[ron92646]

Yeah, I really don't like the idea of using wood either. I just remembered I have some remnants of a PVC 1x6 board at home I can use. 5.5" might not be quite wide enough but I'll come up with something to get the bottom of the battery fully supported. Thanks.

 

[Mcdirtymetal]

I plan on upgrading my battery before winter. I've had no problems with the factory one, and don't want to wait til it's an issue to replace it. Just one question for the auto trans folks who went bigger: is it any harder to check your trans fluid? Just wondering if I should start planning on fabbing a new tray, or if simple modification of the factory one will do. Thanks.

 

[Marv]

I have a group 35 AGM and checking the fluid is still not bad. It is waay down there and I have to have good light to see to get the dipstick back in but really no issue. I wear XL gloves so my hands are not tiny nor really huge.

I would plan on fabbing a platform or spacer so it sits solidly though. My group 35 is a rebranded deka intimidator AGM sold by Farm and Fleet here and went in easily. It is about 3/4" shorter than a standard group 35 so the height worked perfectly with my 5/8" hdpe plastic platform which sits in the factory metal tray with two pegs in same locating holes the factory plastic tray used and with the OEM threaded rods. I used a Lynx brand plastic adjustable holddown strap.. solid.

 

[desinia]

One dangerous practice I keep seeing in the battery upgrade threads is when people don't get the right battery type (reversed positive and negative) and then they rotate the battery to get the posts on the right ends, putting the positive terminal close to a metal frame part that often gets bent inwards during a front collision.

 

[Mcdirtymetal]

Installed the 34R today. Went good.
I bought the battery from Napa for 99$, after core return.
(Which I just gave them a battery that was sitting around the shop.)


Thanks to the pioneers of this upgrade, I was pretty sure of what needed to be done.
I pulled out the existing battery, hold-down, tray, etc., and trimmed the bracket down in preparation for the new tray.


I have a bunch of different gauge aluminum sitting around so I made a tray and hold-down for the new battery.
Painted it black and hit it with a coat of clear truck bedliner.
(Same stuff I used on my running boards.)



I bolted the new tray to the factory metal bracket I cut down and installed the new battery with the existing J hooks.
Snug as a bug. Also worth mentioning is that the trans dipstick is just as accessible as it was prior to the battery upgrade.

 

[Levi707]

nice job on the 34r! I will look into this. I was thinking of ditching the stock battery here soon. Seems the 51r has always been an issue for me in the hondas that I have owned.

 

[MedusaOblongata]

My battery started to become unreliable, needing to be jumped. I did a search on the forum, read this thread and others, found that my 8 year old battery was in need of replacement. I bought a size 35 battery at Costco for $84 (-$15 for bringing back the old one), and a new clamp and J-hooks at the auto parts store for $11.00, and had my new, bigger battery installed and working in no time. I did have to bend out the lips on the battery platform, and the radio code was right there in the glove box.

Had it not been for the wisdom of this forum, I would likely have paid more for a lesser battery. Thank you all for sharing your knowledge and experience in this thread and others.

 

[makthrow]

Hey guys, about to attempt this mod, just worried I may do it "wrong".

I bought the adjustable cable, but wondering if I need to buy new J-brackets & a new battery platform (this: http://www.autozone.com/batteries-starting-and-charging/battery-tray/lynx-battery-tray/95981_0_0)

or if I can just take out the old one and stretch the ends a little.

im putting in the 35 so i know i'll have to bend the ends a little to get it to fit just wondering if the battery platform is necessary

 

[Marv]

Yes, with a group 35 you will definitely need a platform or at least a spacer to get the battery sitting stably. Also a wider tiedown strap (NOT the stretchy rubber one). Lots of ideas and some pics on platforms just above in this thread. If it is a standard flooded lead battery with the group 35 dimensions the longer J-hooks too. My AGM group 35 was actually shorter than the group specs (came with a plastic spacer) so the original J-hooks fit just fine. And just for reference, the standard 35 has the correct + and - post positions. Just as the 34R etc.

 

[makthrow]

What size J hooks for the 35? 8" or 12"?\

also just in case anyone else is reading,

you want the Red (Positive) to be closer to the driver, on the driver's right side

the black (negative) to be closer to the driver, on the driver's left side

Is that correct?

Rather than flipping the battery around and having the Red closer to the front of the car than to the driver

 

[Marv]

Good pic. It goes in exactly as the OEM, positive toward the car center and rearward. As for the J-hook length, OEM length plus 2" is plenty, cut off the extra if you are picky.

 

[makthrow]

Ok guys i Just finished installing the everstart max-35 from Walmart. (or my friend finished cuz he did most of it).

step 1. take off the attached cables. negative side first
step 2. take out old battery and tray
step 3. either widen the bottom of the tray (cut the sides to fit the wider new battery) or use a $5 battery tray from autozone or use a plank to fill out the bottom or use nothing like I did
step 4. use a wrench, widen the bottom of the metal tray including the J-hook ears, just bend them outwards a little until your new battery will fit
step 5 once you have a secure fit, use an adjustable battery tie-down bracket. i used one from autozone for $5.99, it fit perfectly. It wasn't an adjustable one but thank god it happened to fit. the old bracket you have for the 51 size battery will not fit. it's not wide enough
step 6. secure the tie-down bracket by attaching the J-hook to the ears on the bottom, then securing it to the bracket. need a wrench or socket hole for this
step 7 take off the cover for the positive terminal, it is a plastic cover
step 8 reattach cables in the reverse order, positive cable first and negative last
step 9 FINISHED! start you car.

