Optima Battery?
 

I hear one exists but I can't find on their site or anywhere else? I am pretty sure my OEM is toast after 9 years of service. I am trying to charge it one last time, we'll see how it goes. The car has been sitting a lot lately, I'm sure that did it in. It already appeared to be a little on the weak side. I'll check to see what color the little dot is too, but it's such a bitch to get to I figure If I am to unbolt all the shit then i might as well just replace the damn thing.

Any options > 850CCA / 1000CA for the 2000 X5 4.4i? I am planning on doing a heavy sound system. Otherwise, I am thinking I will probably go with the Duralast 49-DL for $95:

http://www.autozone.com/R,APP333662/...ductDetail.htm

I've got a pretty intense stereo system as well and have amps dedicated for each channel - tweets, midrange, mids, dual subs

I fitted a Odyssey PC1700MJT FWIW....

I considered an optima battery, but it required a slight retrofitting of the brackets that hold down the battery. Doesn't need venting, but I find it better to have something that was meant for the car.

I went to Pep Boys and got a nice Bosch battery for $90.

Is the BOSCH a direct replacement? I would prefer that since it's German and I have negative sentiment towards Autozone/Duralast parts.

What is model #, and CCA/CA ratings? Is it vented? I can't find it on their website either.

I don't have the specs on hand, but this is how I remember it. (I'll try to get you the info by Friday; I'm at school :))

it's Bosch type/group 49, 850CCA / 1000CA, with venting, and it's a perfect fit.

I believe the OEM ones are made by Douglas, which are no longer available(?)

I called them already and answered the rest of my questions:

$99.99 + $5.00 core
It has 96 month warranty (36 month exchange) and is vented

I think it is worth the extra $10 for the Bosch name (especially since their are already Bosch parts standard in the vehicle), and it does have a longer warranty (8 year vs. 9 year).

great! :thumbup:

that sounds familiar

it's a very nice battery

Optima Yellow Top works well , but at has been mentioned requires a little
bit custom fab to build a new bracket .
Had it on my car for 3yrs without any problems (with both the Phoenix and
Genesis amps)

- Jan

hmm i dunno for less cca/ca, higher price and custom fab.

i had the optima marine battery in my old car and it handled the system very well. very little dimming. i was running 1000 watts to 2 15" kicker solobarics, another 240 to the midbass and another 240 to the mids and highs. i would boom the system without the engine on for 30 minute periods and the car would start no problem. i think it was called the optima deep cycle. if you're gonna put a serious system in your ride, make sure to get a battery with 2 positive and 2 negative terminals. that way you can run a big enough power wire directly to the battery w/o having to modify or attach it to the vehicle's power cable. supposedly it's better for the car.

forgot to mention that i was using the kicker xs100 high current amp and 2 zr240s.

Actually... maybe my battery still is OK, even after 9 years. I am charging it right now with my trickle charger battery tender. It puts out a whopping 1 Amp 12 volts so it takes forever. I might just be underestimating exactly how long it should take. I had it set for the last month to run 2 hours/day. I guess that just wasn't enough.

Multimeter reading just read 11.35V, gunna leave it on for a while and see if it increases closer to 13V and holds the charge at all.

My other car is reading 12.32V and starts fine. But I also had a new scion not long ago and I remember that one reading > 13V.

Well after another 12 hours of charging it's still at ~11.35V :( Guess I am gonna try to charge it again tonight for another 12 hours but I doubt it's gonna do any good. I'll probably start getting the back gutted so I can pickup the Bosch battery tomorrow and drop it in.

I guess you are supposed to let the battery sit for a few hours for testing voltage so I will check it again when i get home, still not very optimistic here.

I actually went Optima blue-top (marine 12volt). I did have to build custom brackets and due to the extra height had to dump the spare tire. That's not a problem for me since I drive mainly local, but I always throw a spare in the cargo area for cross-country trips just in case. I also run alot of electrical accessories and additionally have a 3000w power inverter which connects nicely to the "extra" posts on the blue-top model. I've been very pleased with Optima...

Dang, how much is that beast? I measured my voltage when i got home, a dissapointing 10.65V - pretty sure it's done for. I'm not sure if this is the normalized voltage after letting the batt sit for a while after charging (i was thinking it would increase) or if the car was actually drawing significant power from the battery during the 9 hours i was gone.

one thing i noticed is that if i volt test right after i take the the charger off - it reads 11.6V+ but then pretty rapidly drops to 11.35V, holds steady and then again drops over time.

Would driving the car and charging off the alternator provide any advantage over the trickle charger?

Old battery just isn't cutting it. It will barely start the car, but usually not on the first attempt and I have to wait about 30 seconds for all the startup shit drawing current to finish. So the hell with it.

I bought the last Bosch 49 they had at the local Pep Boys store. I didn't realize they give you $5 back for the old battery. Will be $108 total when all said and done.

I think I paid around $210 or so for the Optima Blue-Top. The nice thing about a marine battery of course is that fully draining the battery (e.g. letting the car sit for weeks at an airport) won't permanently impair it like a regular battery and it just takes an average drive or two to fully recharge it to like-new condition. It's well worth the piece of mind in my opinion....

I went with the bosch for $108 bones. Dropped right in, works great.

Multimeter reads about 12.5V engine off, 14V engine on. BMW Diagnostics Menu reads ~13.7V and no problems with codes.

I put a little dialectric grease on the terminals since the old batt had a tiny bit of corrosion on it (amazing since battery is INSIDE the vehicle).

Hey this is great info. How do you access the BMW Diagnostics Menu to read the battery voltage?