Looking to upgrade my battery

[Brian_B]

I wouldn't do a lithium battery under the hood.

I'm in this frame of mind myself. As many benefits as lithium brings (particularly LiFePo), temperature resilience isn't one of them.

For the overlanding and tailgating crew, I still recommend leaving the starting battery alone and using a separate Lithium portable generator in the back - you get the best of both worlds, it just costs a little bit of cargo space.

But I guess if someone is an aeronautical engineer and want to go all-in-one route, it certainly will work - it has for decades. And it's their money and I am interested to see how it turns out. I just don't know that it would be better or cheaper than picking up one of the commodity priced battery portable generators right now.

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[Tye]

Alternatively, here is where my buddy mounted his deep cycle 200amp battery for all his overlanding. can charge by solar as well. Has a bracket underneath that holds rhe battery close to where the removable cargo tray is.

 

[gbub]

This makes me laugh because it seems in that application, well at least the space part, having an abundance of power (just in case of emergency) has always been key. Yet you are looking for the bare minimum you can get away with IF everything goes right.

My simple opinion, if you're going to be that remote .. I'd look at the standby type power systems and if there is one that could also be used to jump the Bronco if you're out in the wilds , even better.
But it is just a difference in opinion.

I like to be the guy that has the reserve power or the correct tools or equipment to bail out those who are ill prepared.
I seem to run into far more of the "ill prepared" needing help than I do the "well equipped".

I consider the OEM battery bare minimum. I am just looking for a way to bump that up some to have more confidence in the reserve capacity. I have experimented with the refrigerator on my Bronco overnight and know that it works in cooler temperatures. I just need to get it to work as well in higher temperatures and when the battery has aged some.

I have carried a NOCO GB40 for many years and have also rescued people many times including myself. I make sure it is fully charged before my trips.

I just read a long thread on Ranger 5G about extending battery life. I was trying to find information on the affects of changing the state of charge (SOC) in the BMS system. There were some very knowledgeable people discussing this over a long time frame and trying different things to get better battery life. They had some good success but not all agreed 100% on the best way to do it.

My interest was in raising SOC to improve reserve capacity (RC). That is not something they discussed but it was shown that raising SOC did not harm the battery. I understand the Bronco BMS SOC is set at 80% which tells me the battery may be operating at reduced RC. It was shown that raising the SOC to 90 to 95% improved battery life. One even went to 100% but that is risky. I am going to experiment with running at 95% with the OEM battery. I plan on replacing it anyway so I don't have much to loose.

 

[2DR22Bronco]

I like the Odyssey batteries and have used them for many years in my vehicles. However the "performance series" is not as strong as the "Extreme series" I have used both and more so buy them for the lifespan than the power they make. I can vow that I have ran my odyssey extreme dead dead dead a few times and it has always come back using my AGM battery minder.

I have been hoping that the H7 or 94R size gets an "Extreme series" version as this is what I want to use in the Bronco when the OEM dies (credit where is due my OEM is in year 3 and still exceeds the CCA its rated of when I use my battery tester). I only have owned 1 performance series odyssey and it got me 7 years, but was more so used in a daily driver vehicle. I have used 4 extremes over the years and have not had one go kaput on me. I have 1 extreme that' is a 2015 year batt in one of my Cobras and the other is a 2018 date code. In My old B2 that I sold I had a 2014 extreme and was still going strong when I sold it last year and I ran a lot of accessories on it.

All in all I would say the performance Series is good for reliability its not what the extreme series is. If the Extreme does not have the H7 by the time I need a battery I may go with the XS that was mentioned above and give them a try.

I know this doesn't much help with a suggestion, it's just my 2 cents from someone who has ran these batteries. Oh and I had a yellow top Optima once and I didn't make a year with it in my Willy's Jeep CJ5. The guy at NAPA warrantied it for me and told me they were having all kinds of problems with them, but that was about 20 years ago now, I don't know how they are at current day, but I went to Odyssey after that and like that they are USA made. Tough to really find anything USA anymore especially batteries.

 

[American Sender]

I like the Odyssey batteries and have used them for many years in my vehicles. However the "performance series" is not as strong as the "Extreme series" I have used both and more so buy them for the lifespan than the power they make. I can vow that I have ran my odyssey extreme dead dead dead a few times and it has always come back using my AGM battery minder.

I have been hoping that the H7 or 94R size gets an "Extreme series" version as this is what I want to use in the Bronco when the OEM dies (credit where is due my OEM is in year 3 and still exceeds the CCA its rated of when I use my battery tester). I only have owned 1 performance series odyssey and it got me 7 years, but was more so used in a daily driver vehicle. I have used 4 extremes over the years and have not had one go kaput on me. I have 1 extreme that' is a 2015 year batt in one of my Cobras and the other is a 2018 date code. In My old B2 that I sold I had a 2014 extreme and was still going strong when I sold it last year and I ran a lot of accessories on it.

