winter. Does it mean the battery is bad because it doesnt start instantly. NO. But what does help is charging it every now and then in the winter. At 32 degrees the battery charge is around 90 percent. at zero its around seventy five percent capacity. and at minus twenty five its fifty percent capacity. when the vehicle gets constantly worn down from the cold weather then you get the idea. A hard start. Coupled with some slowing moving engine parts you got yourself a recipe for a flooded motor.