RX8 Battery!?
 

What do you guys recommend for a battery? I want a reliable, lightweight, long lasting battery LOL! Who knows what I should get?

10 Energizer AAs ran in series should get you 12V... if you get their lithium ones they'll last a really long time too.

Turbonator !

Oh wait... wrong thread.

I would NOT suggest Braille battery products. Search for my thread regarding Braille for more information.

Imo, "lightweight" is incompatibile with your other two desires. Your car weighs over 3000 lbs. Don't worry about saving 10 or 20 lbs on a battery unless it's a garage queen.

I've been a fan of Optima Yellow-Top but recently I've read about quality problems. My next battery will probably be a Hawker/Odyssey.

Here's your battery

http://www.batteryweb.com/odyssey-de...35T-hdauto.htm


Deep-cycle so it doesn't croak the first time you run the battery down.

AGM -- no maintenance, no leaks, no corrosion

they also have lighter versions . i have the PC680. great battery :)

Jeez.. 10-20lbs is no problem.. sure..

but that battery you linked is 50lbs o.O

to the OP I recommend an Optima yellow/red.

Sure, but you're not suggesting a 0lbs alternative. Car batteries are heavy unless you get something ridiculously small.

Optima YT35 weighs 37.2 pounds. So less than 13 lb difference. In exchange you go from 48 Amp-Hours to 65 Amp-Hours. Not bad, imo, especially if the goal is reliability and long-life.

I like my 4-years-old Optima Yellow Top, but I've read too many negative comments recently in Eletric Vehicle forums about failed batteries after Johnson Controls bought out Optima. EV builders pay a lot of attention to batteries.

I should note that Optima seems to recomend the pc1200MJT for the RX-8. A bit smaller at 40 lbs.

http://www.batteryweb.com/odyssey-de...00MJT-auto.htm

Optima's quality went in the crapper when they were bought out by Interstate batteries several years go.

Good thing is, though, that the lead Engineer from Optima left when that happened, and was hired on at Excide to develop a glass mat battery to compete with Optimas. The Excide Orbital is that result; it's essentially an "optima 2.0" battery...it's made better, and lasts longer from my experience.

've got one in my 4x4 Frontier to handle winch loads & on board air compressor and such. I had to use it one time to put into a pathfinder for them to drive home from Knoxville to Atlanta at night, 'cause their alternator wasn't working. His battery was drained, so we swapped the Orbital from my truck to his, since my alt. was good, and he drove the whole way off the battery juice only to run the lights & such, while I put his battery in my truck to recharge it during the trip. Got to Atlanta, swapped batteries back, and the Orbital started up my truck w/o any hesistation at all. Darned good battery.

If you don't want to mess around with shipping for an Odyssey battery, I am reading that the Sears "Platinum P5" are re-branded Odysseys. This appears to be the Sears equivalent of the Odyssey PC1400/35T, for example:

DieHard Automotive Battery, Platinum P-5 - Group Size 35
Sears item# 02850035000 Mfr. model# P-5

http://s.sears.com/is/image/Sears/02...sm=0.9,0.5,0,0

And it's cheaper

Die Hard Platinum is a great battery. Have it in my Speed 3, Speed 6, Saturn, And RV. Not cheap, but you get what you pay for. Mazda uses crappy batteries. so i changed out !st year before winter. Always starts and plenty of reserve.

Oh and before anyone asks, i'm in here cus when i need a new vehicle i will be going from my Speed 6 to the RX.

Well, I put my money where my mouth is today. I'd been noticing that my cranking RPM had been dropping, especially on a cold morning. Time for a new battery. That's just shy of 4 years on the Optima Yellow-Top. Not terrible, but I must say I'm a bit dissapointed. It was a strong performer up till now though.

The DieHard Platinum P-5, Group 35, is a perfect fit. Unlike the Optima, there was no height adapter necessary. That extra inch is filled with "battery" instead, accounting for the 50 lbs. Terminals are in the right orientation. According to the manufacturer (Enersys) it's actually designed for 12 years service life. We'll see. Sears warrants the battery for 4 years free replacement, and up to 100 months pro-rated. Impressive.

It's AGM, which I love. Aside from a bit of dust from the cooling airflow, the AGM Optima was as clean as the day I put it in. No wet gunk, no white powder, no rusty hold-down, no corrosion whatsoever. This new battery should behave just the same. The DieHArd has Deep-cycle capability as well. 400 cycles to 80% depth of discharge. The various manuals and documents are available on the batteryweb link I gave earlier.

I pulled the Optima, vacuumed the bugs out of the bottom of the box and lowered the DieHard in with the built-in handle. Just the right height and its as big as you can get while still allowing for airflow. As you'd expect with any new battery, the car started right up almost instantly; I hardly finished turning the key.

