MTFCA Forum

I need a new 12V battery for my T. The current Optima red top lasted only four years. I'm very disappointed in it. The previous one lasted almost ten! I'm looking for another brand that is cheaper. I'll entertain all types. Thanks.

I've had great luck with Odyssey batteries. I installed a PC-925 under the back seat of my touring.

Make sure that your vehicle's charging rate is appropriate for the battery you use, and make sure any battery charger or maintainer that you use is functioning correctly and appropriate for the application.

Batteries do not like to be deep-discharged or allowed to sit for long periods at a low state of charge.

Batteries can suffer serious damage from freezing if exposed to freezing temperatures at a low state of charge.

Hi David,
I use Walmart group 26 econamy batteries. They are one of the lowest CCA batteries on the market. At $60 I replace them every 2 years or so
If you figure that out to the price of a Optima it = about 10 years for the same price. Optimas don't seem to be as good as in years past. They
resist charging and are hard on generators & alternators if they get low on charge. ( The electrical shop I use told me that when I had a L.D.
Becker alternator repaired.) The owner asked specificly did I have a Optima battery. And told me to replace the Optima battery if I didn't
want to keep repairing the alternator. If you have a Optima that is very low on charge you will find it dosn't take a charge unless hooked up
to a Flooded lead acid battery. It will trip the breaker in your charger. That resistance to charging is what is hard on the charging system.
The high CCA of a Optima contributes to the starter drive issue. A Group 26 battery is small and will need some wood under and around it
to keep it in place. My speedster has no charging system and will run all day on a group 26 battery thats fully charged.
This is just what I find works for me.
Craig.

David,

Out of interest; do you have a regulator, or just a cutout, and if the latter do you do long runs in your vehicle?


Craig,

It may be the Optima has particularly very low internal resistance, and if the charging system is incapable of properly regulating this might exacerbate the issue you're describing.

In general a battery with low internal resistance is a good thing, however for those with cutouts and/or improperly adjusted generators, old wiring, or dubious regulators, they might be better avoided. To some extent if you're using a 6V starter with a 12V battery having a higher internal resistance battery may also be a benefit of sorts.

As time goes on and Pb batteries become scarce (the sooner the better in many respects) it will become even more important to have a 'proper' charging system. Dealing with this will also ensure the longevity of present batteries - 100 year old charging technology really isn't the best!

Luke.

As stated above battery life has many dependencies.
I am guessing that you have the 12 Volt Group size 35 battery [ approximately (LxWxH) 9 1/16 x 6 7/8 x 8 7/8 inches (9.0625 x 6.875 x 8.875 inches, 230 x 175 x 225 mm) ] which matches closely to a 6v Group 1 size normally used. Length: 9 Inch Width: 6-7/8 Inch Height:8-3/4 Inch
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I've had been checking to see how many battery manufacturers were still in the USA and it appears that what ever you buy is made under parent company Clarios, who bought Johnson Controls. Batteries brands are made to retailer specifications but no doubt they are much the same.
I have always replaced any car battery I have every owned with one from Blain's Farm & Fleet, and never replaced one of theirs. So head down to 405 W 8th Street and get one! Note the warranty is better than the 12volt Red Top Optima (3 years)

Blain's CA:785 CCA: 640 Reserve Capacity: 95min
Red Top CA: 910 CCA: 720 Reserve Capacity: 90 min

I Use a cheap Harbor freight $10.00 12 volt battery maintainers on all my batteries that are not used much. Model Ts. Generators. lawnmowers ect. Have a cheap Walmart 12 month warranty economy battery on my 1988 S-10 pickup parked in the barn which is only run every few months. battery is about seven years old. Battery still spins the starter no problem. Battery maintainers work.

Thanks! That is exactly the information I needed!!!

In Arizona heat is the worst thing on batteries. With so many batteries made that you can't add water to that even a HB trickle charger can boil
a small battery. Using a light timer so the charger is only on 2-3 hours a day helps small ATV, lawn tractor & motorcycle batteries from boiling.
Craig.

Technology has changed chargers. The Harbor Freight item is a "Battery Maintainer" (some times called a battery tender), a smart trickle charger, that monitors the battery to prevent overcharging

I also use the Harbor freight battery maintainer on my whizzer moped which uses a 12 volt one amp sealed Gel Cell battery. Keeps it fully charged and never had a problem with over heating. The one amp battery is pretty small but does the job. Just don't leave the key on for more than a few minutes with the motor off since the headlights and tail lights come on with the key and 12 watt hours of power doesn't go far. Need to convert it to leds but the headlight uses a dual filament motorcycle bulb for high / low beam which will be hard to duplicate in a led bulb.

I've had amazing good luck with Odyessy conventional batteries... they keep going and going... I had one in my truck that lasted 6 or 7 years... we had pretty cold and long winters,

AGM's? Our Miata had NUMEROUS factory spec AGMs in it, because on various Miata boards they said "do NOT run a conventional battery, they're dangerous"... These were notable because EVERY ONE of them went dead in a year, and eventually swelled up to the point we had to rig a puller to get them out... I finally found a small enough conventional battery (Yep, another Odyessy in "tractor size") and strangely enough, while it wasn't an AGM, it lasted until we sold the car a few years later...

OTOH... Optima? When I was in school, almost every one of our donated "student project rent-a-wreck" cars had a dead flat, worn out, and shot Optima in it. I checked dates - 3-4 years tops. To me that's just not acceptable... we used jumper batteries on all of them to start them, the only reason we left the optimas in them was to keep the charging system from going kerpaff...

On the T, since it was a pre-19, I had a motorcycle battery to hotshot the coils for starting, installed it first under the back seat, then moved it into a compartamentlaized running board "toolbox"... and because it was only for popping the coils (and warming up the spark plugs) it was a 12v unit... mainly because my low-amp charger was also 12V. Since the car ran great on mag (even with the lights on), why mess with what works?

Oh, speaking of lights... I rigged a 28v aircraft light to the rear light ('15 taillights have a bad habit of blowing out at inopportune times - like while driving!) fed from the mag via the headlight switch... the mag gave it enough "flicker" to where it still looked like an oil lamp, the 28 volt lamp was high enough to where I didn't worry about it getting overvolted and burning out, and the mag had no problem adding that to the load....

If you have a vehicle that eats batteries, it probably has a voltage regulation problem.
Overcharging or excessively high charging rates will destroy batteries.

Some types of batteries are more tolerant of poorly-regulated charging systems than others.

Chronic failure of bulbs may be due to poor voltage regulation, poor connections in the lighting circuit, excess vibration, or any combination of the above.

No joke - I've had the same 12v Optima in my Racer since I built it near 30 years ago ! Always been on a maintainer.

Battery longevity is a reflection on how its maintained, not the type or brand.
The standard Model T charging system is unregulated and dependent on how one uses the ammeter to maintain charging & discharging periods when in use. Then how it is monitored & maintained when not in use. So the manufacturers warranty period & cost may be the best deciding factors

Three years is good for a battery
In my diesel dually I run Walmart
premium batteries because they
have a full 3 year free replacement
policy with no pro rating.
Everyone else has one year
free replacement- then pro rated.

FJ