What battery should I use for my e30

[nando]

Sooo... the optima yellow top lasted all of 6 months. Seems to have an internal short. I can charge it up, but it will drain itself to 0v within a day. ugh.

back to the drawing board? I can try to warranty it, but I'm not sure I want to bother.

Back when you could get a real Sears DieHard battery - that thing lasted me like 10 years, and it wasn't new when I got the car. I ran it flat several times but it always charged back up. I probably should have just tried to recondition it instead of replacing it. I'm now on my 3rd battery in like 6 years. this sucks.

Lithium seems interesting - but without a battery management system, I'd be worried about the potential for a fire. at least my E30 with dead battery can't cause any self-harm. lol

[Cream]

I'll also bump this instead of creating a new thread. I don't know if anyone has tried lithium batteries on the e30 or if it would be worth it. Just saw this video today https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=de...ENGLISHCHANNEL also the fuse logic seems like any car would benefit from this especially the older cars. Thoughts?

[325e '87]

My 30 sits for a few months a year too and I just keep the brand name “battery tender” on it. The Bosch batt that came with it when I got it is still strong. It is one of the things that worries me though as the years pass. The batt on my e39 went dead as I was bleeding the cooling system after it sat for about a month. Woke me up and now keep power on my cars all the time.

I do sympathize with the thread topic. Heck, my Deere diesel tractor sits for 6 months and I just go out there and crank it up and it’s a 2006 model. How do they do it? JD branded stuff is pricey but it tends to be true to OEM expecatations.

[reelizmpro]

I was not able to get the correct size battery from Costco, it's a bit too tall to fit in the back tray; the lid didn't really fit nice anymore.
I'm pretty sure there is more selection in the States though...I would just measure and compare the batteries in the store to make sure it fits.

My car sat a lot last winter and so failed to start without re-charging...just took the battery back to Costco and got a new one...can't beat that.

They didn't carry the H6(group 48)? It's costco fitment #29 I believe. Costco stock changes all the time. Thankfully, there are 4 of them in a 25 mile radius, so I just called around to find one that had it.

[finnmole]

I was not able to get the correct size battery from Costco, it's a bit too tall to fit in the back tray; the lid didn't really fit nice anymore.
I'm pretty sure there is more selection in the States though...I would just measure and compare the batteries in the store to make sure it fits.

My car sat a lot last winter and so failed to start without re-charging...just took the battery back to Costco and got a new one...can't beat that.

[moatilliatta]

Interesting this thread has 7k views ..

Interstate is great. Surprisingly Duralast gold batteries are quite nice, most all of them have said made in Germany. Im sure a rebranded Deka, but you can warranty out about in every city.

[nando]

I have a trickle charger - but after a few years, still dead batteries..

[e30austin]

i hate buying batteries and i hate having a dead battery. if a car sits for more than a day or two, it gets the trickle charger, no questions asked. it's a good way to ensure battery health, particularly on a car that doesn't get driven daily.

[cory58]

Never mind - just realized the OP is years old.

[nando]

$150 is cheap, they're like double that now! But what are you going to do.. the battery it replaced was also $150 and only lasted a few years. :|

[reelizmpro]

Nando, I use a 3A Deltran Battery Tender which works great on standard and AGM batteries.

Good point. They also have Redtops which I believe are starter batteries. The Yellowtop H6 however, has 928CA/800CCA and 140 Reserve Capacity which is more than typical "starter" AGM's and plenty for an E30.

I pulled this from Optima's site:

"So if a YELLOWTOP can start a vehicle, why should someone even bother buying a REDTOP? Both batteries have three-year free replacement warranties, so there's no difference there, although REDTOPs tend to be priced slightly lower than YELLOWTOPs. REDTOPs can also provide more cranking amps in a given group size, than their YELLOWTOP counterparts. This might be of importance to someone running a high-compression engine, that needs a lot of power to get started. REDTOPs are also slightly lighter amongst like group sizes, for the weight-conscious crowd.

While YELLOWTOPs do sacrifice some cranking power, they do offer more reserve capacity in like group sizes, as well as the ability to be deep-cycled. Which battery is right for you? It depends on your application. REDTOPs will work just fine in the vast majority of applications, but if someone is running significant electrical accessories, including winches, large stereos or a vehicle without a charging system (like a dragster), a YELLOWTOP might be a more appropriate choice."

I scored the Yellowtop for $150 so it was a no brainer for me.

[jeffnhiscars]

No battery really likes to sit unused and unattended for any period of time so you are partially correct in that deep cycles are designed to run "house lights" as they say and are separate from your starting batteries. Deep cycles are geared towards higher discharge percentages and more charge cycles whereas if you run a car battery stone dead enough times it will give up the ghost entirely. We use deep cycles on the boat and when on shore power it's on a marine charger 24/7

[tomstin]

I agree with a Ctek or one of the other brands of battery maintainers versus trickle chargers. Also, as I understand, the deep cycle batteries are designed for loads then recharge versus sitting for long periods of time.

[jeffnhiscars]

You really don't want to use a deep cycle in a car as they have totally different energy characteristics. Deep cycles are designed for sustained loads and significant discharge as in a boat house battery or rv, while still maintaining a decent life. They are not designed for cranking output like a car battery after which they do virtually nothing as the vehicle will run off the alternator once it's started.

AGM I like cause they are maintenance free "dry cell" so will not run low on electrolyte during storage and IME they tend to be more durable. I have one in my Touareg TDi which sits under the drivers seat and it's somewhat nice to know if I ever flip it on to its roof I won't get an acid shower :(

As for charging, using a trickle is kind of like doing a spread sheet with an abacus. For longer term storage I'd get a higher tech unit such as a Ctek and set it on a timer so it runs say for 12-24hrs every 2 weeks. Note that AGMs have a different charging pattern so you want a charger with an AGM setting.

Letting any battery sit doing nothing for an extended period will kill it.

[nando]

I couldn't find the H6 at Costco - I ended up picking up the yellow top Optima H6 - it was a little expensive, but it was in stock locally, and it's advertised as a deep cycle battery so hopefully it lasts for the price (if I get 6 years out of it, I'll break even).

I jump started the E30 so I could get to the store, then swapped it in the parking lot, lol. Took all of 5 minutes. Man, swapping the battery on new BMWs is sooo much harder - not even the coding, which is easy, but physical access to the battery just sucks. You could do it with just the trunk tool kit on the E30, not so on anything with IBS. It took me about an hour on my E90 and X5, and I'd already done a couple so I knew what to expect.

It's really heavy - definitely heavier than the lead acid battery I had before (same size). But, the extra 10-15lbs really doesn't matter to me at this point, I just don't want to get in the car to find a dead battery.. maybe I won't have to keep it on a trickle charger as often.

Which charger do you use when you have it stored? I have the cheap one Costco sells, it worked fine but I'm sure it was part of why the previous battery didn't last very long.