Battery longevity

[FLYTWA]

Just curious? It's been cold in Chicago and my car is in a heated garage. I went to start it the other day, it had been sitting there for about 3 weeks, and it needed a jump. Should it be started once a week?

Anyway Merry Christmas!

Darsh

 

[V10SpeedLuvr]

Get a trickle charger if youre gonna leave it sitting for long periods of time

 

[ccronald]

In Western New York, I have to store the Viper from November to April. I've been using "float chargers" for most of the 11 years I've been Vipering, and only had to buy one battery after 7 years of use.

 

[Steve 00RT/10]

If it was locked, you're lucky to get a couple weeks without going dead. Battery tender is the way to go. Trickle chargers work, but can't be left unattended for long periods without overcharging the battery. Starting a car once a week and idling it is not a good thing to do. Running it on the road for 15 or 20 minutes is the right way to do it.

Steve

 

[Jim T]

What is the diffrence between float chargers and trickle chargers? Can anyone sugest a brand name they have had sucess with or does it matter?

 

[SRT10]

Save your battery and put your car to sleep just like it tells you in your owners manual.

 

[wormdoggy]

Save your battery and put your car to sleep just like it tells you in your owners manual.

Concur with the above but if you are still looking at a "BATTERY TENDER ", here's some additional information and example.

http://www3.sympatico.ca/mikeand.janine/batt/batt.htm

Patrick

 

[Viper Specialty]

As always, I highly recomend an Optima Yellow Top Deep Cycle battery replacement, Battery Saver Mode, and a trickle/float charger. The combination of those things make any type of storage length a non-issue, not to mention how FAR superior the Optima is to the OEM battery in every way. The OEM batterys generally have a short life to begin with, I always recomend getting rid of them before you need to...you'll thank me later when you are not the one sitting in a parking lot with a car that wont start.

 

[GTS Bruce]

Been happy with a red top.I do not lock or alarm the garage wich is part of the house because the garage is locked and alarmed.No battery drain.After running the car I put a charger on it to make sure the battery is fully up.Has sat for up to 4 weeks,flick the key and it blasts off. GTS Bruce

 

[Viper Specialty]

The determining factory of Yellow Vs. Red top optima is whether of not you ever listen to your radio with the engine off. The red tops will die much quicker than a Yellow Top with that type of use. I recomend Yellow because it is better suited all around to anything.

 

[Paul Hawker]

You can get a battery tender for about $20 at Walmart, K-mart, Sears etc. Just hook up the included permanent cables, and run it out the gills. Makes storage a no brainer. Just be sure to put a yellow stickey on your dash board to remind you to unplug it before you drive off.

Merry Christmas.

Dan.
What size optima works in SRT? My 03 still has the original.

 

[SRT10]

Dan.
What size optima works in SRT? My 03 still has the original.

Yes. I can't find any info on the website.

 

[Viper Specialty]

For the SRT:

Red Top:

34, or 34/78

Tellow Top:

D34, or D34/D78

Only difference is that 34/78's have top and side posts, 34 is only top. Both will work fine in SRT's, very few places carry the regular 34 series.


NOTE: Battery Temp Sensor needs to be modified to use any optima batteries. Simply pull out sensor, pull off "spring clip", Slide an O-ring onto it that fits it snugly thats about 1/8" thick. Take the spring clip, and break/cut the two little progs off the inside. pop the spring clip back on on top of the O-Ring, and push the sensor back in. Let the sensor "clips" hold it in place while you insert new battery, then reach through the bumper and give the sensor wire a yank- it will pop out of the hole and push against the side of the battery, further then it did before.

 

[GTS Bruce]

Radio?What radio?Ah yes I remember.I turned it on a few years ago to see if it actualy worked.Then again I don't sit around in dark secluded places with a chick in the car "playing the radio".I got a red top.Yep married.I got an optima because it didn't puke acid onto the car.Yep very married. GTS Bruce

 

[Steve 00RT/10]

The OEM batterys generally have a short life to begin with, I always recomend getting rid of them before you need to...

