Group 35 Batteries

Hey guys, I can feel my battery starting to get a little sluggish and I'm about to be adding a bunch of lighting so I was considering upgrading to a group 35.

What battery setups are you guys running, pros/cons, and what are some of the nuances to running a larger battery? Will it fit in the stock tray? Do you need different tie-downs/box?

Show off your setups!

 

L. W. H
group 27F dimensions 12 1/2 6 13/16 8 15/16
group 35 dimensions 9 1/16 6 7/8 8 7/8

The only thing larger is the group number. What are you running now? Get a Northstar or X2 Power 27F and be done with it. I think a group 33 is slightly larger in size than a 27F.

 

x2. No point in a 35.

 

Didja mean a group 31? Cuz as mentioned, a 35 isn't very big, about the same as a 24 or 34, and found in such things as an Impreza, or Versa.

I wouldn't bother unless you really had a need for it. A 27 is a pretty freaking big battery. I seriously doubt you need the cranking power, and the reserve capacity increase isn't all that much.

 

I'd say 195 RC you'll get from the 27F is a lot of increase. Only topped by a 31M that's 220. 31M is a huge freaking, heavy battery.

 

Sorry for the confusion... I meant the jump from a 27 to a 31.

 

Honestly, I don’t know much about batteries - only reason I said group 35 is because someone highly recommend an Odyssey PC1400T, which I googled and it said “Group 35”

 

soooo

whats the biggest baddest battery to fit the tray......

with correct post positions ?

 

A bit of context - I’m adding a 200W 42” light bar, a 90W 20” light bar, 2x 24W side projecting pods, and 8x 20W pods. I’ll also be adding an ARB dual compressor, and later a winch and a fridge.


Seems like a lot of power, so I figured just make sure I have the juice.

 

I drank the Odyssey koolaid years ago, when they sold them at Sears as Diehard Platinums. I got a 31 (not deep cycle) marine for my 1st gen, and put a 35 in my old Subaru.

The 31 got replaced twice in the 2 year warranty. Both times, the posts came loose internally. The last one, I said screw it and took all my cables off the military terminals I was using, and just used the studs. Good thing I'd replaced all the cables (and had a dual terminal battery) or that wouldn't have been an option.

The one in my Subaru made it about 2 years, and just went totally tits up during a cold snap. Never had an issue before or after, so I don't think anything else killed it.

I was glad to have bought them from Sears since a) it was waaaaaay cheaper than their crazy prices, and b) I had an easy(ish) local place to warranty them. I'd have been royally pissed to have bought $200+ paperweights that I had to ship for warranty replacement. I'd pay some crazy $ for a really bulletproof battery if I knew it would last 5+ years and not even care about a warranty, but my 100% failure rate in <2 years didn't impress me at all.

 

Do you have a recommended battery for my setup?

I need something that has decent reserve so I can run the fridge and stuff without it running, and can provide enough power to run all my lights, winch, and air compressor without it going tits up.

 

The Northstar/X2 (looks like Batteries+ relabels it as X2) looks awesome. Never used one, but the reviews are good, and Batteries+ offers 5 year free replacement (that long with local places to swap it is awesome) and they always have coupons. 27F should fit the stock location, it's a factory size.

 

Northstar/X2 Power 27F.

 

A lot of owners dislike AGM batteries like Northstar and Odysssey because of the higher cost, but they can be discharged 80% (20% left) a few hundred times, crank at -40F and are sealed. Keep in mind, it’s not advised to ever discharge a standard lead acid car battery this much.

If you do deep discharge an AGM battery, it’s recommended you use one of these chargers with bulk charge to 14.7V which your alternator can’t do.

https://www.vmaxtanks.com/BC1220A-12V-20A-7-Stage-Smart-Battery-Charger-Maintainer-_p_160.html

 

A lot of good info in this thread.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/agm-31-deep-cycle-battery.589437/