Ultimate IDI battery thread...

[Brimmstone]

As to running batteries in parallel it only causes problem with differing batteries or if one of the batteries if going bad to begin with. On the tour buses we run 4 group 31 series batteries in some of them. Of course that's using two sets of parallel batteries in series to turn four batteries into two twenty four volt batteries. Want to see fun though I'll try and post a pic of our luxury bus. It has four 8D batteries wired up in series-parallel configuration.

 

[bike-maker]

Prevost Coaches? If so, I work on them things too. Thats where I got the 2 group 31 stud top batteries I run in my truck. And the 4/0 welding cable for the battery cables. Spins her over really good.

 

[Brimmstone]

We run a couple Prevost H3-45 coaches and a couple Prevost XLII Mirage coaches. We also have several MCI D-coaches, One G-coach, An E-coach, and we have on Van Hool chassis. The E was modified to run the group of 8Ds to keep up with it's power sucking demands.

Got any tricks to keeping the parcel rack a/c working in a Prevost XLII?

 

[gatorman21218]

Yeah the AZs were in her when I bought her (3 years old) and I put them through hell. Running out of fuel in the middle of the intersection, hot starting a failing IP, welding the positive cable to the coolant filter, listening to radio for hours on end at work, etc and they still start right up.

As for soldering vs crimping- This is just my theory. the more surface area a connection has, the more current it can handle. When you solder a joint, solder fills in all the little voids that crimping might leave behind, after all stranded wire has lots of little nooks and crannies. Therefore I think soldering provides a better electrical connection than crimping.

As for welding cable vs battery cable- Welding cable may be flexible, but I've been told its not oil resistant. I know for a fact that my engine has more oil on it than in it (well maybe not quite), and you dont want something to deteriorate and allow a short. A short happened on my truck and melted a 2/0 cable halfway through. see below. Some guys use welding cable and have good luck with it, I am just gunshy after almost burning my truck down.

Size- You want 2/0 or 3/0. I think 4/0 is just too thick to bend although if you can make it work, go for it. I dont care what they say, size DOES matter.

 

[MIDNIGHT RIDER]

There are about as many proponents on the solder side as on the crimp side.

I have even crimped, then soldered.

For the last several years, I prefer a good crimp on the big stuff such as battery-cables.

Done right, a good solder job is also okay.

On the little stuff, as in anything 8-AWG and smaller, I crimp, then solder, always.


A good set of crimpers can be designed from a cheapo set of bolt-cutters, or grandpa's old set that has gotten too worn-out to cut bolts anymore.

One can simply grind the cutting edges flat, being careful to not go too far.

Or, if you really want to get fancy, dull the edges, then grind a couple of diamond-shaped openings in the cutting edges, one bigger than the other, such that one diamond crimps the really big stuff and the other gets the smaller big stuff.


Whether you crimp or solder, a poor job is not going to work for long.

 

[bike-maker]

I only went with the overkill of 4/0 because I dug it out of the wire scrap pile at work (free!), and being welding cable, it was still flexible enough that it wasn't any harder to run than a regular 2/0 battery cable. Only time will tell how it holds up.

Got any tricks to keeping the parcel rack a/c working in a Prevost XLII?

Nope. We do motorhome conversions, so we get em with out the "Over the Road Air" and add our own AC units on the roof.

Check out marathoncoach.com if you want to see how the upper .25% goes camping

 

[Brimmstone]

Actually I was just working on one of those a couple days ago. A Local country singer leases his tour buses from Taylor Tours and we do all the maintenance on it. We're also one of the few bus repair shops in our area besides Stewart-Stephenson in Houston. I'm on 24-7 call if something goes down. I've done road calls for several bus companies. They tend to call us as I've gotten a rep for being able to fix almost anything on the spot. We only had on go somewhere else as they wanted the warranty Detroit would provide for the injector that went out on a conversion coach.

 

[A_G]

When i get the cash im going optima, not sure if im going dual yellow tops (marine/starting battery) or one red top and one yello. Not sure right now.

