Not sure if this should go in exterior & interior or in audio & video, oh well.

Well, I wanted to get a lightweight battery, but didn't feel like paying so much for a braille or Odyssey battery. After looking around, I found a company called Deka, pretty cheap batteries. I ended up getting the etx18L battery and bought some odyssey top mount terminals. I decided on the etx18l since it had decent specs.

The battery itself was $80 shipped and the top mounts were $10. I got the battery from tristate batteries, they have other sized dekas for pretty cheap also.

My parents never started my car for 3 weeks while I was at school, so when i came home, it did not start, which I was hoping it would based on the specs that this battery had. Too bad, maybe it would have lasted 2 weeks, but I guess 3 weeks just sitting is too long. I do have a battery tenderizer, but I wasn't able to uninstall my battery before I left for school.

Since my car is not a DD, its not that big of a deal, so I will probably end up getting a lighter taller battery in the future, probably from deka again, lol. To be fair, I do have a 2 farad cap and an apexi ground stabilizer that have their leds always on, so maybe it could have lasted longer.

Now for pics:


The box




Size comparisons







Stock battery weight:



Deka battery weight



I needed a small block of wood to raise it high enough to use stock hardware:





Everything put back in, with the smaller size, it allowed me to put my meth pump in the battery compartment:






Let me know what you guys think, thanks!

 

I have the same battery, ill take pics when i get home. It hasn't left me stranded yet and its pretty damn cheap. Works flawlessly and as far as I can tell any weight of the front of these cars is a huge +++

 

Whats the warranty? If indeed it is cheap+lightwieght+at least 4 yrs of warranty for ~80 bucks then it would be worth getting.

Autozone 85 bucks=7yr warranty ftw

 

That batt is way too too small for a decent size amp draw

 

viva la spam, i'm not sure what the warranty is, I'll have to check. They actually have other batteries that are much cheaper and smaller than the one I got.

Duro, as for the size, this is actually much better spec wise compared to a pc680 or other braille batteries that are almost double the price. The specs on it are not that bad compared to a stock battery. It did fine on my Z, I have a 600 watt rms sub amp and a 200 watt rms component amp, and i did not notice any voltage drop at all, but I do have a 2 farad cap.

Here are the specs on a stock battery
Part Number 35-500PS
CCA @ 0 Degrees F 500
CA @ 32 Degrees F 625
RC min @ 25A 80
Volts 12
Length in Inches 9 11/16
Width in Inches 6 7/8
Height in Inches 8 13/16


For the deka etx18

Voltage: 12v
Capacity at 10HR: 20Ah
CCA @ 0°F (-18°C): 300
Approx. Weight w/o Acid: 18lbs
Regular Charge Current: 2.1A
Dimensions (+/- 1/16 inch): 8 1/8" x 3 9/16" x 6 3/8"
Dimensions (+/- 2 mm): 205mm x 86mm x 161mm

If this battery is too small, then the pc680 and other braille batteries might as well be double As compared to this, lol.


Here are some comparative size pictures of a stock battery next to a pc545, then my pics just for reference:













Those pics were from the "other" 350z site.

 

btw if you poke around some forums (vwwortex i think...jsut google search) there was a whole bunch of ppl asserting that the brailles were just re-badged dekas with slightly diffrent specs. The case size , weight, and design were identical. I dont know if thats still true for the current generation braille design but take it for what its worth. Also i know a few guys run these exact etx18l batteries on viperalley and if it has the juice to crank up an 8 liter v10 in sub 40 temps then i dont see how this thing can possibly b too small

 

I've actually read those articles also, lol. Yeah, I was just hoping it would have lasted the 3 weeks I was gone, but oh well

 

Hey, what do you guys think about this?

http://www.batteryspec.com/cgi-bin/c...68&sub2=680009

It's listed as the Deka etx18l but when I add it to the cart it says it's a Tempest AGM battery? I would normally think that this site just mislabeled the product but I noticed the Deca Box also said AGM on the front so I thought i'd ask what you guys thought?

 

When they say deka, I think they usually mean that it is the equivalent of that deka battery. It is the same for their version of the pc-680, but they are tempest brand. I haven't seen any reviews on the tempest battery, but I have seen a lot on deka, and it is said that deka is one of the 3 main battery supplier that gets rebranded.

 

Hey BakaN20. I totally thought I posted this already but I guess I forgot to hit submit? Anyways,I just bought a Deka ETX20L which is listed at 15.5lb and has 270CCA. I noticed you were able to reuse your stock hardware to mount it, you look like one of the only people that have done this successfully. Am I right in thinking all you needed was that extra wood block to raise the battery? I'd rather not have to buy a mounting kit. Also, if it's not too much trouble, would you be able to tell me approximately how tall the block of wood is? It looks like my battery is about 1 inch shorter than yours, so I want to know what I should look for when I run to home dept. Thanks a lot!

 

The height for the stock battery is: 8.90 in.
The height for the deka18 battery is: 8.13 in
The height for the deka20 battery is: 6.12 in

The piece of wood i have is probably around half an inch, since i have to tighten it down a little more than the stock battery. I don't think you would be able to raise it up that easily. I tried to think of different ways to use the stock hardware or any way to not have to custom fab something, but raising it was the only solution. That is another reason why I bought the etx18, since it was one of the taller batteries and pretty close to the stock height. Let me know what you come up with and good luck with your install. Sorry I couldn't be much help.

 

Wow I didn't realize the difference in height would be 2 inches. Ah well, I'll tool around at home depot and see what I can figure out, worst case scenario, I'll take a leaf out of the subaru guys' book and just zip tie it down.

 

Yes, I did a bit of research to find one that was decent height, compared to stock. Post pics with what you come up with!

Also, for the deka, there is a 1 year warranty through tristate battery, I am not sure how long the manufacturer warranty is, I will have to email them.

 

I went to home depot and got some scrap wood for free and had no problem raising this battery to use the stock hardware, started up just fine. One thing I did notice is that the lead for the positive terminal seemed like it was bigger than the negative? My positive terminal has a little bit of play when fully tightened but my negative won't even slide down all the way to the terminal.....should I switch the terminals?

 

Where they screw on terminals? The ones I got were Odyssey terminals. It did say that one was bigger than the other, I can't remember which one though, give it a try and see if it helps, sorry I replied late. Do you have pictures? Post them up, I would like to see the size block you used and the such. Thanks!

 

guys, wood is way way heavy. Seriously don't do it, I'll take a pic of my car tomorrow with the bent piece of aluminum I used (also from home depot) seriously easier and lighter.

 

The piece of wood i used isn't that heavy, its just a small piece, maybe next time I will weigh it. Can you show us how you made yours fit? Were you able to use the stock hardware?

 

Nice, i'll keep this in mind when I get a new battery.

 

Just wanted to update this.

My deka took a $hit during the summer, kept starting the car to move it and not really drive at all. Tristatebatteries made it right and sent me a new one though. Not sure if I can blame the battery or me not using it properly, lol.

 

Just updating this thread. The replacement battery is still in the car working. Whenever the car is not running, it is either on a trickle charger or the battery is removed from the vehicle and placed somewhere warm.