Odyssey used to be owned by Hawker, I believe now they are owned by Enersys. I have two; a PC1700T in the 4Runner and a smaller one in my Civic beater. Storage life of 2 years without maintenance, these things are support to start you anytime, after sitting unattended for nearly forever.

They come in full metal jacket versions or without, for cold weather. Supposedly military grade, completely sealed, can be mounted however you desire. Safe enough to ship via FEDEX, which is how I got mine from a delivery guy who complained that he has never had something so small yet so heavy before. I think it was about 60 lbs?

I can't say I've stress tested mine, or at least no winching or anything of the type. I don't like to idle the engine ( gas $$$ ) so I just run stuff off the battery; laptop, loud music for hours, and occasionally the heat for a brief while. I've left the headlights on for a very long time to light up campgrounds...also , I've run all the interior lights all night long without any sort of problems next morning.

 

I like that i will try to find someplace to get them at a good price! It looks like you put some kind of rubber in there to hold it down, is it secure?

I have another question for you. Where did you get those blue plug wires? I have been looking for a set and can't seem to find them. I will be installing my MSD system next weekend and i need some beefier wires...

 

Haha, well, the one problem with that battery was that, while it's quite wide, it isn't very tall and the stock hold-down doesn't quite reach. I didn't know what to do and there was a rubbish pile next to where my truck was parked...I found a vaccum cleaner, cut the hose, and used some electrical tape to make..um, that! But in answer to your question, yes, it is secure.

I believe Odyssey also makes custom battery boxes, straps, etc. Here you can find some of the accessories; http://www.odysseybatteries.com/accessories.htm

Now, I bought mine from http://www.thebatterybarn.com/ , which is a small place in VA. Nice folks and decent prices, just give them a call before you order to check if it's in stock.

In regards to the spark plug wires - I got those from sparkplugs.com for about thirty bucks for a set of three. Custom performance wire set with ferrite magnetic core. Wire Length No.1 890mm 35.04in. Wire Length No.2 1130mm 44.49in. Wire Length No.3 930mm 36.61in. Coil Wire Length = N/A

NGK Premium wire set Stock #4412 Part #TE66

Hope that helps

 

An Odyssey PC1500 is close to stock size, so you could use the Optima spacer or one of the custom Optima hold downs off TTORA. You could also get away with the PC1200 (avail. in metal jacket) if you want to save some space and weight. the PC1700 also comes in metal jacket.

Check out Ebay for Odyssey prices, too. Sometimes there's a good deal...

 

i have an energizer, like the bunny

its nothing special though, just a quick needed replacement at the time

 

Costco has the best price on Optimas that i have seen $109 with out a core charge. I run a blue top in my fj40 and will put on in the 4runner then the 7year old oem one dies

 

i too have looked at the Odessey Batteries and acutally regret not finding out about them prior to buying my Orbital--which has been a good battery also. but now that i have a winch and such i think i might get an odessey for it deep cycle traits. From what i have researched they sound like exceptional batteries. And if they have a 10 year life span--thats like two batteries

 

That is a good point about it lasting as long as 2 batteries. I think it might be worth the $$ but i still have to rob a bank real quick.... LOL

 

That helps a lot! I am glad to know that it is simple to get that battery to fit.

And thanks for the link to the wires! I searched online but could never find anthing that would work!

 

I've use Odessey batteries for years now , there are some pros and cons to them.
The decision is how you intent to use it, You want dependable starting - yes
You want to run a lot of accesories with the eng off, maybe no.

Pros: long storage life, able to handle vibration well ,does not emitt any gas so there is no corrosion problems, high cold cranking amps (CCA) , light and small for it's capacity. Deep cycle features.

Cons: expensive, short amp per hour reserve time, (meaning with lots accesories on , more amps going out than coming in, your eng will die or not start.) PC 1200 has only 78mins

Personally I think they are worth it.

 

How does a deep cycle only have a 78 min reserve?

 

costco has some good prices on optima's

 

Deep cycle means that it can be discharged and recharged more than a normal battery. Not nessarily that it has more power.

But the reserve time on these batteries is really not that bad in the long run. I usually start my truck up every hour or so to keep everything going anyways. But that is also what killed my old one... that is why i want a deep cycle.

 

Odyssey's have a deep cycle feature where they can be discharged and recharged with little affect to the life of it but,they are not like a true a golf cart or marine battery which have a high reserve and low CCA.

The 78 mins is the spec of the PC1200, batteries with a high CCA, generally will have a lower than comparable reserves amp time. Check other battery specs with simalar CCA's http://www.interstatebatteries.com/w...oduct_auto.asp

I'm not sure why this is with Odyssey ,could be the way it was design to have starting a priority over running accesories.

 

Yeah, I think that the odysseys are a great battery but I prefer a little bit longer reserve, cranking a 4.0 is so bloody easy that the 800 the optima offers is fine, and it has a 120 minute reserve...

 

http://www.odysseybatteries.com/battery/pc1700t.htm

vs

http://www.optimabatteries.com/publi...cal_specs.html

Between the odyssey i just bought and the optima the odyssey has an extra 22 mins of reserve...

 

i use the odyssey PC1700MJT, they make the stinger sp1700, its the same battery, but at a cheaper price. plus it works great for me since i have a stereo system, i wonder if i should of took the factory battery tray out, my new battery slides about 1 inch off toward the engine side on my 96 base 4runner

 

I was finding that the 1200 is the commonly used battery, which only has the 78 min reserve, but looking at the 1500 (same size as the optima) the odyssey has 5 more minutes of reserve than the optima... and yeah the 1700 (3" wider) has the 22 minutes extra... will the 1700 even fit? I may look into the 1500 afterall...

 

I went to Sam's today looking for a Battery for my Jeep, which is in storage at the moment and does not get driven everyday. I am getting it out for the summer and I was all set to pick up a Yellow top Optima. It was $165, the Red top was like $145, and an Interstate battery was $55. The Yellow top only has a 12 mo. replacement and like a 24 mo prorated warranty. The interstate has an 18 mo. replacement and a 60 mo. Prorated warranty. I don't see how I can justify the Optima when the warranty is so worthless. I can buy 3 of the Interstates for the price, plus they have a better warranty.

From what I have read here, it seems like all batteries are crap. You can buy an Optima and it is still a crap shoot as to if it will prematurely give up on you. It may end up lasting 10 years, but if it dies in 18 mo. you are still screwed and out three times what a regular battery would have cost.

Funny story though....I know from experience that Die Hards are garbage and most DIE HARD....but I have a friend who has a Die Hard that is over 12 year old and still works. Not my experience with Die Hards, I have never had one last more than two years.

 

Well it looks like it will fit... ;-)