488 OEM battery

My dealer usually switches out the OEM battery for the interstate prior to delivery. Its just a better battery from what I understand and they have had so many issues with cars sitting that they do it preemptively.

 

Another option is the Odyssey AGM
That’s what my dealer installed when the Ferrari Factory battery went flat

 

Apparently the only benefit of getting (without wanting it) the infamous HELE (stop start system, which has been imposed in Europe from the start) is that the car comes with a more powerful battery...

 

My ‘17 488 Spider came with a Ferrari branded battery. It died 10 months from purchase. The dealer charged me about $1,000 for the replacement. When asked why it wasn’t covered by the warranty I was told since I was not putting an average of 2,000 miles/year on the car it was not covered.
The service manager said they have had this problem for years
Fortunately the dealer contacted Italy and was able to get it covered.
Told them the next battery will be an Interstate

 

Here's a photo of the battery which was in my 2013 Ferrari 458 Italia. I purchased the car used from FOH and was the 3rd owner. I believe the dealer did all the work on the car for the previous two owners, so I would assume they installed that battery at some point along the line.

I removed the battery and installed a much smaller Odyssey PC925, but didn't have much luck with it (however, that PC925 did work well in the 355 and 360). At the end of the day, the high current needs of the 458 dictated something better. That's how I ended up switching over to the Braille I48CS battery. The king is dead; long live the king!

I think I traded the original Interstate battery that came with the 458 for a torque wrench off Craigslist haha Then when I traded the 458 in, I came up short and I had to install a battery from Costco. I was tempted to just wire a bunch of 18650 batteries together and trade the car in like that, but the dealer has been pretty good to me, so I figured springing for a new Costco battery was the least I could do

Ray

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Good feedback on these cars and batteries. Definitely interested to see what you find--keep us posted!

 

Odyssey batteries are the best route to go -- They do outlast the interstate if properly maintained. Some dealers swap in an interstate battery during PDI since it has a 2 year warranty and no mileage restrictions.

 

Interstate AGM is the way to go. Braille or other lithium would be great, as you save 35-40 lbs, but they’re expensive. Even an Antigravity lithium battery is $699.

Unlike Porsche 911s though, which mount their batteries high near the base of the windshield, the batteries mounted in the footwell in Ferrari 360/430/458/488s are down low, so the weight has less effect on handling.


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Just replaced my battery on my 2018 488 spider. This video was immensely helpful:


Ray broke this repair down very well, helping me save a ton of time and effort. Interesting that not a single warning, error, or alarm came on after instal. Car cranked right up with no electrical gremlins whatsoever after startup.

 

Presume you changed the charger also…believe the latter is not compatible with Lithium ion.

 

Really good point. No I went with the old school deep cycle battery. I didn’t save the weight of the lithium, but my battery was about $320 and, to your point, my battery tender will still work with the new battery

 

Braille makes an AGM battery that will knock the other AGM's out of the park. It is the B7548. Price is 340 usd. It's a Ferrari. Why settle.

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Very simple. I was left stranded with a dead battery two hours from home late Saturday night. I was back up and running by noon on Sunday. Couldn’t have accomplished that with a Braille battery because I couldn’t source one locally (and immediately). I have another cruise scheduled for the following weekend so I need to be rolling not waiting.

 

I wasn't asking anyone in particular why they didn't buy a Braille. It was a general statement, directed at the idea of just getting the best battery possible, especially considering it is still pretty affordable.

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I certainly wouldn’t disagree, lighter weight, better power, just better technology in general. But important to also consider a) there is no mounting surface near the Braille battery positive lead for the screws that secure the electrical box that is physically attached to the positive lead in the car. Tightening the lead to the terminal may suffice, but that should be noted as something to consider. b) there is the cost of a new battery tender that may be necessary for compatibility with the Braille battery. Finally, as noted, my car was disabled 150 miles from home, and Advanced Auto stocks the compatible battery so when necessity drives the decision, I thought I’d share it is doable.

one final note, the Ferrari owner’s manual states do not jump start the car. When I called Ferrari roadside assistance, the wrecker couldn’t tow the car all the way to the Ferrari dealer (in my case NC to Atlanta, GA). The 488 sucked the life out of three portable chargers over the course of 45 minutes and still wouldn’t crank. So I guess you can guess what happened next, break out out the trusty cables and she cranked right up, albeit with warnings aplenty once running, battery lights, alternator warning, mirrors wouldn’t work, magnetino switch wouldn’t work, intruder alarm randomly going off, it was a joy ...

I ran the car for about 45 minutes, driving it immediately to the closest auto parts store which wasn’t scheduled to open for another two hours. Since it took close to an hour to get the car started, I was reluctant to turn it off, but I did and thankfully it started back up and all the alarms stopped and mirrors and magneto returned to normal function. As such, we risked driving on home, hoping we could make the two hour journey which we did and the car ran fine. Once home, I had access to my tools, had time to review the very nice video, I figured I could get her a proper battery to support the electronics properly. Too be sure, the install requires a few contortionist moves, and far more difficult than a battery replacement should be given this will be a known periodic maintenance issue.

A bit of a harrowing morning but in the end, a metric socket set, an Allen wrench set, and a hex driver bit (included in my particular socket set) a video shared by another gracious owner, and I’m running with no issues after a couple of hours.