what batteries to go for ?

[roy]

i have the factory twin battery setup in my car, i am looking to replace the batteries before the cold weather starts.

what batteries can anyone recomend ? , looking for quality rather than the cheapest.

i read from lots of threads people using the optima yellow top battery, are these the one to go for ?

cheers roy

 

[Chas]

There have been some 'less than satisfactory' reports about Optimas, I've had two red tops and one yellow fail on me. You don't have to spend a fortune to get quality, I bought earlier this year, two Numax CXV-X 1000 Amp CCA 86 Ah @ £66.38 each, that's less than the price of ONE Optima, and so far there's been no problem.
I bought them from Tayna
http://www.tayna.co.uk/Numax-CXV-X-1000-Amp-P7632.html
Their prices have increased but still reasonable

 

[Brett]

I'm in the process of setting up an auxillary battery in my 80.

I am probably going to buy an AGM (Absorbed Glass Matt) marine leisure battery. They are totally leakproof (can be installed upside down, don't give off hardly any gas & charge quicker, last longer 8-10 years if maintained properly.

Optimas are also AGM batteries but allegedlly the quality is not so good now, there is a post on here from someone who's yellow top has failed after a year.

I'm getting mine from Multicell.

http://www.multicell.co.uk/agm-batteries.html

Starting batteries I got from toyota, 2 for £137.00

 

[adrianr]

Ive found toyota pretty good value on batteries

 

[Chris]

Given that you only need one standard car battery to start a 90 oil burner, I wouldn't agonise over it. Certainly no need to go all special with Optima. Find the best price with a decent guarantee. Unless you are planning a three year trip around the World in some of the most inhospitable places, I'd just go to your local batter suppler and get something that fits.

Really. I mean what elements make up 'quality' in a car battery nowadays. Best thing that you could do on a 90 with the Winter Pack is take out the additional battery and save yourself money and grief. When one goes, it always drags the other down. Therefore you always end up replacing in pairs. It doesn't need it. It always seems like a cool option until you think about it. You only need one. If you have two and want a leisure battery, best to use the second battery position and split it from the starter. There are plenty of 3.0 Prados and SWB manuals out there with only the one battery and they manage just fine. It won't start any differently with two yellow tops than one Halfords special.

Chris

 

[roy]

why did toyota supply cars with the twin battery setup , if 2 batteries are not really needed ?

i bought the car with the 2 battery setup and assumed it required the both of them.
were these only for starting in prolonged cold weather ?

i had already thought of using the second for leisure use, so may well go down that route, if only one battery is enough for starting.

 

[pugwash]

go with Toyota

last pair for my 80 cost me £140 for both, they are guaranteed for 3 years, and they seem to be made to a very high spec.

for once, they seem very very good value!

 

[Paul]

Genuine Toyota are quite good, reasonable money too

 

[Beau]

I went for Costco's Batterys. £50 each for the largest ones they had, comes with 3 years warranty. Just keep the receipt and every 3 years swap it for a new one.

 

[Chris]

Roy, it'c all the Winter Pack and was not fitted to ALL Uk 90 series. It seems a bit random. Most autos that I know of got the Winter pack. Many of the manuals but NOT all got one battery. It certainly does not need two batteries. It's not 24v like an 80 it's simple 12v. What you get is two batteries in parallel delivering 12v but at something like 1100 cca. It's not necessary. If your truck is hard to start (which no Toyota is) then having that massive bank of reserve umph is helpful. But as most start on a 1/4 touch of the key, what's the point?
Essentially, you have two massive batteries sitting there that every time you start, get a mild wake up. Then they sit at full charge for the rest of the time. When they finally start to fail, one generally acts like a resistance (deliberately trying to avoid being remotely technical) which impedes the other good battery. It's all one circuit you see. Not with a split charge unit between them. They act as ONE battery. So when one bit dies, it's like one part of the whole thing. Then you need two new batteries. I think that you'll find that if you disconnect the live off the passenger side, it'll still start.

Chris

 

[sae70]

There have been some 'less than satisfactory' reports about Optimas, I've had two red tops and one yellow fail on me. You don't have to spend a fortune to get quality, I bought earlier this year, two Numax CXV-X 1000 Amp CCA 86 Ah

I conquer, I shall probably be buying myself one of these when the time comes, only the one though as Fiery is one of those 90's with just the one battery. I had one of the Numax 4x4 bats on my last truck & was very pleased with it They are a re-badged deep cycle marine battery, I got mine from X-Eng http://www.x-eng.co.uk/x-batteries.asp @ one of the Donny 4x4 shows

Here's a piccy of it in place

Here's another interesting point with regards if you own a 90 with one or two batteries. If you have two batteries then Yota, ToyoDiy, Halfords..............I actually can't remember where I've seen it now (try Halfords web site) spec lower amp hour batteries than if you have the one battery set up. The combined amp hours of the two battery set up still amounts to more amp hours than the one larger one, but an interesting point is that the two batteries in the two battery set up will spend their lives fitting with each other & so will always amount to fewer amp hours in real terms due to those loses than the mathematical total of the specified amp hours

edit - Here it is Halfords http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stor ... Find+parts they recomend two 68Ah Bats or one 91Ah Bat

 

[KZJ90]

2 x Yellow Optima 75 Ah.

 

[Ducktape]

I've researched and read about every post and review on this site and loads! of others. The stock MrT ones are reasonably cheap and not too bad a replacement... Optima's are just way overpriced ! Do your research and you'll see that alot are identical or re-branded batteries...

Long story short... I eventually bought the Bosch S4 95Ah/830CCA units (identical to the Varta's at a fraction of the price and also have a 4 year warrantee...) Nothing simpler, straight swap. VERY SATISFIED!