All in all I would say the performance Series is good for reliability its not what the extreme series is. If the Extreme does not have the H7 by the time I need a battery I may go with the XS that was mentioned above and give them a try.

I know this doesn't much help with a suggestion, it's just my 2 cents from someone who has ran these batteries. Oh and I had a yellow top Optima once and I didn't make a year with it in my Willy's Jeep CJ5. The guy at NAPA warrantied it for me and told me they were having all kinds of problems with them, but that was about 20 years ago now, I don't know how they are at current day, but I went to Odyssey after that and like that they are USA made. Tough to really find anything USA anymore especially batteries.

Going on 11 years on my duel Odyssey batteries in my Duramax. I have them in two other vehicles and will buy another when the Motorcraft is done.

 

[gbub]

I like the Odyssey batteries and have used them for many years in my vehicles. However the "performance series" is not as strong as the "Extreme series" I have used both and more so buy them for the lifespan than the power they make. I can vow that I have ran my odyssey extreme dead dead dead a few times and it has always come back using my AGM battery minder.

I have been hoping that the H7 or 94R size gets an "Extreme series" version as this is what I want to use in the Bronco when the OEM dies (credit where is due my OEM is in year 3 and still exceeds the CCA its rated of when I use my battery tester). I only have owned 1 performance series odyssey and it got me 7 years, but was more so used in a daily driver vehicle. I have used 4 extremes over the years and have not had one go kaput on me. I have 1 extreme that' is a 2015 year batt in one of my Cobras and the other is a 2018 date code. In My old B2 that I sold I had a 2014 extreme and was still going strong when I sold it last year and I ran a lot of accessories on it.

All in all I would say the performance Series is good for reliability its not what the extreme series is. If the Extreme does not have the H7 by the time I need a battery I may go with the XS that was mentioned above and give them a try.

I know this doesn't much help with a suggestion, it's just my 2 cents from someone who has ran these batteries. Oh and I had a yellow top Optima once and I didn't make a year with it in my Willy's Jeep CJ5. The guy at NAPA warrantied it for me and told me they were having all kinds of problems with them, but that was about 20 years ago now, I don't know how they are at current day, but I went to Odyssey after that and like that they are USA made. Tough to really find anything USA anymore especially batteries.

I totally agree with you. Odyssey is on my short list but the Optima DH7 is on the top right now because it has a little better specs. You are right about the Odyssey Extreme Series. I found one that looks very good but the width is about 1 inch too long. I don't want to modify my battery tray and am not sure there is room even if I was willing to.

I've had very good luck with Optima over the past 30 yrs or so. I have them in three of my vehicles and would not hesitate to put one in my Bronco. The one thing that concerns me is the BMS in the Bronco seems to reduce battery life in exchange for increased mpg. I think that impacts all batteries brands though. Since the Odyssey is made in the USA, that could influence my decision. I too will see what is available when I am ready for a new battery.

I looked at the XS batteries specs and they were similar to Motorcraft, so it is not an upgrade for me.

 

[MannyG20]

I totally agree with you. Odyssey is on my short list but the Optima DH7 is on the top right now because it has a little better specs. You are right about the Odyssey Extreme Series. I found one that looks very good but the width is about 1 inch too long. I don't want to modify my battery tray and am not sure there is room even if I was willing to.

I've had very good luck with Optima over the past 30 yrs or so. I have them in three of my vehicles and would not hesitate to put one in my Bronco. The one thing that concerns me is the BMS in the Bronco seems to reduce battery life in exchange for increased mpg. I think that impacts all batteries brands though. Since the Odyssey is made in the USA, that could influence my decision. I too will see what is available when I am ready for a new battery.

I looked at the XS batteries specs and they were similar to Motorcraft, so it is not an upgrade for me.

So what did you end up getting?

 

[gbub]

So what did you end up getting?

My factory battery is still good, so there is no need to replace it yet. At this point if my battery suddenly failed, I would probably go with Odyssey.

 

[Naiknomu]

A higher‑CCA Group 48 AGM has worked well for me, especially with added accessories. While digging around for options, I ended up using an lr1130 battery equivalent chart for a smaller project, and the clear comparisons helped me sort out specs without overthinking things, so the same approach made picking the Bronco battery a lot easier.

 

[Lifeliberty]

2 weeks ago, I put in this https://www.autozone.com/p/duralast-platinum-battery-h7-agm/319458

Perfect fit, runs strong.
I swear when I bought it the warranty was 5 years, but now lists 4 years...

Got oil changed Thursday, they tested the battery and sent me this

Website says it is 850 CCA, I dont know why the numbers don't match.

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