Recommendations for a good deep cycle battery?

Vchat20 · 09-08-2005, 08:37 PM

Simple question. anyone got any recommendations for a good deep cycle battery?

Reason i ask is because our van has a nasty electrical problem. by nasty i mean its hard to track down. weve gotten as far as the interior lights causing the battery drain, but thats as far as weve gotten. nothing weve tried has fixed this. tried cleaning the sliding door contacts and pulling the sensors in the rear hatch which are both mentioned to be causes. nothing. and its random whether the lights stay on or go off when the car is parked. sometimes they stay on. sometimes they go off. never easy to tell.

anywho, today was about the 2nd or 3rd time in the past 2 months that the battery has decided to die on us. we were on our way over to my aunt's house and when my mom tried to start the car, it just groaned for about 10 seconds before it finally turned over. at this point she was just pulling the car away from the garage so i could get something out of the back. not thinking straight, she shut the car off after she pulled it up. when we finally got ready to leave, she tried to start it again and it finally killed the battery. thankfully we share a driveway with our neighbor so he simply jumped it for us. got it started and we went to pick my brother up from school which is just a mile away. we parked out in front of the school like usual and left the car running for the 5-10 minutes we were sitting there. picked him up at 3:20 and went over to our aunt's house. we got there about 3:30 and didnt leave till around 7. it started right up when we went to leave.

anywho, as a kind of safety precaution, when we got home i pulled the interior lighting fuse so the lights would stay out.

i also should add that this car also is "supposed" to have a "battery saver" relay in it where it will shut off uneccessary accessories like the interior lighting and whatnot after the car has been parked and off for an hour. never works when its supposed to.

anywho, 'nuff of my *****ing and moaning. any recommendations for a good deep cycle battery?

BoyNextDoor · 09-08-2005, 08:43 PM

Optima YellowTop. The only way to go deepcycle... I have it,. and ran my Inverter carpc setup in it for 1 hour, and no problems... Voltage didn't even drop...

cheers

bigburb · 09-08-2005, 10:37 PM

sounds like you have a short somewhere in the system for sure. does your car have computer controlled lighting (delayed lighting, illumination with disarm, etc.)?

Vchat20 · 09-08-2005, 10:40 PM

i cant really say if its computer controlled or not. but considering the year, i have doubts it does. there is not alarm or any similar "remote" device. i believe i may have seen a delayed lighting bit in the fuse listing, but im not 100% sure.

i should also add another problem this car has had for a while but weve gotten used to it over time. no matter what we do, it always reads as a door being open somewhere. the door ajar light is on as well as the chime. but heres the weird part: start up the car, the door ajar light and chime are on as well as the interior lights like i mentioned above. get moving down the road and once the car reaches 15MPH (ALWAYS 15mph) the chime stops and the interior lights go out. slow down and when the car reaches 10MPH or below, the chime comes back on but the interior lights stay out. and that mess basically repeats. turn the car off and back on and the interior lights come back on like before.

edit: nvm about the first part about computer controlled lighting. i found this bit from 2carpros.com in a google search:

Quote:

Question: 1996 Ford Windstar 3.8L mileage: 92,000 Km. My interior lights stay on all the time and the "door ajar" light is on all the time. You have answered a question somewhat related to this for a 1997 Taurus. However, I don't have a car alarm and I'm not sure what you mean by "scanning the body control module". There is a relay switch under the dash for the interior lights - should I check this? Thanks for your help!

Answer: All the controls for the interior lights are run by the body control module. Scanning the module for fault codes should tell you what the problem is. Since you car is post 1995 model it requires special equipment to scan the computer for problems. You need to take it to a reliable automotive service center or the dealer.

84RegalRider · 09-09-2005, 02:30 AM

Yellow top if u have a 1 batt setup. Exide Marine plus any other batt if u have a dual setup.

fonseca · 09-09-2005, 02:34 AM

Optima Blue Top. I'm getting one. Can be had for under $150 shipped, so you may as well go for that instead of the yellow.

Sonicxtacy02 · 09-09-2005, 09:22 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by fonseca

Optima Blue Top. I'm getting one. Can be had for under $150 shipped, so you may as well go for that instead of the yellow.

why get a blue top for $150 when the yellow top is $129? Blue top is for marine applications.

Vchat20 · 09-09-2005, 03:13 PM

well, on the part about pulling out the fuse: that was a bad idea. my mom just left to go pick up my brother from school. although the car started up just fine, the windows wouldnt roll down despite the fact that the fuse i pulled was for interior lights only and both front windows have their own separate fuses.

in any case: although a new battery is not in our budget right now and there is no real sign of any loss of life on the current battery, when the time comes to get a new battery i will recommend a yellow top for sure. i knew they were good batteries from the recommendations here on the forum, i just didnt realize they were deep cycle.

numbers · 09-10-2005, 12:37 AM

I realize this isn't what you were actually asking about, but do be sure and check every last fuse on that van. You'd be surprised at how funny the entire electrical system can act if a (seemingly unrelated) fuse is blown. I know that sounds stupid, and it's not likely to be your problem, but there it is anyway...

Vchat20 · 09-10-2005, 12:40 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by numbers

You'd be surprised at how funny the entire electrical system can act if a (seemingly unrelated) fuse is blown.

aint that the friggin' truth!

neways, i will check them as soon as i can. we are going back over to my aunt's house tomorrow so i could probably check it before or while we are there.

84RegalRider · 09-10-2005, 04:30 AM

yel top and blue top are the same thing except for different posts. Thats it. Oh and color of the top hehe

0l33l · 09-10-2005, 05:04 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by Vchat20

i also should add that this car also is "supposed" to have a "battery saver" relay in it where it will shut off uneccessary accessories like the interior lighting and whatnot after the car has been parked and off for an hour. never works when its supposed to.

Of course it never works. Its a ford