Replacing yaris battery with yellow top

[no1trancefan]

I'm replacing my 02 yaris ts battery, taking the curent 45ah out and putting in a new yellow top, however its only 41ah will that diff in 4 ah make much difference? i am running an amp, i was oging to check it eveyr week on a voltmeter and charge it up to see how it gets on, many thanks

[fnkngrv]

your first mistaken is buying an Optima battery....they are well overpriced and are no better than other offerings...many times they are worse. Their warranty is horrible to boot.

[YarisSedan]

Yellow top isnt really made for a starting battery. You would have been better off going with a red top (cheaper also). I think yellow top is best used as a secondary battery for those who have a very high powered stereo system.

[yarrr]

your first mistaken is buying an Optima battery....they are well overpriced and are no better than other offerings...many times they are worse. Their warranty is horrible to boot.

I've literally seen 100s of people running optimas with no problem. Do you understand what deep cycle is and why people pay more for these batteries?

[sleey0]

People pay more for them because it says "optima" on it.

[ludlamtheory]

Yellow top vs red top =
deep cycle vs non =
discharing vs cca

So. in English:
A red top is a starting battery, but like most starting batteries, if you discharge it completely too often, the life of your battery is severely impacted.

A yellow top is a deep cycle battery, which can be discharged completely WAY more times without damaging the battery's life.

but

A red top can put out way higher current bursts, or CCA, which is cold cranking amps.

example: In my civic in the days of way back I would often leave the car off but the radio on at shows, meets, etc, so I had a 200 amp relay in my 12v line. ignition off, the amps and headunit would be powered off the rear deep cycle with no fear of not being able to start my car. Up front I had a standard starting battery.

To determine which you need we must first know, why are you replacing said battery with said optima.

Now, one CAN run a yellow top up front, and one CAN use one reliably for along time, but that is not its purpose.

[The Architect]

Im doing it and so long as you know anything about how to maintain an electrical system you'll be alright. I do have an HO Alt so it helps dramatically but if youre going to just replace the battery and call it a day then look into Kinetic.

Also the D35 Yellow top is a 48ah battery not 41. (if you can fit it)

[POORSHA]

I put in a yellow top because I deep cycle the batt. My old red top didn't like that very much.

[wsladaritz]

I put in a yellow top optima because with the stock battery my head lights dimmed considerably when I was jamming music on the highway. I don't have that problem anymore since replacing. I didn't know anything about setting up an electrical system with two batteries back then when I did the swap.

[redglare45]

Any pics of your yellow top installed? Looking to see how it's tied down. Did you use the original battery tie-down?

[sleey0]

off topic but does the yaris need a reverse polarity battery?

Reason I ask is because if you look at the OEM one, the posts are in the back.

Most of the aftermarket batteries I have seen pics of have the posts in the front, so if you have to turn the battery around you would need reverse posts. Right or wrong?

Are the pos and neg lead wires long enough to rreach the front of a battery with posts in the front?

[wsladaritz]

I'll take a pic for u in the morning in the light... it's not pretty though. I had to get an extension thingy at autozone cause the battery didn't exactly fit in there right. And I don't have a tie down on it right now :( I guess it wasn't tight enough cause a piece of it wasn't there one day. So I took the rest out before it dropped to the road as well. Anyone recommend a good cheap replacement? Cause I probably SHOULD have something holding the battery down.

[FcukThis]

I replaced the original battery yesterday with a generic costco battery..
60 bucks.
The fitment wasn't 100% perfect, (fitment type 3).. The tie down wouldn't secure properly.. I ended up zip tying a little bit of the tiedown to get it nice and snug.. No way in hell that thing will go anywhere.
If I had to do it any other way, i would probably get some ABS plastic, and heat bend it to fit perfectly.. Perhaps you should try that wsladaritz. Take a sheet of abs plastic, heat bend-- then drill some holes accordingly. Go to home depot grab some wingnuts and metal pieces and tighten the abs down.

I don't think very much heat gets all the way to the battery, so you shouldn't worry about the ABS bending.. I actually have several pieces of 3m double sided tape stuck right beside my battery.. None of it has melted off.

[zahirrahman]

I put in a yellow top optima because with the stock battery my head lights dimmed considerably when I was jamming music on the highway. I don't have that problem anymore since replacing. I didn't know anything about setting up an electrical system with two batteries back then when I did the swap.

A capacitor would solve the problem of lights dimming.

[The Architect]

A capacitor would solve the problem of lights dimming.

As long as you dont assume like so many others that a capacitor magically means you can add a bigger amp and/or blast your music 5 times harder and all is ok.

[RedRide]

I had an Optima red top in my Celica that had a custoum sys including a 700w kicker amp.
There was absoluty no light dimming, etc as it has a proper capacitor installed.
After 5 years it was stiil going strong 'till the day I recently sold the Celica

An optima red top has better cold cranking power than the stock. It could be 0 degrees out but it turned over like it was 80 degrees even after sitting outside all night.

Optimas also are completly sealed so, there is absolutly no post corosion problem.

BTW, like most Toyota's the Yaris takes a #35 battery. #35 is an industry designation.

[sqcomp]

I wanted to do something a little different than than an Optima:

http://i720.photobucket.com/albums/ww203/sqcomp/2007%20Toyota%20Yaris%20S/CIMG2101.jpg

http://i720.photobucket.com/albums/ww203/sqcomp/2007%20Toyota%20Yaris%20S/CIMG2103.jpg

http://i720.photobucket.com/albums/ww203/sqcomp/2007%20Toyota%20Yaris%20S/CIMG2104.jpg

(you should feel the weight of the hood...I added a layer of Stinger Roadkill Extreme and a layer of Stinger 1/4" Overkill under the stock insulation)

[wsladaritz]

That is a beautiful setup sqcomp

[sqcomp]

My point is to think beyond Optima. Whether it is valid to some or not is another question.

[alch3miss]

Kinetic installed in mine =)

[typicaljawaiian808]

I got the Kinetik 1200 up front w/ a Kinetik 2400 in the trunk

http://i825.photobucket.com/albums/zz173/typicaljawaiian/Car%20Audio/kinetiks025.jpg

http://i825.photobucket.com/albums/zz173/typicaljawaiian/Car%20Audio/kinetiks026.jpg

Also a DC Power 300 amp alternator and I STILL dip to 12.5 - 12.6 sometimes

http://i825.photobucket.com/albums/zz173/typicaljawaiian/Car%20Audio/sdh.jpg

http://i825.photobucket.com/albums/zz173/typicaljawaiian/Car%20Audio/dcpoweralt025.jpg

Good luck w/ your build man:drinking:

[pulsarpat]

Holy cat hair ,,,, were did you get that alternator from?

[tooter]

I only use Optima red top batteries as replacements when the OEM's go out. I like them because they never leak acid and never need the terminals baking sodaed. My last one lasted over 8 years. :smile: