teotwaki
Excelsior!
Hi Jay!
I think things have been quiet for the last few years because a lot of folks switched to other (better) brands. For instance, my Sears DieHard Platinum starting battery which is made by Odyssey is almost 5 years old now. My deepcycle battery for the fridge is the Diehard Platinum marine version, also from Odyssey. I'll have to look at the date on it but it should be well over a year old.
I can reveal another of my datapoints which I previously kept to myself. I have had my trailer over 5 years and back when it was built (6 yrs ago), the manufacturer had purchased and installed two Optima blue tops. They came from Optima's now closed Colorado Plant and they are still doing great. All of the newer Mexican factory sourced Optimas that I tried in the truck in recent years never lasted over a year without going sour. So my own personal case of how Optima quality declined when factories were changed.
So given your physical location, what sorts of brand and cost choices do you have for ordering up batteries? Which battery brands would be supported via warranty while over in France if something goes bad with the battery?
The CTEK 250 Dual is a great charger and will do a far better job of charging any brand of deep cycle than any of the relay based systems can. That was one of my arguments with the Optima types as they did not fare well with alternator based charging unless it was a very long drive.
You've not really poked a hornet's nest as it was the factory rep who was doing most of the buzzing around :elkgrin:
I think things have been quiet for the last few years because a lot of folks switched to other (better) brands. For instance, my Sears DieHard Platinum starting battery which is made by Odyssey is almost 5 years old now. My deepcycle battery for the fridge is the Diehard Platinum marine version, also from Odyssey. I'll have to look at the date on it but it should be well over a year old.
I can reveal another of my datapoints which I previously kept to myself. I have had my trailer over 5 years and back when it was built (6 yrs ago), the manufacturer had purchased and installed two Optima blue tops. They came from Optima's now closed Colorado Plant and they are still doing great. All of the newer Mexican factory sourced Optimas that I tried in the truck in recent years never lasted over a year without going sour. So my own personal case of how Optima quality declined when factories were changed.
So given your physical location, what sorts of brand and cost choices do you have for ordering up batteries? Which battery brands would be supported via warranty while over in France if something goes bad with the battery?
The CTEK 250 Dual is a great charger and will do a far better job of charging any brand of deep cycle than any of the relay based systems can. That was one of my arguments with the Optima types as they did not fare well with alternator based charging unless it was a very long drive.
You've not really poked a hornet's nest as it was the factory rep who was doing most of the buzzing around :elkgrin: