Raj, go with the Braille battery. I have used them on several projects and had great luck with them. When Jason ordered his Baer brakes we got to talking about batteries and I told him about braille. They are only 21lbs vs. over 40lbs and have just as much power.
I do appreciate what Optima does for our hobby I just have had terrible luck with their batteries.
I run Braille and have never had problems - can't say the same for Optima
I just replaced TWO brand new yellow tops. Two different cars. Neither would hold a charge if left un-started after one week. Completely unacceptable. These were in both my kids DD's - an '06 Mustang and an '05 Magnum.
I have a 10 year old yellow top in the Nomad and it works fine but I have to run a Ctek charger if it's not driven once a week.
Replaced the kids with good old fashioned Sears "gold". Gone for 11 days and they fired right up.
I was looking at the Braille stuff and looks like you went with the Carbon option for WAR any particular reason for going that way over the no-weight, since they are both 21 pounds?
Raj I just always use the B3121 no weight battery. I didnt even know til you stated it that Jason ordered the carbon one for his car War. I dont really see a need to order the carbon one for a "pro-touring" application since it is just more money and the benefits of it only really are seen in extreme temp situations. But it cool looking.
You might want to do some additional research on that 21lb Braille battery before purchasing. I was about to purchase one myself in an attempt to replace my Optima Red Top, but I found a few threads on the net where people had purchased that 21lb Braille and it wasn't living up to their expectations. Specifically, it would start the car just fine, but if you're running electrical accessories like cooling fans, fuel pumps, or medium to high-watt stereo systems, the battery+alternator will have a difficult time keeping up and will cause a heavy load on your alternator which might cause it to fail. Braille makes great stuff and being able to save 17lbs over the Optima was very enticing to me, but I just wouldn't want to run into a situation where my electrical system can't keep up and end up with a very expensive battery and battery mount that I can't use. Again, the Braille 21lb model has worked fine for some people, but it has NOT worked for others, so it's necessary to consider your setup and how you use your car. I ended up just going with another Optima Red Top specifically because Optima does a great job of sponsoring events that allow us to legally run our cars hard and I appreciate that. Otherwise, I would have probably picked a different battery like an Interstate or a standard weight Braille.
If you do go with the 21lb Braille, please feel free to report your results. I found a number of threads on the net where a person had posted that they had bought one but then never reported back to the thread about how it was performing even after people asked for feedback. That's usually not a good sign.
The B3121 is bench tested at the time there built for you. Mine say's 12.95 Volts and 873 CA. That seems more than adequate in my opinion. Will it work as stated over time? Don't know. It's an AGM based battery as well. Do they require different care? Yes. That's why I purchased their charger as well. Looks like a Cetek type to me and I may hard wire it into the car so I can just plug it in when not driving the car. I will recess the battery in the trunk and make it large enough to accommodate any battery.
Bought the carbon one, well, just cause I thought it was cool. If it works I save a few pounds, If it doesn't, lesson learned and I buy another brand. Price of education.
I have had some Optima's and not had them last. Maybe because of operator error. I'll have all the electronics of a modern car installed so I will report back on it's performance over time.
I'm sure there are lots of pro's and con's all over the internet on both brands. Just thought I give this a try.
Brian Hobaugh SCCA National Tour June 2014
First Hemi 'Cuda Convertible Ever Built
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