Odyssey vs. Diehard Platinum

[Ducky's Dad]

Good luck with your problems.

Thanks. My latest approach is to run multiple, repetitive conditioning cycles on the G31 Odyssey. That technique has brought other Odyssey and Optima batteries back from the dead, but they were all G34s. The G31 is a strange beast with odd habits.

 

[osidepunker]

My diehard platinums (a pair of group 34s) are 4 years old and still working well. I keep them maintained with a NOCO Genius Gen 1. The truck will usually sit for a couple weeks between trips as I have another daily driver. I just pull into my garage and plug in the NOCO, set it and forget it. It keeps all three of my batteries (the 2 HBs and an Odyssey main) maintained no problem. The diehards get a good workout on my trips and I do a trip once a month or more.

btw, the maintaining voltage is over 14v according to my IBS-DBS

 

[Laps]

I've recently replaced an Optima battery that was 15 years old! It was kept on a float charger the entire time.

 

[HenryJ]

My Diehard Platinums must be about five years old now. Yesterday I rotated them in the truck from primary to auxiliary. The primary was not fully charging. Aux was full. We will see if the rotation makes a difference, or if I have a problem with one. Performing fine. One just a little weaker than the other it seems. They should be equal. Much nicer than the woes I had dealing with the "new" Optima batteries.
As is with all things...The Diehard Platinum is now gone. Next best choice may be the Odyssey. That price is a tough pill to swallow though. Hopefully I have a few years before I have to consider a change
Just a little update on a very old thread

 

[teotwaki]

My Diehard Platinums must be about five years old now. Yesterday I rotated them in the truck from primary to auxiliary. The primary was not fully charging. Aux was full. We will see if the rotation makes a difference, or if I have a problem with one. Performing fine. One just a little weaker than the other it seems. They should be equal. Much nicer than the woes I had dealing with the "new" Optima batteries.
As is with all things...The Diehard Platinum is now gone. Next best choice may be the Odyssey. That price is a tough pill to swallow though. Hopefully I have a few years before I have to consider a change
Just a little update on a very old thread

Great update! I recently performed one cycle of a complete discharge and then a high current recharge and it definitely improved battery performance. Odyssey does recommend more than one cycle but I ran out of time. I'll go through a few cycles in the upcoming weeks when I have some vacation time.

 

[Omar Brannstrom]

I had the Odyssey pc1220 in my 2 door wrangler and then in my 4 door wrangler and after 6 years I thought it was time to buy a new one as it could not hold the charge to start my wrangler after 1 month in the garage. I have never charged the battery as i Live in a flat and I am totaly fine not to bother charge it several times a year with a 250 dollars ctek charger or similar. I dont drive so offen and use a fridge over night plugged in overnight when camping. Maybe it could have lasted 7 or 8 years if I charged it but I am fine with over 6 years and not having trouble carrying the batteri 300 meters and then take it up 3 floors without elevator and have to buy a 250 dollar charger, lot of hazzle. I recently bought the Odyssey 34R pc1500 and it will be charged when I am driving and hopefully I get at least 6 years from it.

http://www.pbase.com/omar_brannstrom/image/166872195.jpg

 

[TwinStick]

I am still rockin' my 2008 Sears DHPlat marine battery. It is the 2nd battery in our Power Wagon. I also keep them on a float charge.

 

[broncobowsher]

Diehard Group 35 bought new in '11 (looks like a '10 build date) just got replaced. Daily driver, solar back up. Abused, AZ summer heat, underhood, accidently ran flat a couple of times, ARB fridge. Not the correct way to set up a battery but it has worked. As winter started setting in I started getting a slow crank on cold mornings. I got my life out of this battery. For what it has been through, and how a battery normally lasts around here, it did good.

So replacement time. Oddessey was good, nothing to complain about, but what else is out there? I had seen Northstar batteries at SEMA for the past couple of years. They looked real good to me. Ordered a group 35 Northstar, $250 delivered. So far all looks good. Back to a fast starter in the morning. CCA is the same. Reserve capacity is up by 15 minutes (which is odd since the Oddessey spec now is 10 minutes less than Northstar). IF you don't hear back in the next 7-8 years, it was a good battery.

 

[Airmapper]

It is probably worth trying the complete cycle of the "ODYSSEY® Battery Reconditioning Charge Procedure" as detailed in their PDF

Basically you drain the battery down to 10 volts then put it on your 40 amp charger at 14.7 volts until the battery hits 0 amps then let it sit for 8 - 10 hours at the 13.6V float. Make sure the battery is not hot during the charge cycle and repeat the cycle again if possible.

www.odysseybattery.com/documents/ODYSSEY_Battery_Reconditioning_Charge_Procedure.pdf

Been there, done that.

I have an Odyssey 2150 and I've been working on a wiring project so my Xterra has been sitting about a week, and checking my new outlet I see 12.01V and freak out, sure enough that is where my battery voltage sits.

I didn't put it on the charger as it was fixing to rain and I didn't have a place under roof for it, so I started the engine to let it run a bit to mitigate it's level until I can get it on the proper charger (Odyssey brand 50 amp), and the starter acted like nothing was wrong, nice quick powerful start like I've enjoyed since installing the Odyssey.

I'm hoping I just have a bit of parasidic drain from the vehicle electronics, and it's been a while since I had it on the Odyssey charger, but do you think I should try this procedure? While it's already low run it down to 10v and then hook it up. I mean at best I never see it settle over 12.4ish after a proper charge, and heck I leave it on float for hours after it's done. I doubt I've ever discharged it lower than the 12.01V I seen yesterday. I think @Ducky's Dad probably understands my general frustration in understanding this battery over the years I've had it. Always powerful, but the voltage never reads what you think it should.

Think it's worth a try?

 

[Ducky's Dad]

Don't know. I have sort of given up on trying to get a decent charge on my 3-year-old 2150. I have a 270 amp alternator and three different Odyssey-branded smart chargers plus a Ctek and an Optimus charger, and for the last couple of years I have been running charge /recondition cycles at least every third week and sometimes every week. Can't get the battery to more than 12.85 when the cycle completes, and by next morning it's down to 12.55. If I let it set for two weeks, it gets near 12.0, three weeks it's around 11.8. My parasitic drain is within spec for my truck. The reason a 2150 at 80% SOC starts the truck quickly is that a 2150 at 80% is still better than a smaller FLA battery at 100%. Next battery in this truck will probably be a Northstar.

 

[Airmapper]

Don't know. I have sort of given up on trying to get a decent charge on my 3-year-old 2150. I have a 270 amp alternator and three different Odyssey-branded smart chargers plus a Ctek and an Optimus charger, and for the last couple of years I have been running charge /recondition cycles at least every third week and sometimes every week. Can't get the battery to more than 12.85 when the cycle completes, and by next morning it's down to 12.55. If I let it set for two weeks, it gets near 12.0, three weeks it's around 11.8. My parasitic drain is within spec for my truck. The reason a 2150 at 80% SOC starts the truck quickly is that a 2150 at 80% is still better than a smaller FLA battery at 100%. Next battery in this truck will probably be a Northstar.

Well I tried it and now I have a depleted battery and my expensive Odyssey 50amp charger ramps up to 8 amps, kicks off, and won't charge the battery. No check light, just happily kicks off and sits there like it said naa too much work.

 

[Ducky's Dad]

Well I tried it and now I have a depleted battery and my expensive Odyssey 50amp charger ramps up to 8 amps, kicks off, and won't charge the battery. No check light, just happily kicks off and sits there like it said naa too much work.

The standard method is to start the charge on a dumb charger at low amps, and then switch over to the fancy pants smart charger. An alternative is to connect a good battery to the dead one, so that the smart charger thinks the dead battery is not dead. AGMs and smart chargers sometimes seem to be more trouble than they are worth.

 

[Airmapper]

The standard method is to start the charge on a dumb charger at low amps, and then switch over to the fancy pants smart charger. An alternative is to connect a good battery to the dead one, so that the smart charger thinks the dead battery is not dead. AGMs and smart chargers sometimes seem to be more trouble than they are worth.

Thanks, I guess I did the right thing by putting it on my CTEK for now, I'll try the Odyssey unit again.

I think I'm leaning in your direction regarding the Northstar battery. Not that I hate this Odyssey (yet) it's just a nuisance.

Edit: tried the Odyssey again, I think something is wrong with it, gets to 8 amps and stops charging. I wondering if my wall plug can't deliver the needed power, but no breakers have thrown.

 

[john61ct]

Man this thread is ancient.

Sterling ProCharge Ultra and ProMariner Pronautic P are excellent, fully adjustable mains chargers

 

[HenryJ]

My Diehard Platinums must be about five years old now. Yesterday I rotated them in the truck from primary to auxiliary. The primary was not fully charging. Aux was full. We will see if the rotation makes a difference, or if I have a problem with one. Performing fine. One just a little weaker than the other it seems. They should be equal. Much nicer than the woes I had dealing with the "new" Optima batteries. As is with all things...The Diehard Platinum is now gone. Next best choice may be the Odyssey. That price is a tough pill to swallow though. Hopefully I have a few years before I have to consider a change Just a little update on a very old thread

Out of the grave with this thread. Here we go with another long term update! another five years have passed. Today I replaced my Diehard Platinum batteries in the Avalanche. They did still work, but are end of life for sure. Not dependable any longer and unable to perform to expectations. Date code 10/09 (13 years old) and date code 10/12 (10 years old) I am not disappointed at all. They lived an long leak free life and served me well. I am only sad that I could not replace them with the exact same batteries.
What did I replace them with? Odyssey extreme performance 34/78 PC1500DT https://odysseybatteries.com/odyssey/pc1500dt.html