odyssey battery questions

[cbremer]

seems like there are a few odyssey fans here so i thought i'd give this a shot

i'm planning a little project in my '87 XJ where i'd like to (re)add engine-driven OBA. as you may know, the battery on the XJ is diagonally mounted on the pass. side of the engine bay behind the headlight and between the inner fender and A/C compressor. what i'm trying to do is decide which model Odyssey would suit my needs best. i'm planning on fabbing up some small brackets to mount a 2nd Sanden compressor alongside the original so I can retain A/C. this would entail (as i see it) using the smaller odyssey battery, making it possible to mount the battery on its end, parallel to the inner fender to give enough clearance to mount the 2nd Sanden. I'm trying to avoid replacing the airbox with an open-element airfilter and relocating the battery to the driver's side of the engine bay.

big question is-which model to use? the PC925 would make things easier due to its smaller length and width (length would actually be height in my application, and i have to consider hood clearance), but the PC1200 has a higher CCA/CA rating. I'm looking at batteryweb.com's specs, and it lists "5 sec" as one of the headings. does this mean it puts out the rated amperage for 5 seconds, then drops off? will i notice a huge difference between the two batteries? for reference sake, i'm presently running a 750CCA yellow-top Optima. I don't have a winch and have no plans to add one in the foreseeable future.

thanks!

[mrblaine]

Originally posted by cbremer
seems like there are a few odyssey fans here so i thought i'd give this a shot

i'm planning a little project in my '87 XJ where i'd like to (re)add engine-driven OBA. as you may know, the battery on the XJ is diagonally mounted on the pass. side of the engine bay behind the headlight and between the inner fender and A/C compressor. what i'm trying to do is decide which model Odyssey would suit my needs best. i'm planning on fabbing up some small brackets to mount a 2nd Sanden compressor alongside the original so I can retain A/C. this would entail (as i see it) using the smaller odyssey battery, making it possible to mount the battery on its end, parallel to the inner fender to give enough clearance to mount the 2nd Sanden. I'm trying to avoid replacing the airbox with an open-element airfilter and relocating the battery to the driver's side of the engine bay.

big question is-which model to use? the PC925 would make things easier due to its smaller length and width (length would actually be height in my application, and i have to consider hood clearance), but the PC1200 has a higher CCA/CA rating. I'm looking at batteryweb.com's specs, and it lists "5 sec" as one of the headings. does this mean it puts out the rated amperage for 5 seconds, then drops off? will i notice a huge difference between the two batteries? for reference sake, i'm presently running a 750CCA yellow-top Optima. I don't have a winch and have no plans to add one in the foreseeable future.

thanks!

I seem to recall a kit by Hinkley or similar for the XJ that does the bigger battery.

I do know that the dual Sandens work. I won't do another one though. Too stinking much work.

[papromike]

I would do a PC1200 if you can fit it..


I have (2) PC1200s in my ZJ with less room than you have.. you can make em fit..


basically

PC925~Optima yellow

PC1200~1.75 Optimas.

cept the odysseys will last alot longer, but in terms of cca's and reserve, about those above calculations

[cbassett]

If your Optima's still good, why not relocate your battery to the rear passenger-side of the engine compartment? That's where I moved the battery in my 4.0 ZJ when I put a York on it.

[norcaljr]

Originally posted by cbassett
If your Optima's still good, why not relocate your battery to the rear passenger-side of the engine compartment? That's where I moved the battery in my 4.0 ZJ when I put a York on it.

I did the same thing after seen the great work that you did

[papromike]

Chuck, here is a pic of my dual Odysseys under the hood with onboard air..


This is where the old stock airbox used to be






here is a pic "across the engine"



closeup of the battery install

[cbremer]

thanks for the pics mike! great work i'm trying to avoid the added expense of buying a CARB-approved air tube- once this is done, it'll be a huge PITA to swap back in the stock airbox for smog checks. i'd also have to make/buy a battery tray for the driver's side. i've got new 1/0 cables & lugs ready to go- just have to cut and crimp them to length once everything's laid out.

i guess it's either buy an air tube and re-use the optima, or buy an Odyssey and cram it into the stock location alongside the second compressor. remember, the compressor is engine-driven, so that limits my options.

chris, IIRC, the A/C plumbing goes through the firewall much lower in a ZJ than in the XJ. I'm sure it varies by year, but the '87 XJ has its A/C plumbing very near the top of the firewall and pretty close to the fender. i tried test fitting the battery in that location the other night, and it appeared that it would also contact the wheelwell before being low enough to close the hood.

Blaine, since JKS took over ORGS Mfg., they don't list any type of relocation kit or compressor bracket. google didn't turn up much of anything except home-fabricated ideas and parts. Dual sandens may be a pain, but i already have the parts (i actually removed the OBA and bought all new A/C parts because we had such a warm summer and I wanted A/C again!) now i want the best of both worlds...

we'll see what happens

[Stu Olson]

Originally posted by papromike

basically

PC925~Optima yellow

PC1200~1.75 Optimas.

cept the odysseys will last alot longer, but in terms of cca's and reserve, about those above calculations

I stopped by the local Interstate Battery warehouse today. The counter guy was kind enough to pull the manufacturer specs for me. The aH capacity numbers are not apples to apples, IMO, as one is a C/10 rate and the other is a C/20 rate. (I don't know how to adjust the numbers to put them on an even playing field). However, I don't see the CCA and reserve comparison numbers being close to what was stated above....more like the opposite.


PC925 = 380 CCA @ 0*F, Reserve capacity = 50 min., 27 Ah capacity

PC1200 = 550 CCA @ 0*F, Reserve capacity = 91 min., 42 Ah capacity

Optima Yellow Top = 750 CCA @ 0*F, Reserve capacity = 120 min., 55 Ah capacity


Anyway, I retired my old YellowTop today at 4 years, 4 months of service. It was not dead and had not left me stranded. I could tell its capacity was less than it use to be. The OCV was less than I liked even though it always started the TJ. I am guessing I could have squeezed another 6 months from it based on unscientific observesations over the previous 6 months....or maybe less or maybe more....but I would just as soon not determine that time period by accident out on the trail in the future. Anyway, it is officially retried.

[Robert J. Yates]

The "magic" Optima finally got yanked from service Damn Stu, that must have really pained you to write that

BTW, the better specs on that Optima weren't worth a sack of crap for me when it died at 24.5 months.

[Stu Olson]

Actually, it was not painful at all....had it been so, I would not have posted.

[papromike]

Originally posted by Stu Olson
I stopped by the local Interstate Battery warehouse today. The counter guy was kind enough to pull the manufacturer specs for me. The aH capacity numbers are not apples to apples, IMO, as one is a C/10 rate and the other is a C/20 rate. (I don't know how to adjust the numbers to put them on an even playing field). However, I don't see the CCA and reserve comparison numbers being close to what was stated above....more like the opposite.


PC925 = 380 CCA @ 0*F, Reserve capacity = 50 min., 27 Ah capacity

PC1200 = 550 CCA @ 0*F, Reserve capacity = 91 min., 42 Ah capacity

Optima Yellow Top = 750 CCA @ 0*F, Reserve capacity = 120 min., 55 Ah capacity


Anyway, I retired my old YellowTop today at 4 years, 4 months of service. It was not dead and had not left me stranded. I could tell its capacity was less than it use to be. The OCV was less than I liked even though it always started the TJ. I am guessing I could have squeezed another 6 months from it based on unscientific observesations over the previous 6 months....or maybe less or maybe more....but I would just as soon not determine that time period by accident out on the trail in the future. Anyway, it is officially retried.

Stu, you must have been at an optima dealers place.

here are the specs on a PC1200 (this if from my owners manual)

1200 CCA's
91 minute reserve on a 25amp draw.
With a constant draw of 5 amps, the PC1200 will last for 7 1/2 hours before needing a charge.

Compare that to a Yellow Turd, I mean Top and it only has 750 CCA , 120 min reserve (with a 15 amp draw)

and the odyssey is alot lighter and smaller..


I;ll stick to my statement above..... but thanks for the headsup..


I also know that the last 2 yellow tops I had didnt last for crap, and their customer service sucks..

I do know that the people at Odyssey are very nice, helpful and dedicated to what they do, AND a little tidbit for ya.

when I initially wired up my dual batteries, I accidentally forgot to hook up the control wire on the solenoid, that sent charging voltage to my spare battery (the spare battery has a voltage inverter on it, 800watts of off-road lights, a winch AND a 1200w stereo all hooked up to it)

after 3 weeks, my stereo started acting up and I couldnt figure it out, then I checked that battery and it had JUST gone below 11 volts, IT lasted that LONG with that much load on it!!!!,

my yellow top would have given up the ghost... waay before that..

[Stu Olson]

Now that is strange that your literature says one thing and their web site claims another. Who to believe?

According to their web site http://www.odysseyfactory.com/specs.htm , the 1200 CCA rating you claim is actually 1200 HCA (hot cranking amps) which is a rating that they use on all of their batteries, hence the 1700, 925, 625, etc. names they come up with.

If you believe HCA and CCA are one in the same measurement, I won't try to convince you otherwise....but since CCA is rated a 0 degrees F and HCA is rated at 80 degrees F, I won't try to tell someone they are the same.

Here is a little tidbit for ya. Your uncharged battery story would be useful if you provided some indication of amps drawn and hours of use. Without it, the anecdotal incident is just that. And for what it is worth, your 1200 watt stereo running at only half capacity would draw slightly over 40 amps (at 100% efficiency). Your battery would be 100% discharged in under 60 minutes and non-usable in less than that. I've no idea what level you run your stereo at, but the numbers I listed are real, not made up.

Edit: Interstate Battery (kind of a large chain) will sell you any battery you want. They have Oddysey, Optima, and almost every other brand you can imagine and a few more.

[cbremer]

well, i ended up getting the 925- looks like it was the right choice! the corner is verrrry close to interfering with the upper radiator hose and if the battery was any taller i feel it wouldn't have fit.

as you may know, a common method of adding OBA to an XJ while keeping the A/C is to get an open element air filter and moving the battery to the spot previously occupied by the airbox (the intake would have to be CARB-approved, living in CA and all), which also involves lengthening the battery cables. my method requires buying a new battery, but that's it.

all i needed to do was fab up a couple of brackets that hold the compressors together at 4 points, as well as space them apart 1/8" so the pulleys don't rub. i also cut the corner of the battery tray so the belt wouldn't rub. i was able to re-route the original belt while keeping all accessories spinning the correct direction. i completed this little project in 2 afternoons-about 6-7 hours total.

i still need to do something with the upper hose since it's a little more stretched than i'd like it to be, as well as get a steel strap to use as a battery hold-down. also need to wire up a switch near the driver's seat. i'd like to incorporate a tank somewhere- maybe a 2-3' long piece of 4" pipe behind the front bumper?

on to pics:

http://home.earthlink.net/~cbremer/newoba01.jpg

http://home.earthlink.net/~cbremer/newoba02.jpg

comments/constructive criticism/suggestions are always appreciated

[mrblaine]

Originally posted by cbremer
well, i ended up getting the 925- looks like it was the right choice! the corner is verrrry close to interfering with the upper radiator hose and if the battery was any taller i feel it wouldn't have fit.

as you may know, a common method of adding OBA to an XJ while keeping the A/C is to get an open element air filter and moving the battery to the spot previously occupied by the airbox (the intake would have to be CARB-approved, living in CA and all), which also involves lengthening the battery cables. my method requires buying a new battery, but that's it.

all i needed to do was fab up a couple of brackets that hold the compressors together at 4 points, as well as space them apart 1/8" so the pulleys don't rub. i also cut the corner of the battery tray so the belt wouldn't rub. i was able to re-route the original belt while keeping all accessories spinning the correct direction. i completed this little project in 2 afternoons-about 6-7 hours total.

i still need to do something with the upper hose since it's a little more stretched than i'd like it to be, as well as get a steel strap to use as a battery hold-down. also need to wire up a switch near the driver's seat. i'd like to incorporate a tank somewhere- maybe a 2-3' long piece of 4" pipe behind the front bumper?

on to pics:

http://home.earthlink.net/~cbremer/newoba01.jpg

http://home.earthlink.net/~cbremer/newoba02.jpg

comments/constructive criticism/suggestions are always appreciated

Are the only brackets that hold the OBA compressor those two at the top?

[John]

Originally posted by mrblaine
Are the only brackets that hold the OBA compressor those two at the top?

His little write up mentions 4 spots. My big question is the lack of belt engagement on the A/C compressor.

[papromike]

Looks good Chuck, be we need to talk about your Electrical wiring.....

[cbremer]

Originally posted by papromike
Looks good Chuck, be we need to talk about your Electrical wiring.....

are you available for hire?

i know i need to organize it a bit better, but everything's routed safely and has fuses on it.. maybe one day when i can't think of anything better to do i'll neaten things up a bit i do have a couple of old distribution blocks that are looking for a new home.

the 2nd compressor is mounted at all 4 corners (top front & rear, bottom front & rear), so it should be a pretty sturdy mount. when i was setting the belt tension i ran both the OBA and A/C with the engine cold, about 9:00 PM with a bit of condensation on the hood & roof and had no squealing.