Specialty batteries

Planning on running dual batteries under the bed of my bagged, daily sonoma.What's everyone's opiions on using regular, name brand batteries versus specialty batteries like Optima and Kinetik.

Both Optima and Kinetik are more expensive than a regular car battery. Are there really benefits on a vehicle with only a small amplifier and 2 Viair ?

bump

Kevin,

Seems you have had allot of views here and not allot of response so figured id help ya out and give ya my 10 cents on the topic...

Most people dont put power into the proper perspective so that its easy to see what you need.. we think Amps yet we deal with wattage for the audio etc.. and then what happens is that all gets lost in the mix.. So here is what you need to remember.. A (Amps) x V (Volts) = W (wattage) or AxV=W then with this you can see it all as one need..

Your tuck id bet had a 100A alternator on it.. so that means 100x12.6 ( i use 12.6V as that is a good at rest number for factt batteries) = 1260W This is just for the truck to function and trust me you know as well as i do Chevy didnt give you anything extra...

Your compressors id guess 2 - 30a relay packs.. so call it 60A at full cycle 60x12.6= 756W

Audio you said small amp so ill guess 500W

Total all that up = 2516W total to support at full out on the amp and compressors.. Sure an amp rarely makes full power playing music but you can never have too much battery power...

Now that you see how it breaks down.. think about it like this the Optima is a good upgrade for the guy that needs a more reliable starting battery it has the power for about 750W or so with a reserve of like 55Ah last i checked.. The factory battery is more and likely 50Ah and less in the output range.. So sure its slightly better.. But the KINETIK HC1800 which is the same size just slightly taller is 1800W and 80Ah so as you can see there is the real upgrade for people like us with tons of electrical need on top of starting a motor...

Reserve time is a factor as well the longer the battery can take the load without needing to charge the better you alternator can handle the job so as i said above Factory Battery prolly 50Ah, Yellow top like 55Ah, KHC1800 80Ah ...

Yes the Kinetik is more money but it is more power per cubic inch than really anything out there and it is designed for the abuse of our lifestyle with audio and compressors or hydro needs etc but based on your power needs 2 KHC1400s would more and likely do the job just fine, or you could go with 4 of the other options listed ( really 3 1/3 ) but in the end 4 of those would cost about the same and you would have less reserve time in the end ;)

hope that helps some and gives you a way to visually see what your truck needs for power..

Edited: 2/7/2011 8:48:41 PM by Kmanuel

thanks for the infohaven't used the math formulas in a few years, makes it easier when its broken down that wayguess i need to suck it up and buy 1 or 2 kinetiks

i'll put it to you from the customer service perspective

i've had both a kinetik and an optima. never had an issue with my optima held a charge great for 4+ years. it sat for over 6 months and went bad, not unexpected. was talked into replacing it with a kinetik. paid full sticker price from an authorized dealer, it was something insanely stupid like $450+. had issues with it from day one. my truck sits a lot and it was constantly having to be jumped off. I even invested in a nice charger and the batteries just didn't want to hold a charge if my truck would sit for a few weeks. Erik did everything he could once I finally got fed up with them and wanted a replacement but he doesn't work in the warranty department. Took me mutliple attempts at emailing support and never got an answer. Finally got online and made a post about it and Erik got in touch with me. It then took me 3+ months of waiting until someone finally got ahold of me and I think that's because Erik just got tired of me emailing him on a weekly basis. Then waited over another 2 months to them to find out there was nothing they could do. They offered me a "discounted" price on a new battery because mine was out of warranty (which by the way is a sub par 1 year warranty) and that price was a joke when I could buy them for cheaper all day off of ebay. This was within the last year so I think it is probably a good idea of the level of service you can expect if you have a bad battery. Replaced both of my Kinetik with optimas and my truck sits for weeks and cranks up like a champ every time. At the end of the day a 1 year warranty is horrible on a battery and my experience with their customer support has been basically a horror story.

Edited: 2/7/2011 10:38:36 PM by tre5

I will never run anything other than Kinetik in my personal stuff, and I push for every customer to use them! I have had Optimas before and they died on me. Guess what, no one wanted to warranty them. I have installed over 50 Kinetiks from Erik and have never had a problem with them.

Optimas have never let me down, 10 years outta one set and 2 on my new ones with a 2000W stereo system and other accessories. Also have never had a Kinetic. Just my thoughts

1 year warranty is a little light.
3 year free replacement is pretty much the standard for even a auto parts high end battey

any way to figure out which kinetik will replace a group 75 or group 78 battery?

If you are looking for actual dimensions, there are specifications listed on the website www.kinetikaudio.com Just compare your battery size to theirs.