I decided on getting an Everstart Maxx Marine..it has good deep cycle ratings and will suffice for powering my amp and the inverter I'm going to install..I'm going to build a box out of particle board and coat the inside with a corrosive resistant coating (maybe..), and seal all the pieces together with silicone, except the top board, which will have door and window seal strip around it..It'll all be held together with screws..I'll seal around the wires comming in the box, and drill a hole through it somwhere for a steel pipe that will run outside the car for a hydrogen vent..I can still take the top off to test/fill the water this way and I wont have to worry about hydrogen building up in the trunk...After all of this, it will still be much cheaper than buying an optima and paying for shipping..

The charging line comming from the main battery up front is 4 ga fine strand welder cable, and the ground will be 2 ga running to the chassis, and then I'll use my old 8 ga cable from my first amp installation to run from that point to the negative side of the battery (the 8 ga wire is already there, so why not use it)

 

good choice, optimas are only really special for mounting upside down and stuff. The best thing to do is find a battery with the most CCA's.

btw, gotta show pics when your done

 

I'm the doof without a digital camera, but I'll clean my interior out and take some pics of it and my trunk and engine bays and stuffs with a disposable camera and have them developed and scan them in..will take longer, but atleast they'll get there

I really don't need CCA that bad, I just need reserve capacity for my accessories..although more CCA never hurts when it gets cold..I already have the on board trickle charger on my main battery, it'll do for the slow charge for the aux. battery too..

 

I would still probably look into some kind of spiral cell battery, so you don't have to worry about the maintenance (water) or the chance of it tipping over and causing problems. Optima isn't the only company that sells spiral cell batteries, it's just the most known. I have a Champion spiral cell battery in my car that came from Les Schwab.

 

anything more than $70 after shipping/transportation for a battery = out of question, and no local places sell spiral/dry cell batteries..I checked before I decided on this battery, which after tax is just under $70 from wal-mart..

My box is going to be bolted to the wall of the spare tire well with two 0.5" dia. bolts, so its not going to tip over.

Water maintainance isn't a big issue, thats why I'm using the door seal strip around the lid instead of sealing it down with silicone..

If I were to get a spiral/dry cell and had to pay for shipping, it would take me a good 6 months before I'd seriously bother looking in to getting one..This one will work just fine..


I do appreciate the suggestion, but I refuse to pay for actual shipping on a battery that weighs 40-60 lbs and already costs $100 or more..

Oh, I also decided to use vinyl tubing instead of steel piping for a vent, since it wont be exposed to the acid, just sticking inside the box..

 

Check your phonebok under batteries and I guarantee you'll find someone who has the spiralwound / gel cell batteries in stock.
But they'll still cost more than $70
You are correct about needing the reserve more than anything else.

 

..there are 3 autoparts stores in a town of 17,000 people, not counting wal-mart..one is a purely local shop that carries a broader selection of parts for older cars and trucks, no batteries at all..then theres AZ and O'Rielly's, neither of which carry spiral/dry cell batteries (yes I checked with both)..Cellular & Sound Solutions can order 1 off-brand of spiral/dry cell for almost $200..Sears only sells a small selection of Die Hard batteries, Wal-mart only sells Everstart, and M&S Audio will only try to sell you a 5F capacitor or a 320 amp alt, and will ignore inquiries about batteries..I live in a cave that covers most of northeast Missouri..if people run new wires to their tail lights on their trailer or vehicle, they go out and buy a cheap 16 ga 100 or 150 ft extension cord and cut the ends off and use it..

 

Ask the local shop what brand of batteries their WAREHOUSE stocks
Chances are the warehouse has something useful
Or look for an Interstate battery (brand name) Dealer

 

Gleason Auto Parts is the local shop, they are a family owned business..I know the current owner and am friends with his son..they don't carry batteries because they make their money on rare parts for older cars, like the air filter we had to custom order for my '63 buick rivierra w/ the reversed tranny with the wildcat 445 factory option engine because no one carried it..They keep all of their stock in store..believe me, they COULD order a battery for me, if I already knew of a wholesaler that had them, and if I had their contact info, but I would have to have good reason behind having them order it, like the wholesaler requiring a dealer purchase or somthing..

Anyway, kind of a dead point, I already bought my Everstart, and have it on my trickle charger waiting for me to build the box for it..I suppose it wont build itself, so I better head out to the garage and start putting it together before I put it off..

 

box is built, will carpet and finish the final sealing tomorrow..It wont fit in the spare tire well now (too tall by 3 inches), so its going to be bolted/strapped to the side of the trunk, and I'll figure out somthing different for the second pair of subs I want to get..

 

ummmmmmmmmmmm i have 4 marine batterries in my trunk, i never had a problem with anything, just bolt the sucker to the floor and be done with it. keep in mind alot of high end cars(bmw, mercedes, some caddilacs) have their battery in the trunk or in the space under the rear seat. theyre not worried about hydrogen levels

 

Alot of those cars come with a vent tube for the battery to vent outside the car

 

yep..its not hard to drill a 3/8" hole in the box and one in the bottom of the spare tire well and run a piece of tubing out of it, and its not hard to conceal either..I go nuts with silicone whenever I drill a hole in my spare tire well..

 

yeah but theyre not air tight, if you open a bmw trunk its on the right side under trim or carpet. we have vents in our 1/4 panles as well, so venting the systen shouldnt be a problem

 

most of those high end cars also have their fuel pump/filter in the trunk, so they have a firewall between the back seat (if it exists) and the trunk..

My box is built, carpeted, sealed, and vented already, and its sitting in the max waiting for me to put a temporary strap on it until I finish my new enclosure for my subs..once I get the new enclosure in place, I'll mount it permenently..

My trunk is mostly air tight to the outside, with only air exchanging to the passenger compartment..I know you've seen the vents since you've had your trunk stripped out and done some body work in it, but I've sprayed a sound deadener/sealer over the trunk floor and walls and have wadded polyester fiberfill (sub box stuffing/pillow stuffing) behind the carpeting, so mine is too restricted to allow enough gasses out, and I'm not going to gamble when I can take 2 min to drill 2 holes and spend $1.00 on a 4 ft piece of vynil tubing to run it outside..