 

[Ray Al]

Here's my set--up... group 35 agm

 

[Brianf7028]

Awesome write up with pics. I picked up a bosh AGM group 35 today with an online coupon for $140. I've seen good reviews but time will tell.

 

[asinblue]

Good contribution to summarize a whole bunch of disparate threads on battery sizes. I feel it is appropriate, once again, to stress the importance of battery maintenance.

YOUR BATTERY FAILS BECAUSE YOU DON'T MAINTAIN IT!!!

Now that I have your attention, please forgive my tone...I don't mean to say this specifically to the OP, I mean it for everyone who does not maintain their batteries. And really I am not yelling, I mean it with all due respect.

Vehicle charging systems are simply not designed to "maintain" a battery. They do not properly control the voltage and current while concurrently measuring temperature to keep a healthy battery. Nor are they capable of controlled over-charging, which is necessary (more on that later). Therefore, when you go buy that $150 dollar triple platinum 3 yr warranty battery and it fails after 2 years, you take it back to the store, they give you 1/3 of the price back, and sell you a "brand new" one. But here's the dirty little secret. You're not buying a brand new battery, you're buying someone else's 3yr warranty battery that they replaced a month ago, that was sent back to a battery "recycler" where all they did was refresh the battery and resell it back to the store. Your battery will be the next guy's "new" battery. They check the batteries for gross failures, the ones that pass the test get the electrolyte dumped out, refilled, super-charged, dumped out, cleaned out, refilled, and re-stickered. All of this costs relatively little money when done in bulk with the right equipment. You pay full price for a "new" battery.

This racket makes the battery companies a lot of money because, trust me, with proper maintenance, your battery will last for 5 years or more. How do I know this? Because I've done it. My new-to-me 2008 E happened to have the OEM battery (the date of manf sticker was early 2008) and it was exhibiting very poor performance. When I bought it from the original owner in 2013, it was barely holding 11.5 volts. I revived it completely and the battery is currently working splendidly; it is now going on 8 years old. I've just recently completely revived another dead battery from my Acura that was barely putting out 7 volts and wouldn't hold a charge worth a damn. It is now happily holding 12.7 volts after sitting for a week in my garage.

How do you maintain a battery properly? Well there are 2 ways.

1. Be a nerdy engineer, know what you're doing and be very careful with explosive gasses and caustic acids, buy or acquire a 20V DC, 10A to 30A power supply, a hygrometer, and a voltmeter with a thermocouple capability, do a bunch of reading and follow the procedures on this EXCELLENT website, specifically this part. This method allows you the flexibility to experiment and teaches you a lot about batteries and electrical systems if you're inclined to learn.
   
2. or, don't care much about all that stuff and just buy a battery maintainer with a desulfation algorithm, something like this guy. You can also buy one designed to be mounted in your vehicle that does what your vehicle's charging system should do but doesn't. I have not had experience with these but as long as you occasionally drive long distances, in theory it should work. Something like this little guy. You should still read the website above so you know what your desulfator is doing.

Do one of these two things once a year or when performance starts to noticeably degrade. Best time is before the winter hits.

Sorry to hijack your post. If enough people want to, I will start a new thread for discussion purposes on this topic. But I wanted to get it in people's minds that batteries SHOULD NOT go bad after 2 years. I hope that was helpful.

This was an incredibly helpful post and very useful advice!

My E would not start up last night, so started researching and even bought a battery online for in-store pickup the next day. Found this thread and post. I discovered my battery charger also has a desulfation feature, so I let it charge overnight. This morning it hit 100% full charge. Car started right up. I then followed youtuber ChrisFix on testing a battery and hooked up a multi-meter to it to check voltage on startup. So far old battery looks and works great. Canceled my in-store order.

Thanks again for the helpful information!

 

[alardt]

Autocraft 34 AGM here, cables just reach. Replaced Optima that had been there for 7 years.

Cheaper price via coupon on website, but then they don't install. Did lend me some barely functional tools to do it myself, was traveling so saved me digging mine out.

Thanks Carlos! Did the same thing this morning. Am happy to have more cranking amps AND an AGM (and got 25% off ordering online at Advanced Auto Parts and picked it up an hour later)

 

[DougRuss]

While you have the Battery out...CHECK your Ground Cable at the Trans Ground Terminal. They have a tendency to Corrode. :shock:

Replaced with this....https://www.carid.com/standard/battery-cable-mpn-a21-6ta.html

,

 

[California Element]

Excellent Post!

Thank you for this excellent post and summary of threads! Really appreciated all the info and links to other posts!! Awesome

 

[TheFunBox]

The DME is programmed for specific charging cycle and rates and is set to the paremeters of using the stock size 51R battery and stock alternator. That said, going with a diff. battery, higher CCA ect, is the larger battery actually going to perform all that much better over time ? It would lead one to believe that since the car "thinks" it has the proper sized battery installed, that a bigger battery would not receive the charging cycles/rates required to maintain it.

 

[pihmpdaddi]

The DME is programmed for specific charging cycle and rates and is set to the paremeters of using the stock size 51R battery and stock alternator. ...

Someone else can chime in but I don't think any car's stock charging system is designed to properly charge/cycle/maintain a specific battery. The alternator circuitry supplies a current-limited constant voltage charge at the voltage below the normal charge voltage of the intended battery, which is entirely dependent on battery chemistry (not size or brand or CCA or any of those specs).

**well CCA does have an impact on the current limit but the alternator current is regulated to well below that level for any reasonable battery.**

This is why every few months (3-6 months) a battery should be maintained by a charger specific to the battery chemistry and type for at least 24 hrs or more if possible. The investment in a proper charger will allow your battery to live for many years and save you a lot of money, especially if you have more than one vehicle/motorcycle/watercraft/RV/etc.