commercial grade group31a yellowtop OPTIMA

This is the battery I'm looking into for my 01' X. It's a group 31 yellowtop, with automotive studs. It's just a thought to keep more reserve power when running my winch. Any thoughts, or do I really need to do a dual battery setup? It should fit in the stock tray and only hang over the side a few inches, but still be able to be anchored down.



http://www.optimabatteries.com/publish/optima/americas0/en/config/product_info/commercial.html

I've got a 34/78 in my X, and at about 7" tall it was actually too short to use the factory tie-downs. I cut a piece of 1" plywood to fit in the tray under it to make up the difference, and even then it was barely enough. I suspect the 31 you're looking at that's about 8.5" tall would fit nicely height-wise. Length-wise it's nearly 3" wider than mine, and that may be a bit too much. There's room, but it won't sit down in the tray.

Why the 31 instead of the 34/78? If you're really intent on getting the most battery you can, check out the Odyssey PC2150 (Group 31):
http://www.odysseyfactory.com/specs.htm

Brent

I'm tryin to avoid the dual battery setup. But get the most I can with a single. Is this not the right approach for running a winch? I know with a dual setup you'll never have to worry about a dead starting battery.

Most times you'll be winching with the engine running and won't really need much battery in the first place. On the rare times you might winch without the engine running, a single 34/78 yellow-top should be plenty adequate for getting you out of harm's way. I'm not going to run the numbers, but I suspect the extra reserve of the 31 probably wouldn't really equate to that much more run time.

Brent

Most often your winch is pulling more power than your alternator can provide so it's drawing on your battery. Keep your RPM's around 2k to keep peak output from your alternator. That said, I've never drained a yellow top, but I also haven't done dead-engine winching. You should be fine with one yellow-top. There are issues with dual batteries and isolators causing drain that I just don't feel like messing with.

Exactly. Dual battery set up seems like one big hassle.