96 850 Optima Battery replacment?

Volvowith18psi · Post by **Volvowith18psi** » 30 Mar 2010, 10:44

New to the site, Hello all!

So I finally broke down and am upgrading the factory premium sound system to something aftermarket.

I am looking for an Optima battery to drop in before my install this Friday, but for the life of me, cannot find any info more then "Use a group 47/48" battery.

My questions are, will I be able to drop one of those groups right in as a replacement without any modifications to my battery tray? Other then adjustment of the holder things at the bottom?

Are they "Yellow" tops?

This all comes from trying to replace a blown rear door speaker and having zero luck finding replacements other then factory without modifications needed....

So, out with the old and in with the new- Just gonna power 1x 12in Kicker L5/amp and 4x 5 1/4" off the radio and bypass/disconnect the factory amp due to incorrect Ohm loads with aftermarket speakers.

Thanks all for viewing, info, and advice.

Ride is a 95' 850~

3rd time Volvo owner- Andrew

1st- 240DL- crashed @ 16....lol
2nd- 740TI@18 PSI daily driver for 3years till the heater core blew
3rd- 850 GLT- Daily driver for about 5years, 300K+ miles and still going strong

Post by **jblackburn** » 30 Mar 2010, 13:05

Really the only difference between a 47 and 48 battery (besides the size, obviously) is the cranking amps they offer. My Interstate (size 47) has 590 cranking amps; the 48 has quite a few more than that. Either will fit with no problems in the tray, its far bigger than the 47 anyway. If you're installing an aftermarket stereo that uses a lot of power, having a bigger battery would help out the alternator when everything else in the car is running.

300,000 miles already?! Jeez, I hope mine keeps going that long.

Post by **JDS60R** » 30 Mar 2010, 14:18

There is an exact fit AGM for your car with 875 CCA made by Deka . Use their site to assure proper fit.

here is one vendor you can buy online from
http://www.remybattery.com/Products/AGM ... AGM48.aspx

dbo550 · Post by **dbo550** » 30 Mar 2010, 17:27

I would advise you not to buy an optima battery, the are no better than any store brand. the only reason they are still selling is because of the reputation that the early optimas built. What used to make the good is that they used virgin lead to make them. Now that optima has been bought out they use the same recycled lead that everybody else uses. If you want the best battery and plan on spending optima size money then look for an odyssey battery, the best in the game right now. My last optima,a yellow top barely made it a year.

EddieH · Post by **EddieH** » 30 Mar 2010, 17:47

dbo550 wrote:I would advise you not to buy an optima battery, the are no better than any store brand. the only reason they are still selling is because of the reputation that the early optimas built. What used to make the good is that they used virgin lead to make them. Now that optima has been bought out they use the same recycled lead that everybody else uses. If you want the best battery and plan on spending optima size money then look for an odyssey battery, the best in the game right now. My last optima,a yellow top barely made it a year.

I would offer the same suggestion as well. I looked into replacing the batteries on my diesel Excursion with Optimas and the more research I did, I found many unsatisfied customers. I would recommend DieHard or Interstate batteries. Just my .02

Eddie