Gen 4.5 Camry Battery Help - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

myungx714 · 12-12-2005, 06:39 PM

hello everyone...

im interested in swaping stock battery to optima blue top battery for my camry(2001 I4) and i was wondering if this is possible..
i noticed that positive and negative thing on the battery is reversed on the blue top battery and i was wondering would this be a problem?
if it is how would i go about fixing this...

thanks

Corollacrazy42 · 12-12-2005, 06:42 PM

you getting the one with posts or not? anyways i have the one with posts and it fits.. but i had to put a piece of wood in the gap.. the battery holder that goes for the stock battery is too high in the air and dopesnt go down enough.. so you have to lodge something in betwenn.. otherwise it fit pretty good

TRDCamryCL · 12-13-2005, 12:16 AM

What is the difference? Between the batteries?

mspringer · 12-13-2005, 06:12 PM

This is actually a very easy swap.
I just put a Yellow Top Optima in my 97.

Basically, I was able to re-route the battery cables - negative and positive.

The negative cable reached the new negative post without any problem.

For the positive cables:
There is a plastic rectangular wiring holder that is behind the battery - it runs the positive wire to the left side of the battery -- I opened that up to get the positive wire out and I trimmed the wiring holder to allow the positive wires to exit in the middle of the holder so that it would reach the positive post (now on the right side).

The other positive cable runs to the starter, and is too short to move. I replaced this with a longer wire that you should be able to get at any auto parts store, although you might need to replace one or both connectors to make it fit. I used a 4 gauge piece of wire left over from a stereo project that already had copper lugs crimped on, and it works fine (the factory wire looks to be 8 gauge - 4 gauge is much heaver).

Corollacrazy42 - you are right, the Optima is much shorter (lower) but you DO NOT need to use wood or anything like that.
I was able to re-use the original battery clamp.
All I did was put it (the original clamp) on the battery and find a suitable spacer (I used a piece of thick-walled aluminum tubing about 1 inch tall) to run the original bolt down the original mounting rod on the "back" of the battery (by the fender).
Where the factory clamp attaches to the core support, I mounted the bracket to the underside of the rail where the original clamp bolts. It is easy, and uses the original bolt hole, but the bolt runs from the bottom - up. I found a longer bolt, and then aligned the bracket with the hole on the underside of the core support edge, and bolted the bracket to the core support by running a longer bolt through the original bolt hole.

88 LE · 12-13-2005, 06:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TRDCamryCL

What is the difference? Between the batteries?

Red top = starting.

Orange top = like the red top, but the terminals are reversed.

Yellow top = deep cycle.

Blue top = deep cycle marine.

http://www.optimabatteries.com

ptycamry · 12-13-2005, 06:45 PM

Is this yellow top Optima battery universal ??

I mean, U can just put it in the Camry and that's it ???

I have a 1998 V6....

My worry is any kind of electrical problem, surge, voltage, whatever kind of problem it could bring........

Phat Devil · 12-13-2005, 07:57 PM

Yes i have one in the car. And i am sure you can get different configurations if you asked. I know we can be both left +, right- and left -, right +

Also the yellow tops are only really useful if you leave your car parked somewhere for a long time without moving read many weeks, or if you plan on running your electrical items with the car off for a long time, read stereo.

The red top is like a big capacitor. It will give out its output for very quickly ie starting batttery, but it wont last as long as the yellow top if you are running things with the car off.

AND a battery will ONLY suppy what it is asked to suppy, it will NOT dump a whole lot of current to the electrical system because it feels like it =P. The surges and stuff would be something to look not at the battery but what caused it. (any electrical items in the car shorting out and stuff.)

88 LE · 12-14-2005, 10:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ptycamry

Is this yellow top Optima battery universal ??

I mean, U can just put it in the Camry and that's it ???

Yes, its universal. Its just a battery.

Quote:

My worry is any kind of electrical problem, surge, voltage, whatever kind of problem it could bring........

Theres nothing to worry about.

I have a red top Optima.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Phat Devil

The red top is like a big capacitor. It will give out its output for very quickly ie starting batttery, but it wont last as long as the yellow top if you are running things with the car off.

Red top has more CA/CCA then the yellow top. However the yellow top has more reserve capacity and its a deep cycle battery.