Group 24, 27 or 34 battery? Good brand? Marine/RV ?

back in the day I used the ''correct'' deep cycle batteries on my RV...they failed a lot and only had a one year guarantee...so I switched to normal automotive batteries because the ones I was using had a 5 yr pro rated waranty...another thing to consider is a solar trickle charger...the VW dealer I used gave me a couple years ago ...the new cars at the time had such high parasitic draw just sitting that they came from the factory with a solar charger that plugged into the cigarette lighter and sat on the dash...otherwise every time they tried to move something on the back of the lot it was dead
 
AC Delco has a nice flat top Group 27 battery that works perfect with the plastic battery toppers. I bought mine through Autozone. No complaints after 2-3 years now.
 
If you need just a positive cable end (like I do) this may fit the bill. It is solder or crimp. I would prefer solder to keep it looking OEM. The hole for the wire looks small but drilling it out to the correct size should be OK. That will also clean the tin coating off exposing the raw brass for a clean soldering surface. Positive Battery Terminal Clamp - Crimp or Solder - 25mm² Cable. html?srsltid=AfmBOopxoTFr8wmIovNh9ZckJI9e9L4VFN4yWoOmWJMkZl0LO7nvf-9n


1762972193860.png
 
live4theking said:
One of our local battery places custom makes battery cables. I used them to make a new positive cable for my NYer.
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That would be great if it was a simple cable. The battery cable for the early A-body that @Toolmanmike are talking about looks like this and has a $287 price tag.... And it doesn't have the correct terminals! The originals terminals were a flag style and I haven't seen them reproduced anywhere.

1762978450853.png

Toolmanmike said:
If you need just a positive cable end (like I do) this may fit the bill. It is solder or crimp. I would prefer solder to keep it looking OEM. The hole for the wire looks small but drilling it out to the correct size should be OK. That will also clean the tin coating off exposing the raw brass for a clean soldering surface. Positive Battery Terminal Clamp - Crimp or Solder - 25mm² Cable. html?srsltid=AfmBOopxoTFr8wmIovNh9ZckJI9e9L4VFN4yWoOmWJMkZl0LO7nvf-9n


View attachment 742448
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I think mine had been trimmed a couple times and I needed just a little more length. That is why I did the splice. Still not the "correct" battery terminal, but it looks right enough that 99.9% of the people looking at it won't know the difference.

sSebTTH.jpg
 
Big_John said:
That would be great if it was a simple cable. The battery cable for the early A-body that @Toolmanmike are talking about looks like this and has a $287 price tag.... And it doesn't have the correct terminals! The originals terminals were a flag style and I haven't seen them reproduced anywhere.

View attachment 742451

I think mine had been trimmed a couple times and I needed just a little more length. That is why I did the splice. Still not the "correct" battery terminal, but it looks right enough that 99.9% of the people looking at it won't know the difference.

sSebTTH.jpg
Click to expand...
I have a couple flag terminals around here somewhere. I will have to figure out how to solder the wire in. There is a hole drilled completely through for a bolt and nut.

20250407_081909.jpg
 
Toolmanmike said:
I have a couple flag terminals around here somewhere. I will have to figure out how to solder the wire in. There is a hole drilled completely through for a bolt and nut.

View attachment 742452
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Usually, you can just throw some flux, then solder in the terminal hole and flux the wire. Heat the terminal and stick the wire in. I've even seen solder pellets just for this. Having an open hole is going to be tougher.

I'd clean the hole and flux and tin both the hole and wire. Strip the insulation so it's maybe 1/8" shorter than the width of the terminal. Hold the terminal with the hole vertical. Heat the terminal and stick the wire in from below. Apply solder from above. Just don't add so much solder that it wicks into the wire past the terminal as that could make it stiff.

Something like this.

Battery Term.jpg


I think that would do it.
 
Other ways to fuse everything together reliably?

Just curious,
CBODY67
 
How were the factory cable ends attached? Were they poured on, as in the stripped end was inserted in a mold and lead was poured into the mold. Or, were the ends made separately and soldererd to the cable? They weren't crimped. I have seen many clamps break but never separate from the cable.
 
