TranceKrayz
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What brand car battery do you guys use? I was just wondering because I think it'll be time to change mine soon.
What Battery To Use?
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Koz
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vandert
New member
Two best batteries are:
Optima Red Top, and Optima Yellow Top.
You can mount it upside down if you want, it doesn't matter, they are awsome, right now I'm running Die Hard due to that being all the Kaiserslaturn military community having but when I get back to the states and it's time to replace, Optima Red top for me.
T
Optima Red Top, and Optima Yellow Top.
You can mount it upside down if you want, it doesn't matter, they are awsome, right now I'm running Die Hard due to that being all the Kaiserslaturn military community having but when I get back to the states and it's time to replace, Optima Red top for me.
T
TranceKrayz
New member
what's the difference between red and yellow?
vandert
New member
Yellow cost a little more
The yellow is designed for marine applications so it holds a charge a little longer due to not usually having a alternator to hold the charge. Marine stuff is built to a slightly higher standard as well. I would still however go with the red top, cheaper and virtually the same thing.
T
The yellow is designed for marine applications so it holds a charge a little longer due to not usually having a alternator to hold the charge. Marine stuff is built to a slightly higher standard as well. I would still however go with the red top, cheaper and virtually the same thing.
T
Koz
New member
Red Top - Replacement for OEM battery, SLI (starting, lighting, ignition) battery, has 800 cold cranking amps (CCA), reserve capacity (RC) is 120 min, amp hour (AH) rating is 56. A typical SLI battery discharges (starting, lighting, ignition) at a rate of only 1% to 5%. If discharge rate is higher, it will affect the life of the battery.
Yellow Top - Deep Cycle OEM replacement, good for vehicles with many added electrical demands. Deep cycle - Typically can discharge 60% to 70% or more of the battery capacity. The Yellow Top has 750 CCA, and 65 AH, and 124 min RC.
Blue Top - Is for Marine use. It is comparative to the yellow top's spec, but can be fully recharged in as little as one hour. It also has been life cycle tested to exceed 350 complete discharges.
Koz
Yellow Top - Deep Cycle OEM replacement, good for vehicles with many added electrical demands. Deep cycle - Typically can discharge 60% to 70% or more of the battery capacity. The Yellow Top has 750 CCA, and 65 AH, and 124 min RC.
Blue Top - Is for Marine use. It is comparative to the yellow top's spec, but can be fully recharged in as little as one hour. It also has been life cycle tested to exceed 350 complete discharges.
Koz
TranceKrayz
New member
i see that the red top has more about 50 more CCA. why does the yellow top have less, and is that good or bad?
TranceKrayz
New member
thanks for the replies. i think i'll go with the red top too. 
trdcorolla
New member
Biff, what size did you buy? Did it fit perfectly or did you need a spacer? If you needed a spacer, did you use the Optima brand or a piece of wood? Can you take a picture of the battery installed?Thanks
TranceKrayz
New member
thanks iForce...that's why i'm getting the red top.
boston_kevin
New member
Red top is a great battery
I had a red top in my Jeep for many years. Best part is that they are completely sealed, so you can mount the battery in any direction without any negative effect. Power wise, even after 5 years, I could still use the battery to crank the Jeep over a rough incline (Jeep has the ability to use the starter motor to move the vehicle without starting the vehicle- it is designed this way). Never rolled the Jeep but the engine was underwater several times. I will get a new one for my Runner when the OEM battery dies.
I had a red top in my Jeep for many years. Best part is that they are completely sealed, so you can mount the battery in any direction without any negative effect. Power wise, even after 5 years, I could still use the battery to crank the Jeep over a rough incline (Jeep has the ability to use the starter motor to move the vehicle without starting the vehicle- it is designed this way). Never rolled the Jeep but the engine was underwater several times. I will get a new one for my Runner when the OEM battery dies.
Kmvreter
New member
Investigated this further because I'm thinking of doing dual batteries.
Unable to find specs for the Panasonic 105D31L-MF but I was pleasantly surprised to find that it probably is a BCI Group 31 size [edit: I was mistaken, see corrected info in note below]. This is a large battery that usually has a heavy duty commercial truck application. Optima has several sizes as people have talked about (above) but the one that would be the replacement [edit: see note below] for ours is the D31A (Yellow, SAE posts), D31T (Yellow, studs) or D31M (Blue, posts & studs.) These all have the same size case and specs (900 CCA, 1125 CA, 155 RC, 75 Ah.) It is a deep cycle battery that can be used as a starting battery. The only difference between the 3 models is the post configuration (and colour.) I don't think we would need to relpace the OEM any time soon on a 4th Gen because this size is overkill for an SUV. One of those hidden features that puts another feather in Toyota's cap compared to the competition.
[Edit: I thought the "31" in the part number referred to the BCI Group size however the 105D31L designation is a JIS (Japanese Industrial Standard) reference size. See page 17 of the BCI attachment. A Group 31 battery MAY BE too tall to fit due to hood clearances but it did work as my second battery due to a different tray on the left side of the engine compartment. The BCI "best fit estimate" comparison is a 27R or the equivalent "optional" 27F or the standard 24F as recommended on page 47. I'm not sure how the "105" JIS performance ranking relates to the BCI performance ranges but the higher the number the better the performance (http://www.baj.or.jp/e/car_battery/car03.html).]
Unable to find specs for the Panasonic 105D31L-MF but I was pleasantly surprised to find that it probably is a BCI Group 31 size [edit: I was mistaken, see corrected info in note below]. This is a large battery that usually has a heavy duty commercial truck application. Optima has several sizes as people have talked about (above) but the one that would be the replacement [edit: see note below] for ours is the D31A (Yellow, SAE posts), D31T (Yellow, studs) or D31M (Blue, posts & studs.) These all have the same size case and specs (900 CCA, 1125 CA, 155 RC, 75 Ah.) It is a deep cycle battery that can be used as a starting battery. The only difference between the 3 models is the post configuration (and colour.) I don't think we would need to relpace the OEM any time soon on a 4th Gen because this size is overkill for an SUV. One of those hidden features that puts another feather in Toyota's cap compared to the competition.
[Edit: I thought the "31" in the part number referred to the BCI Group size however the 105D31L designation is a JIS (Japanese Industrial Standard) reference size. See page 17 of the BCI attachment. A Group 31 battery MAY BE too tall to fit due to hood clearances but it did work as my second battery due to a different tray on the left side of the engine compartment. The BCI "best fit estimate" comparison is a 27R or the equivalent "optional" 27F or the standard 24F as recommended on page 47. I'm not sure how the "105" JIS performance ranking relates to the BCI performance ranges but the higher the number the better the performance (http://www.baj.or.jp/e/car_battery/car03.html).]
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greasefingers
New member
Why did they check your battery? Did you report to them that you have an issue? It would be unusual for them to do it on their own, with a vehicle that is only 3yrs-old.