I only had one glitch and not sure whether to blame the battery or Mazda. A little bit of both I think...

This is not the first time that I've noticed the terminal clamps on the RX-8 seem just a bit oversized. I've always had to tighten them nearly to the limit to get them snug. On the Die-hard this was a problem. The terminals on this battery aren't lead, they're "tin-plated brass". Much harder than Lead. They have knurling around them -- apparently this is meant to "bite" into the typical lead terminal clamps. But... the Mazda clamps aren't lead. So they're harder. I imagine the idea was that they'd "bite" into the typical lead battery posts.

And so, we have 2 pieces, both of which are expecting the other to be Lead. Add the oddly oversized clamps and the conical shape of the terminals and it's not surprising that it's hard to get the clamps snugged down. I was finally able to get the negative clamp to seat by making sure to tap it all the way down the taper of the post. The Positive side wouldn't grab though, even when seated down all the way and tightened fully. This was fixed by making a shim out of some 3/4 inch copper pipe. I sanded the end, inside and out to bright copper and cut off about a 5/8 inch length with a pipe cutter. I then snipped about a 1/4 inch strip out of it to form the shim and allow room for it to compress. Worked fine.

Paying $580 today for plugs, anti-freeze, replace gas-cap (and fix evap issue), air filter...going to go with this Diehard battery and do what you did...even though the single review on the Sears website I read is a neg for the battery :fingersx:...but sounds like he just got a bad apple...thanks for the info.

For what it's worth, no problems so far. Strong starts, and no problems with rundown even though I haven't been driving it much the last few months. Once or twice a week, and it's gone over a week in between drives a couple of times. Of course you'd expect good performance with any battery less than a year old. :) I keep meaning to replace the terminal clamps but so far the copper shim is doing the job.

I've used both braille and PC680 on my cars (RX8, FC, AE86) and the PC680 has been the better out of the 2.
I had a Braille B14115 (11.5 lbs) and it lasted for about a year and a half until I got to the point that it won't charge anymore. I had a Braille B2015 (15 lbs.) and it took 2 years before it took a crap on me. Braille offers a 1 year warranty on their batts and a 2 year pro-rated warranty.
I've been running the PC680 on my AE86 since 2004 and I'm on my 2nd battery. the first one took roughly 3 years before it decided to quit holding charge. As of right now, the RX8 has been running on PC680 for a few months now.
Both batteries will require you to either relocate or modify your battery hold down.

http://www.odysseybatteries.com/battery/pc680.htm
http://www.braillebattery.com/index.php/

is a $210 battery really worth it. I have the stock mazda battery and it lasts 4 years no problem in the North East

ps sorry to bring up an old thread

I use an Odyssey 925 MJT (search Summit Racing for one vendor). It's half-way between the little bitty batteries and the full-sized ones. Saves 20-25 lbs off the nose of the car, but leaves you with decent cranking time (if it takes more than a few seconds to start - you've got other problems anyway). You'll have to mess around with the clamping arrangement though and remove the sides and top of the battery box.

didn't really answer my question although thanks for the suggestion. I see your from Michigan does that surviv that temps up there, or do you garage it for the winter. 194.50 still seems like a huge amount for a battery.

I'm not really concerned with weight savings, just a battery that will start in the winter and last for a long time. Price is a concern. Does anybody else thing a $200 battery just isn't worth. Most batteries you have to replace within 5 years. $40/year for a battery seems ridiculous

my "Mazda battery", was dead in 2 yrs 11 months.

So ... not good. oh yeah im in NE too.

I have a 2006 using the stock battery. I don't drive it in the winter, but I do keep a battery tender on it while stored. Had no problem with it whatsoever. Hit exactly 30000 miles when i stored it this past Fall.

I still may replace the battery soon, but there's just no need for this $200+ battery madness.

We would all get many more years if we did what you are doing. Have you looked at the cells to see if they need distiled water?

why ppl keep on saying Optima battery cost 200 ?

sure the MSRP might be 200, but there are coupons which can get it down to something like 150 bux. which is not bad IMO.

For your northerners don't forget a battery tender. Mine is for motorcycles but you can improve battery life on that car that is sitting in the garage with a battery tender. It will keep the cycles going for those 3 weeks you aren't starting it up.

I check the cells from time to time, as one should. Have added a little distilled water maybe twice, I think.

I just replaced my stock battery with the DieHard Platinum Group 35 battery last night. I had this exact same problem with my installation last night ('05 RX8 if it matters). Since I had read this post by Nubo, I picked up some lead shims at the auto store before I began. I used the shim on the positive terminal only - the negative one was barely OK without the shim. Everything seems to be working now, but I can't say much about the battery besides this since I've only used it for a few drives so far!