Just curious to know what is everyone using for a battery for their V8 Miata?


Stock (new Bosch) unit appears to work just fine, but wondering if I should be upgrading it or not.



Thanks in advance,

Bill S.

 

I am running a red top Optima. It seems to hold a charge pretty well during the extended months of non-use.

 

My battery is a stock miata battery and came with the car six years ago when I bought the car, works great and I think the battery is about eight years old.

 

I'm a big fan of AGM style "gel cell" batteries, and some Miatas came with these from the factory. We use them behind lots of V8s at our shop and they work great. Since they do not de-gas nor do they have water inside, like a standard lead-acid "wet" battery, they can be mounted sideways and in a passenger compartment without the need for venting or suffer from acid spills.



One of my personal favorites that we must have used on 25-30+ cars (race cars and daily drivers alike) is the Odyssey PC680, shown above. Lightweight and compact but powerful.

 

I love the Gel battery, have used them in my Cobra replicas and my road race cars in the past with fantastic results. However, what will fit in the stock battery location, now that is the going to be the trick.


Bill S.

 

Yellow top Optima here - came with the donor car so I have no idea how old it is. I did run it flat once and it bounced back awesomely with a trickle charge.

-Jason

 

I'm running a AGM stye too with a Big Crank ETX16 Battery. 325 CCA, 16 lbs and 85 bucks. 2 years, 2 cars no problems. My car sits from November to April so I put a trickle charger on it for a few hours a couple times over the winter. After 30 years of storing cars all winter batteries seem to live longer if you wake them up every 60 days or so.

 

Another convert to Odyssey batteries.

I'm using an Odyssey PC925L. It’s size is nearly the same as the original Panasonic battery if you put the Odyssey on it’s side (Length 6 5/8 in, Width 4 7/8 in, Height 7 in). The "L" suffix is the reversed terminals version. I also use a pair of automotive adapter terminals so I could use the stock wiring without modification. I use the stock battery hold-down parts and tray.

It's heavier than the smaller batteries, but this is a car with all the options and a decent sound system.

 

Those oddessey's are a ripoff, uh, I mean, advertised well. Specs are almost identical to $50-75 ones, see below.

There are so many specs and brands and such its very difficult to keep up with. Even though I come from a cold climate, USA people don't need cca. If its warm, as it is in most of the states, all you require is high discharge for 5 secs which odessey calls phca pulse cranking amps. The pc680 has 520. But is that Amps? Anyway, a friend of friend used it the 680 in Subaru over winter everyday. 0'f, cca matter at that point. Should be enough for a warm v8. It's actually only 16a/hr.

ODYSSEY Batteries - Battery Specifications

Agm (absorbed glass mat are great).

I have used a 20a/hr, for 8-9 months of the year here in Canada to start a 2.0 golf. Yes a v8 would need more, but how much more I don't know yet....the pc680 which is what I think is above is 16a/hrs. The 20a/hr below is $71.

Truth be told I used the cheap one all winter in 0'f but I froze it after a year.half and it basically died. Don't leave lights on, etc. a dead car battery never gets back up to 100%. Lets say it wasn't the batteries fault it died. So lets just say below freezing and kept in good shape maybe last 2yrs? You can afford two for the price of one oddessey. 4 years. But also who drives their monsters every day? I bet it lasts as long or longer than an oddessey.

14.5lbs. And more power, $72' what's not to like?

http://www.atbatt.com/media/sku_pdf/HR22-12.pdf
BB Battery HR22-12 High Rate Battery


Even within the 16-20a/hr ranges there are so many specs. Call the shop you are dealing with, as scooters and golf carts need constant power whereas starter batteries discharge the most. Trouble is, most of them will up sell you to an odessey so be careful, unless you like to spend money.