Toolmanmike said:
How were the factory cable ends attached? Were they poured on, as in the stripped end was inserted in a mold and lead was poured into the mold. Or, were the ends made separately and soldererd to the cable? They weren't crimped. I have seen many clamps break but never separate from the cable.
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I believe that the terminal was poured with the wire in it. The terminals used to be some sort of lead/tin alloy and kind of soft.

I think I saw a picture or a video of the process somewhere along the line... I can't find either in a search though.
 
73Polara360 said:
My car sits for a few weeks at times without being driven very far, and I don't have indoor parking, so a trickle charger seems a little unrealistic (also accepting recommendations on a robust outdoor-appropriate trickle charger if available).
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Two thoughts, not battery brand advice though. If it sits for weeks anyway, why not pull the battery, bring indoors and put on a trickle charger? Yeah it's heavy to move, but still...

Also, how far is "outdoors" away from the house? Or it an apartment, etc.? I ask because you can buy trickle chargers with the sae plugs and an extension. Run the cord outside and charger inside. It'll truck under a door, etc. I prefer the Noco Genius charger, but then you need an adapter for their proprietary plug to sae.

Did this with my 14 Dart and it kept the battery topped off between drives.


71+cQ8FuG+L._AC_UF350,350_QL80_FMwebp_.webp
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73Polara360 said:
Hi there,

Looking to get a good battery. Group 27 seems to be the proper size but I feel like I've seen higher CCA with group 34. Many websites call for group 24 but the CCA are low, 650 to 750. My car sits for a few weeks at times without being driven very far, and I don't have indoor parking, so a trickle charger seems a little unrealistic (also accepting recommendations on a robust outdoor-appropriate trickle charger if available).
I recently tried to revive my dead group 27 battery using a 2500amp booster pack good for 6.0L gas and 8.0L diesel engines, took several tries.
I feel like this car (360) needs a fairly beefy battery, at least 800CCA, and I was considering a marine or RV battery since apparently they discharge quite slowly.

Interstate, Costco, lots of brands, what are people's experiences and recommendations?

Thank you
Click to expand...
Original batteries were nowhere near the CCA of today's batteries. If yours needs that much to start, you might have a 1 weak starter 2 bad power or ground cable, loose connection or 3 something drawing down your battery. If you have an alternator with a bad diode, it can still sorta charge, but drain battery while parked.
 
GiantRobo said:
Two thoughts, not battery brand advice though. If it sits for weeks anyway, why not pull the battery, bring indoors and put on a trickle charger? Yeah it's heavy to move, but still...

Also, how far is "outdoors" away from the house? Or it an apartment, etc.? I ask because you can buy trickle chargers with the sae plugs and an extension. Run the cord outside and charger inside. It'll truck under a door, etc. I prefer the Noco Genius charger, but then you need an adapter for their proprietary plug to sae.

Did this with my 14 Dart and it kept the battery topped off between drives.


View attachment 742888
View attachment 742887
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No need for a trickle charger unless there is a draw. Unless you have a charger that shuts off when the battery is charged.
 
Toolmanmike said:
No need for a trickle charger unless there is a draw. Unless you have a charger that shuts off when the battery is charged.
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Well it depends... My Dart was nothing but draw. ;) Battery would die if left for weeks (which it was.) Any battery will lose charge over time. Less in cold weather than hot, but below zero will also impact them.

If OP does start it up every couple of weeks, long enough that the alternator will top off, then he's good!

FWIW the Noco does shut off, but checks voltage periodically. If the battery goes below it, the trickle kicks back in. It's not like the old school chargers...
 
3175375 said:
I’m not keen on just soldering battery cables. It’s probably from my 32+ years involved in flight test…
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I agree that crimping is better than soldering for most applications. They crimp on aircraft wiring rather than soldering for a reason and I'm not going to argue that point more than that.

With the terminal @Toolmanmike is showing, I don't know how else you could do it. If you were careful, and didn't wick the solder into the wire, it should be OK.

IMHO, the problem is no one is reproducing the correct "flag" style battery terminals. This car has some and they are similar, but really not like the originals. I know these type terminals were used on a lot of cars too.

1763398379349.png
 
Batteries plus has two grades of Duracell Group 27, I am pondering the better one. They have 20% off at the present time.I may hold out for a black Fri.deal. Not really in any rush.
 
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