No responses from the Sailplane category so thought I would try here with the F3Xers.

Optima vs Exide for winch battery?
Has anyone tried the Exide Orbital AGM battery line? I am considering the Optima but if I can save a few bucks for similar performance and convenience it may be worth taking a look. Using a FLS motor w/out bearings.
TIA
Jim

How much is the exide? Maybe this coupon for the optima will help you:

http://dealnews.com/Optima-Yellow-To...ng/569285.html

Excellent! Best price I've seen on the Optima...gee I thought Costco was good! Still waiting on the Exide price from a local wholesaler. Thanks!!

Jim

Hi Jimmy
If you have to carry the battery as in your car or in general. I use the Optima as it is sealed and the ones I had gave great power and lasting good for the day. If by chance your talking about on a winch trailer, the big deep cycle battery from Wal-Mart is hard to beat, and they are on sale for $79. Brian

Thanks Brian! I found a deal on the Optima for $115 after rebate so went that route! After burning a few holes in the carpet of my girlfriends car I decided to stay safe with the sealed Optima. BTW, what charger have you used on these?

Hope all is well down your way!

Jim

I have an AGM battery (sears diehard pm 2 i think- the really heavy one) and I use a battery tender and also a granite digital charger. They both work about the same. The granite unit gives you a digital readout.

Originally Posted by Jimn8uay

Thanks Brian! I found a deal on the Optima for $115 after rebate so went that route! After burning a few holes in the carpet of my girlfriends car I decided to stay safe with the sealed Optima. BTW, what charger have you used on these?

Hope all is well down your way!

Jim

Jim, could you tell us where to get an Optima for $135 + rebate?
Thanks
Kerry

If the deal is still good, check the earlier post in this thread. Basically it was through Advance Auto...put in the discount code "VISA" before checkout and it saves you $50. With the $25 rebate, final cost was $115. (Battery sale price was $190).

It applied to any Optima battery (they have a few different price points) and I believe the rebate is for as many as 6 batteries. I don't have the info on hand at the moment. I wish I had a few extra dollars to spend; I would have picked up a couple at this price! ( The $50 was probably good on only one purchase, tho.)

Good luck,
Jim

PS, also bought a great little charger off of Amazon (from a company located just 5 miles from my home I later found out!) that charges AGM cells, rated at 3.5 amps, for $60 bucks. Nice little electronic charger. Post name and model later if anyone is interested.

Jim - just as a follow-up to your battery concern. We have been using Optima's for the last ten years and see no reason to change (if it's not broke fix it). We use two Blue top 34 DC Marine Dual Purpose batteries connected in parallel to power the winch and retriever.

We also found that not 'fast' charging the Optima's greatly increases their life (don't ask how we learned this). We use only AGM chargers limited to 10 amps maximum. Depending on the number of launches, it takes between 4 to 6 hours to re-charge each battery.

Ray DiNoble
Las Vegas Soaring Club

Originally Posted by VegasRay

Jim - just as a follow-up to your battery concern. We have been using Optima's for the last ten years and see no reason to change (if it's not broke fix it). We use two Blue top 34 DC Marine Dual Purpose batteries connected in parallel to power the winch and retriever.

We also found that not 'fast' charging the Optima's greatly increases their life (don't ask how we learned this). We use only AGM chargers limited to 10 amps maximum. Depending on the number of launches, it takes between 4 to 6 hours to re-charge each battery.

Ray DiNoble
Las Vegas Soaring Club

Am charging mine at 5A. I use my Schulze to charge it.

Thanks for the follow up guys! Good info. happy with the Optimas and charger so far! Too bad I can't say the same for my new install of the FrSky 2.4 module and receiver. Almost lost my Genie today but it could be battery issues, too, so I'll hold off until I do a few tests. I thought my research showed some promise with this system but now I have to do more homework! Never easy, is it!

Jim