........

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2005 Unlimited (LJ) Rubicon w/ 5.5" of total lift
Flat Fenders made by http://www.jpfaboffroad.com/

"Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch.
Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote." - Benjamin Franklin, 1759

Every new one I looked at had a RED TOP

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Atlantic Blue 06 CRD Limited (his)
Joined by a 2000 XJ Classic (hers)

Question is, is the voltage regulator in your Rubicon good enough to keep the Optima happy? Being an '05, most likely having electronic voltage regualtor and battery temp sensor, my initial guess would be yes.

You don't want an Optima to see anything over 14.7 volts, or you'll end up cooking it inside of a couple months.

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Mitchell Oates
'87 MB 300D Diamond Blue Metallic
'87 MB 300D - R.I.P. 12/08
'05 Sport CRD Stone White
Provent CCV Filter/AT2525 Muffler
Stanadyne 30 u/Cat 2 u Fuel Filters
Fumoto Drain/Fleetguard LF3487 Oil filter
V6 Airbox/Amsoil EAA Air Filter
Suncoast TC/Shift Kit/Aux Cooler
Kennedy Lift Pump/Return Fuel Cooler

Yup, my 06 has a red top as well. I don't think I've seen one without those, in fact it was listed in the online build options as a mandatory item when you built one on Jeep.com if I remember correctly.

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2006 Jeep Liberty Sport CRD

Humm...mine has a Napa battery in it. Bought it used with 9600 miles on it, so I doubt the Optima battery would have been kaput. Go figure?

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Chad Hargis
Nashville, TN
2008 Grand Cherokee CRD
2005 Liberty CRD *SOLD*

mine Kaput at ~ 12000 and was replaced with a factory battery. The dealer said that they had problems with the Optima (they waited 3 weeks to find out it was backordered and if one came in they were to replace it with a factory battery)

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2005 Liberty CRD, 245/75R16, OME CRD Springs front, OME HD rear

So many dealers fried Optima's in the CRD's as to be crazy stupid, they had to put out service advisory about not charging above 14.5 volts if I remember correctly. I have had a 34R optima in my '91 MB for about 4 months w/o a problem and a Optima 34R in my Magnum for about 2 years without a problem either. I have friends with them in their boats, 4wheelers and tractors and just love them and never had any problems.

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91 MB 300D 2.5L Turbo. Her's

05 MB E320 CDI. Mine

Optima's rule. Installed one in my MB 240D a few years back and never looked back (Much better starting power than the bigger DieHard). I was happy to see the Optima under the hood of the jeep and would be bleeping pissed if the service department tried to put in a regular battery if it ever died.

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2006 Jeep Liberty CRD Limited
1983 Mercedes Benz 240D

Exactly. If you have a good enough charger, you can go up to 14.7 without any problems.

Guys in the home-built electric vehicle community learned this the hard way better than 10 years ago. They found out you couldn't bulk charge in a series string like the old flooded golf cart batteries, where you could simply let them boil and bubble until all of them were up to the same state of charge. Overvoltage and boil an Optima, and it's dead in short order.

They had to install shunt voltage regulators on each battery, which would bypass the charging current around a battery, to be able to use a single charger and charge them in series. When you're talking 10 to 20 batteries in series, that gets to be an expensive proposition. Only other option was to have an individual charger hooked up to each battery - an even more expensive undertaking.

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Mitchell Oates
'87 MB 300D Diamond Blue Metallic
'87 MB 300D - R.I.P. 12/08
'05 Sport CRD Stone White
Provent CCV Filter/AT2525 Muffler
Stanadyne 30 u/Cat 2 u Fuel Filters
Fumoto Drain/Fleetguard LF3487 Oil filter
V6 Airbox/Amsoil EAA Air Filter
Suncoast TC/Shift Kit/Aux Cooler
Kennedy Lift Pump/Return Fuel Cooler

I have had a small trickle charger that I have used for years to top up my batteries for about 7 years now. It is amazing how down a battery will get just because you start a car and drive it 3 or 4 miles then park it for a day, but more amazing is how you can improve battery life with a top up trickle charger for you vehicle.

I just topped up the 91 MB last night. I may be installing the quick plug on the E320 today, but I have a brand new Optima 34R sitting on the bench to go in if it will anchor down properly like it did in the Magnum. Yes I traded out the Optima in the Magnum into the 91 MB and got a new Optima for the E320 that was origionally ordered for the 91 MB, but I traded cars and things got switch around early. The new optmia arrived one week after the trade off of Magnum & Jeep.

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91 MB 300D 2.5L Turbo. Her's

05 MB E320 CDI. Mine