DieHard Platinum vs. Optima Batteries

[fuzzy]

But do they have one that matches the color of my Proton?

[Joe_Black]

My concern with them would be vibration resistance and the ability to be mounted in any position (inverted even) externally or internally as the Optimas can. The fact that these can't be mounted inverted is a bit telling, meaning they likely outgas significantly as well which means terminal corrosion along with other related issues. I know that may not be applicable to most of the VX crowd, but I use Optimas on heavy equipment and am also converting my sailboat's auxiliary to electric drive using Blue Tops for the 48V power bank.

Fortunately in using Optimas over the past ten years I've only had one fail prematurely (a Red Top) and actually attribute that to a fault alternator. Always nice to see new technology, but personally I like to see it proliferate into some severe-duty environments for a while before adopting.

[UtahVXer]

The Exide Extreme Cycle Duty is another choice using Valve-regulated lead-acid (VRLA) recombinant technology. They claim it produces no gas ("under normal operating conditions") and can safely be mounted in any position. (But these aren't made in the USA.) See: http://www.exide.com/products/automo...bital_XCD.html

[Joe_Black]

Interesting, but basically Exide's copy of an Optima. Unfortunately the 18 month warranty is a bit weak and they only have two models with any significant capacity, all the rest are well under 100AH. I just put a new VRLA battery from Yuasa in my wife's motorcycle, so I'm interested to see how it holds up. I've heard good things from folks with Harley's that have them, and that's a good thing since most Harley riders have about as much mechanical skill/knowledge as a 3-day dead eastern grey squirrel.