TC33D Battery

[Bruces715]

I have a 2003 TC33D and from the beginning had a problem with wet cell batteries leaking from vibration. Seven years ago I switched to an Optima yellow top D51R which has and still working great. My question is am I pushing my luck at seven years? I am thinking I should just replace even if it still seems good. I live in a rural Wisc. area and would have to order and wait a few days and need the tractor for snow removal. Any thoughts are appreciated.

 

[mykleh]

I am a complete fan of BatteryMINDer I have the 1500 series.. it will tell you if the battery is getting to a point it won't take a charge.. you can gang up batterys not in use to keep them tip top shape..

 

[fried1765]

I have a 2003 TC33D and from the beginning had a problem with wet cell batteries leaking from vibration. Seven years ago I switched to an Optima yellow top D51R which has and still working great. My question is am I pushing my luck at seven years? I am thinking I should just replace even if it still seems good. I live in a rural Wisc. area and would have to order and wait a few days and need the tractor for snow removal. Any thoughts are appreciated.

I know that the Optima battery line is supposed to be the best, but.....a 7 year old battery?
Living in outstate Wisconsin, and knowing that you could need your tractor when it is -30F some night ......
In MY OPINION you should go buy yourself a new battery this week.
I lived in Minnesota for 23 years, and NEVER kept ANY battery longer than 7 years.
If you risk it,........ you know what will happen.
Spare yourself that agony!

 

[DK35vince]

My opinion is, if a battery is working good why change it.
I ran my original tractor battery 11 years before it gave up.
I've had my pickup truck 21 years and I'm still running on the second battery (first one went 10 years, current one is 11 years old and still going strong)

 

[fried1765]

My opinion is, if a battery is working good why change it.
I ran my original tractor battery 11 years before it gave up.
I've had my pickup truck 21 years and I'm still running on the second battery (first one went 10 years, current one is 11 years old and still going strong)

I get the clear sense that Bruces715 does not want to be in a position of having a battery that "gave up" when he REALLY NEEDED IT!.
In accordance with Murphy's law, a battery in rural winter Wisconsin, is most likely to - GIVE UP - on a Sunday, ....... when it is -30F outside.

I have a SOLAR BA9 battery load tester, and think owning one would be a very good idea, if deciding to continue using a 7 year old battery in winter Wisconsin. The compact, state of the art, electronic, Solar BA9, will provide an accurate test for battery condition.
The BA9 has excellent user feedback (Amazon - about $70)), and with other included test functions, is also VERY useful for overall 12V system analysis.

 

[dickfoster]

Since he has a 7 year old Optima I'd probably leave sleeping dogs lie. Keeping it up to snuff with a proper maintenance charger is never a bad idea. The newer Optima batteries are not as good as the old ones were. Optima is made in Mexico now and I've had a lot of wheeling friends report trouble with Optima batteries. For an AGM type, I'm a fan of Odyssey batteries which in my mind are a superior design and are made in the good old USA.

 

[John_Mc]

I bought an Optima D51 YellowTop Battery for my TC33D last April, so it's too soon to tell about longevity. I considered the Oddysey batteries, but the only ones that would fit easily had lower CCA rating than the stock battery. The Optima fits perfectly and has a higher CCA rating.

An added bonus: manufacturers usually recommend slightly higher charging and float voltage for their AGM batteries than what is used for flooded lead acid batteries. Ideally, this would mean a specialized charger for those AGM batteries (though lots of people ignore this). Optima AGM batteries recommend the same charging and float voltages as are recommended for flooded lead acid batteries, so you have a much wider range of choices of chargers/maintainers. I use the BatteryMinder brand of maintainers, I have several models, including a more expensive one with different charging profiles for Gel, Flooded, or AGM batteries. Both the BatteryMinder folks and Optima recommend using the "flooded lead acid setting" (which also means I can use the less expensive BatteryMinder model 1500 maintainer).

 

[dickfoster]

I bought an Optima D51 YellowTop Battery for my TC33D last April, so it's too soon to tell about longevity. I considered the Oddysey batteries, but the only ones that would fit easily had lower CCA rating than the stock battery. The Optima fits perfectly and has a higher CCA rating.

An added bonus: manufacturers usually recommend slightly higher charging and float voltage for their AGM batteries than what is used for flooded lead acid batteries. Ideally, this would mean a specialized charger for those AGM batteries (though lots of people ignore this). Optima AGM batteries recommend the same charging and float voltages as are recommended for flooded lead acid batteries, so you have a much wider range of choices of chargers/maintainers. I use the BatteryMinder brand of maintainers, I have several models, including a more expensive one with different charging profiles for Gel, Flooded, or AGM batteries. Both the BatteryMinder folks and Optima recommend using the "flooded lead acid setting" (which also means I can use the less expensive BatteryMinder model 1500 maintainer).

I don't put much stock in CCA ratings as that is how long it takes the battery discharge down to 7.2V at 0F. For most engines today the ECU has quit functioning well before you get down to 7.2V anyway so it's pretty much academic how long it takes to get down there. Since the Odyssey design allows for more storage in the same volume or space I'm more into that. The Optima design wastes a lot of volume. It's also enough for me to know that the internal impedance is low enough that if I drop a wrench across the terminals it'll likely vaporize and that the military puts them into tanks and such. So far, I've never had a cold start problem. I like Odyssey batteries but not enough to replace the wet cells I have until a problem crops up with them. At that point, the wet cell comes out and an the largest Odyssey I can easily fit goes in. In the case of my off roader, two Odyssey batteries went in but I had to work a that one a little bit. The most important point is to take good care of whatever battery you have by keeping the charge up with a maintenance charger of some sort for infrequently used machines. No matter what kind of battery you have or how much you pay for it, abuse, misuse and disuse will surely do it in.

 

[John_Mc]

I don't use CCA as an absolute number, but it is useful in comparing the relative sizes. My problem with the Odyssey is that the battery that would fit is less capacity that the stock battery (it's also quite a bit smaller than stock). I did not want to give that up. The next size larger Odyssey would not fit, and I looked at a number of options. Yes, the Optima batteries take up more space for the equivalent capacity, but I don't really care about space as long as it fits - I care about total capacity.