......................

Even tho you don't need a battery (yet), I paid $180 for an Interstate battery in ea of my 987s. Takes about 30 min to replace yourself.

Not sure where you find a $100 Porsche battery but doesn't hurt to look.

You put the solar panel outside the cover, where the sun can hit it (it has an extension cord for the purpose). With enough extension wire, you could put it on the roof of the house.

Solar is not perfect; it produces lower power on cloudy days, and of course none at night; but it at least is supplying power part of the time, which none of the other "solutions" is going to do.

I'll let you in on a little secret;
There's nothing special about an interstate battery. I make Interstate, Optima, Duralast, just name a few... Same plate count, same plate weight, same theoretical output for each battery in a type/class. The only difference is the container

Interesting, particularly as Optima are owned by Johnson Controls, originally manufactured in Aurora CO but moved the manufacturing to Mexico in 2009, and use a totally unique and patented plate design and manufacturing technology, unlike any other product in the SLI battery industry................

Yes, I work for Johnson Controls DAP here in St. Joseph. You are referring to our patented "Power Frame Technology " which is in absolutely every single lead acid battery that we make.

We also make Optimas right here in St. Joe, Salem, Geneva, etc.
A type of battery or plate production is not restricted to one manufacturing plant, but goes out across many plants, depending on the distribution needs.

EDIT: Optimas are not made here. I was mistaken about that, but stand by all else ;)

Are the innards identical, or does each one sport different design features? And what the heck is a "spiral wound" battery?, Oh yeah, have you considered selling your own "brand" for $50 a copy?

And at least in WI Wal-Mart sells Johnson Control made batteries for our cars for less than $100. All of my Porsche batteries came from Wally World.

......................

Actually, no I am not referring to JC's Power Frame Technology, I'm referring to the Optima Spiralcell technology, which is entirely different:

Discover the PowerFrame® grid technology :: PowerFrame® TRUE STRENGTH vs. OPTIMA® Batteries SPIRALCELL TECHNOLOGY® :: OPTIMA® Batteries

In addition, I currently own nine different models of both red and yellow top Optima's in my personal fleet, including a two month old yellow top for the shop's new automatic standby power generator, all of which are clearly marked "Made in Mexico".......

I had two Volkswagen solar chargers (used in port), gave one for my dad to use on his truck and it keeps things topped up properly. So I'd definitely say go for the solar charger, a bit simpler and less fussy.

All innards are identical. All that varies is the number of plates per cell, plate weight(amount of lead oxide per plate), and plate size. Specs are based on these factors, so for example, an Everstart 760CCA 94R group battery would have the exact same innards as a Duralast 760CCA 94R group. Of course, AGM (spiral wound included) is a different story
Spiral wound: Instead of many separate plates bound together in each cell by a cast-on strap, a spiral wound battery uses two plates only (one positive, one negative) that are long strips of lead wound into a coil and separated by an absorbent glass mat separator(nasty stuff to work with). Six of these coils at 2V each are joined together like a six pack to make a 12V battery. One advantage is the lower chance of shorts within a cell because of fewer parts. Shorts are a huge manufacturing problem.

It's funny to watch arguments about Duralast vs Everstart on other forums when I know that they are exactly the same.

You may have stated this already, but with your knowledge of batteries, which battery/batteries would you recommend for my 99?

Hello, my name is Jim McIlvaine and I am the eCare Manager for Optima Batteries. I noticed this conversation involving our products and attempted to reach out to particlewave regarding the claims he made in this thread, many of which he has subsequently deleted. However, because JFP in PA quoted particlewave, several of particlewave's comments remain, which I would like to address. particlewave claimed to be an employee of Johnson Controls, but when I asked him via PM to confirm that, he declined to do so. He also changed his location listing on this forum from St. Joseph, Missouri to Oz.

All Optima batteries are produced in one very specialized plant with processes that are significantly different from all other batteries. As the SpiralCell design and ingredients of Optima batteries are unique to our products, they do not use JCI's Power Frame Technology, which is specific to flat-plate battery technology. Flat-plate batteries do not always have the same plate count, plate weight or theoretical output for each type/class, as was also previously-suggested.

I spend a lot of time on forums correcting false information posted about our products. However, in this instance, the source of this false information also claimed to be an employee of Johnson Controls. I know many folks read threads and never make it past the first page, which in this instance contains false information from a source who would not confirm their identity. I hope that is taken into consideration for those who read this thread going forward.

Jim McIlvaine
eCare Manager, OPTIMA Batteries
OPTIMA® Batteries (optimabatteries) on Pinterest

Wow. Busted. Thank you for taking the time to provide us with this information, Jim.

Speaking for myself only, when a long-time member with a high post count makes such technically detailed claims, I tend to believe him. I am shocked to discover that it was a deliberate attempt at spreading misinformation, and I can't even begin to imagine what the motivation would be for doing this.

Thanks also to JFP for challenging PW on this and being the only guy not taken in. I think you are, by far, the best source of expertise and information this forum has. This is just another example of it. I wish I lived in your town.

Jim, thanks for stepping into this conversation. I pretty much knew from the outset that there was something amiss in some of the posts; I have a long history with your firm, going much further back than just as a satisfied end use customer. Keep up the good work.

No, not busted ;)

I don't purposely spread false information. I was wrong about Optima batteries being made in St. Joseph, but my point was that there is nothing special about a battery that the dealer tries to charge $hundreds$ for.

"OptimaJim" is trying to gain personal info, which I'd rather not do :)
This, combined with the public posting of some of my personal info a couple of weeks ago just to prove he could has led me to the conclusion that participating in interwebs conversations is not beneficial to me. This is the only place on the internet that I post to, but I think I'm done here too. I enjoy helping people, but there is just too much hate and negativity in people and it's not good for me. I've also deleted most of my pics for the same reasons.

Jim, you seem like a nice fella, but that doesn't mean that I'm just going to hand over my info freely. You told me in PM that you would try to smear my name and it would "get messy" and now you're doing so. However, I'm not going to participate any longer and those who know me and the content of my character based on years of posts and messages will not be fooled.
Best of luck to you in all that you do, Jim. May your Karma always be positive. :)

I was just trying to save a fellow forum member some serious cash. Though I may have posted some wrong information regarding optima batteries, I'm not a liar. Why spend $480 for a battery from the dealer when you can get the same battery for $100 at Walmart?

Busted? Yeah...for trying to save someone some $$$ :rolleyes:

This doesn't help you...but I bought a trickle charger at Sears for $30. It's 'smart' so it won't blow your battery up. AC though....no solar cells or dilithium crystals to power it.

As far as $100 batteries go....Walmart. Replaced my Cayman's battery with a $100 battery from WallyWorld two years ago and it's a champ. I drive the Croc probably 2 or 3 times a week. (The trickle charger is for my Boxster).