My OEM battery is 6 years old and 55,500 miles. I had it load tested just a couple months ago and it was right up to par. I'm guessing that DC contracts with different battery makers every year based on price/performance. Perhaps there was a good batch in the 2000 model year. Even so, I don't know why a Viper battery would fail any sooner than any other OEM car battery. I've routinely gotten between 5 and 8 years with OEM batteries. I may replace mine this spring, just for GP, but I highly doubt an Optima could do a lot better given the higher price.

Steve

 

[Viper Specialty]

Well... I can tell you this much:

My 2002 GTS: Battery toast in 16 months
My SRT-10: Battery toast in 18 months
Friends 2001 GTS-ACR: Battery toast in 26 months
Friends 1997 GTS: Battery dead in 4 years (left stranded)
Friends 1998 GTS: Battery dead in 4 years (left stranded)

No matter how you slice it, the OEM battery is horrible. Whether it fails on you is a moot point- a 600 CCA battery in a VIPER? Give me a break. They put bigger batteries in imports with 3-liter engines. Not to mention, the Viper is a bad place for crap batteries. Low quality batteries cannot take the shocks and sloshing of high-performance driving with rough handling suspension very well. Spiral Gel-Cell batteries like Optima can. And as Bruce pointed out, they wont puke acid on your frame while they do it.

Its your car, its up to you. For me, its Optima.

 

[Steve 00RT/10]

No matter how you slice it, the OEM battery is horrible. Whether it fails on you is a moot point- a 600 CCA battery in a VIPER? Give me a break. They put bigger batteries in imports with 3-liter engines. Not to mention, the Viper is a bad place for crap batteries. Low quality batteries cannot take the shocks and sloshing of high-performance driving with rough handling suspension very well. Spiral Gel-Cell batteries like Optima can. And as Bruce pointed out, they wont puke acid on your frame while they do it.

Its your car, its up to you. For me, its Optima.

Like I said, maybe the 2000 batch of Viper batteries were better. As for CCA being 'only' 600. Our car has never had a problem starting.. for over 55,000 miles. It spins over just fine. Vipers don't run in sub zero temps as a rule of thumb. Unless you're running a bunch of non stock radio stuff(or other equipment) which is going to **** a lot of juice, why would you need more CCA for starting in the summertime? You mention high performance driving. I'll bet a good many of the people reading this will never see any tracks or high performance drivng which would warrant a gel cell battery. Our car sees a track once or twice a year along with some autocrosses. The battery has never leaked. As for 2 of your cars OEM batteries lasting less than two years----that has never happened to me and from the looks of it, I've been driving longer than you've been alive. I am not pre-cluding ever getting an Optima battery...or one like it. Nor am I saying they're not a good battery. I'm simply saying that I don't believe OEM batteries are designed to fail in a year or two. I have an OEM battery in a 2001 GMC 4x4 (5.3L)with 131,000 miles on it. The truck was bought in 9/00. It still works just fine.

Steve

 

[luc]

My 2000 GTS is still on it's original battery but I do use a battey tender.

Luc.00GTS

 

[kaval]

can the tender be attached under the hood?

 

[ulllose]

I was going to attach mine under the but decided to attach it in on the battery and run the wires under the car.
(so it still looked "Cool" lol).
I actualy forgot about the battery terminal hook-up under the hood until i hooked up in the back and ran an extension cord to the outlet thats right by the hood of the car.

Also keep in mind if you put the car in "Sleep mode" your door handles will not work......so don't leave the keys in the glove box. I learned the hard way. Took me about 2 hours to find where i put the spare set, (you know in a place that i would always remember...ya,right)

 

[VNMOUS]

Why do you need to modify the battery temperature sensor when you install an Optima battery. I put a yellow top in today without modifying the sensor. Will this cause future problems?

Thanks

 

[Kai SRT10]

What about the Hawker/Odyssey batteries?

Anyone used these?

 

[W. SKAF]

What is a battery tender?

 

[DSR207]

What is battrey tender ?

Answer

 

[eagles]

Kai,
I'm using the 925 odyssey in my SRT and in a twin turbo 300zx car with no problems. I keep both on float chargers which are not the type specified by Odyssey, sfsg. 2 years on the TT and 1 year so far on the SRT. bonus--- I save prox 16lbs over original SRT battery and no chance for acid spillage.

eagles