Ive got a optima in a toyota POS and we drove it on the starter for awhile 2 miles i think (not continusly) and the battery still had great charge. So im sold.

I live on gravel roads out in the country and i can kill a regular battery pretty quick, i usually get a year before vibration kills them, i have a 2 month old battery in my silver truck that is fried due to vibration

 

[CDX825]

Optima batteries are no longer what they used to be. They started making them in mexico and quality went down hill.

If your looking for a good battery look into Deka Batteries.

 

[RLDSL]

The optima red tops are total junk anymore since they went to mexico and started making them out of recycled led. I can't get them to last longer than a year now. Only reason I still have a couple is that I still have waranty coverage on them. ( and the factory knows the new ones are junk because they have dropped the full price replacement coverage time by a few years since they moved and changed them, they won't even stand behind the things anymore) as soon as they crap out past warranty time they're gone., but at the rate they die, I'll probably be running the blamed things for quite a few more years. They seem to poop out every fall.

 

[redvetracr]

Optima batteries are no longer what they used to be. They started making them in mexico and quality went down hill.

If your looking for a good battery look into Deka Batteries.

my local Napa guy says Deka makes batteries for Napa now.....he also says auto parts manufacturers will build any part at a specific price point.....

 

[82F100SWB]

If you want a REALLY good battery, buy Caterpillar branded ones... Not sure who they have build 'em, but they are VERY good.

 

[opusd2]

The optima red tops are total junk anymore since they went to mexico and started making them out of recycled led. I can't get them to last longer than a year now. Only reason I still have a couple is that I still have waranty coverage on them. ( and the factory knows the new ones are junk because they have dropped the full price replacement coverage time by a few years since they moved and changed them, they won't even stand behind the things anymore) as soon as they crap out past warranty time they're gone., but at the rate they die, I'll probably be running the blamed things for quite a few more years. They seem to poop out every fall.

That's what I heard, and that's why I am glad that one set of my Optimas are about 6 years old, and the other only 4. I run them periodically through the Batter Tender Plus and it seems to renew them, which is good because after these boys dies I am not going Optima anymore.

I have also heard CAT batteries are really good, after all when you are down in a pit working in a really crappy environment, are the mechanics going to put in something that will make them crawl down there? Uh, NO. So it's on my list of possibilities. I will have to check out those Dekas. Looking is cheap, buying (and then replacing) is expensive.

 

[MIDNIGHT RIDER]

Back when we were ignorant enough to stock and sell batteries, we were a DEKA dealer, along with Interstate and many other brands, off and on over the years.

Probably the best we ever sold were Gould brand, but I haven't seen/heard of them in years.

The DEKAs did not impress me as being any better or worse than any of the others.

Although they could have fixed this since we quit handling batteries, one of my main gripes with the stud-type DEKAs was how shallowly they attached the threaded studs within the lead of the battery.

Many many is the one that I have had brought back for replacement where the installer gave the nut that one last little twist and subsequently root-wadded the stud plumb out of the battery, it being just a simple short bolt with it's head barely covered by the soft lead.

Like I already said, they may have fixed this situation since.



After selling and installing batteries for decades, I can honestly say from the percentage that come back in a very short time for warranty replacement that, regardless of brand, the manufacturers price mark-up has to be 1000 %, otherwise they could not stay in business long.

 

[idiabuse]

IDI ULTIMATE BATT

I had to ditch the factory keerap dual batt setup and made my own with one big Odessey 2150 Battery and 00 tractor cable mounted under the bed right hand side just in front of the leaf spring front eye.
http://www.ranchopower.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/Picture-0202.jpg

Had to buy the best BATT for the money!
http://www.odysseybatteries.com/battery/pc2150.htm

and it has lasted 6 years so far with the last 3 years sitting quiet while I rebuilt my truck, just recently I cranked up my new engine and the battery just spins that engine over effortlesly, best mod I ever did to my truck...

Javier