I have two Optimas in my 4-ex-4 rig. A giant yellow-top, and a giant blue top. Both are about 14, and still going strong.
I think there was a long thread here on this website - executive summary: allowing that Optima were once great batteries, the best, then they were bought out, outsourced somewhere south of the border and they are now nothing like they once were and everybody involved needs to DIAF. The End. I've no idea if it's true, but.
Well, I have to jump in here. I have an Optima red top in my OT Mustang, bought it in 2003. I have always kept it on a battery tender when not being driven. I went out today and.....YUP...dead. Almost 13 years old. This one was made in Aurora, CO. So I am going to replace it with another one but I don't expect the same life. And I know they are made in Mexico now.
For my 6 Volt cars, I always use an Optima for it's extra capacity. For those with 12 volt systems, anything on sale will do.
I originally purchased a Delco battery for my bucket. I thought I payed too much for it at the time, but it lasted 15 yrs. Can't complain too much.
Which is why I "hide" mine in an old hollowed-out Ford script case. I do agree though, that every time I see an Optima in the battery box of say, a '55 Chevy, I cringe a bit.
Just FYI TurboStart will have a collector car AGM battery available in late July or August. This a true AGM battery with the caps on top. It's not just a battery in a old box. It will have around 825CA. I agree with you if it's going to be seen it needs to look right. TS will have these with the Delco, Mopar, and Ford(Autolite actually) script.
Great youtube video by Optima btw, but I'm not sure I would tell customer to parallel their battery with jumper cables to charge it. Anyway yes AGM is touchy when it gets discharged to low for a charger to read it correctly. A good charger will solve this issue for sure.
9 yrs. on the red top Opti that came with my `63 C10. Probably new when I bought the truck. I agree that the look is wrong but I don't show the truck.
I got 12 years from a 6 year Pro Start battery...No tender, sitting through winters and always fired up in the spring with exuberance until this year...Normally they would last their rated life and die...Got a lemon I guess.....
just replaced a Diehard gold I bought in '08 on my Fairlane. Parked outside, the car was used on a lot and stored a few months a time. I think I got a very good value for the usage and time. However, the price on batteries have have gone up by about 50%, I imaging the materials used in these batteries are not as good as pre-recession batteries. Thats just me yammering, I got another DH Gold. You did good.
Bill Darden mentioned this over at his website http://www.batteryfaq.org it's better to buy a cheap battery and couple it with a good quality charger, than buy an expensive battery and neglect it. Most people chronically undercharge batteries. It is possible to overcharge them but it takes work, even when they put a battery on a charger once they see 12 or 13 volts they think it's charged. That's not how it works. One interesting factoid is the effect that corrosion in the cables, grounds, and connections (resistance) has on vehicle charging systems. Just six-tenths of an ohm - that's 0.06 ohms - reduces alternator output by 30%, maybe not enough to notice at idle but under any kind of load it will not keep up. The current is probably wasted as excess heat and premature alternator/regulator failure. This of course will also lead to a battery that is undercharged. That, in turn, leads to a sulfated battery, which also presents a tremendous load to the charging system regulation. It's a viscous circle, I tell ya! ha It's amazing car batteries last as long as they do, stationary lead-acid batteries typically last 20 years or more, heat and vibration play a role. Easily one of the most abused car parts around, they typically get NO attention whatsoever till the vehicle will not start. There's a reason good ones cost so much - we're paying for everyone else's warranty service! Bahstids. How long will a brand new battery last if kept charged, but unused? Does the clock start more or less when actually put in service? Or, do they "moss over"?
From what I have experienced over the years where the battery is located in the vehicle has a lot to do with it's life. I just looked at the battery in my OT daily driver for the first time since I owned the car a couple of weeks ago as it is under the back seat. The date tag on the battery reads 2006 and it looks and works like new. That's in a car with every electric accessory on the list. It's the same brand I have used for the past 30 years but usually I only get about 4 years out of one in one of my other rigs and less than that in the 48 with the battery under the floor. That leads me to believe that it isn't always the battery but often it may be how we treat it that causes failure. Not kept dry, clean or away from heat Not securely tied down Allowed to sit for months at a time in cold weather. Lots of very short trips for a lot of the rods around. Or just the fire it up and let it idle in the driveway for three minutes thing that too many rodders do several times a week. the battery never gets fully charged back up and often the generator or alternator is charging hard when you are on those short trips.
I used an Optima Red Top in my Model A, which I purchased new in 2011. I pulled it out of the car every Fall and stored it in my basement over the Winter. I never had a problem with it. I will say Optimas will give you really strange readings if you hook a multi-meter to it. My Optima worked great up until this Spring. As I brought it up from the basement to the garage, Wife: "Does that thing have a charge, I don't think it's going to work." Me: Chuckling "Of course it's going to work" Me 10 minutes later "Shit" It was dead....and stayed dead. I got about 5 years out of it. So I replaced it with an Interstate because I didn't want another AGM style battery. I hear the Walmart cheapies are just as good as the Optimas and Interstates and I believe it. I sprung for the Interstate because they have an outstanding reputation.
Years ago when I worked in the heavy equipment business we sold a lot of batteries. We always stored them dry then filled them with acid when we needed them. For best life a critical first step was to fully charge the battery before putting it into use. That was the regular practice back in the day. Now it's too dangerous to have employees who can't even look up parts handle battery acid, so all batteries come to the store pre-filled. That's not the best way to store new batteries, but if you have fairly quick turnover of your stock you can get away with it I suppose. When you go buy a battery from your local AutozoneKragenPepBoys maybe you'll get a battery that was just recently dropped off by the battery guy, or maybe you'll get one that's been sitting on the shelf for awhile. You never know, you pays your money and you takes your chances. And none of them have been charged. Don't worry about it, your alternator will take care of that, right? Right..... Battery warranties are a joke, a scam. The battery manufacturers have it down pretty good how long each of their batteries will last. Some last a lot longer, some a lot shorter, but they have a pretty damn good idea about the average age at failure. The retailers then put a warranty on it that is just shy of the anticipated failure date. They'll sell you the battery when it's on sale, and they give you a warranty for x years. Then when the battery fails with another month or 2 left on the warranty you take it back to the store and tell them you want warranty coverage on it. No problem, they'll prorate the warranty, give you the 2 months prorated value off the full price of a new battery. They just got you. Sucker...
Yeah, I assume Walmart has a pretty good turnover rate for all their stock. Nothing gets shelf space if it doesn't move, and they keep tabs on all of it. I just replaced a Walmart battery in my ride. It came with the car, it was warranted for 1 year and it was 4 years old. It hadn't failed, yet, but it wasn't maintaining a full charge very well either, and occasionally I had to jump it. Just for peace of mind I swapped it out for a slightly larger battery with more reserve capacity. Longer warranty too! haha! Hey, it is a general gauge for how well the battery is constructed, I just don't intend to rely on the warranty saving me any money.
What I have come to realize, there's a reason a high quality battery costs $100 or $150 - it's because of all the "warranty" returns, which are factored right back into the retail cost of a battery, from folks who can't be bothered with charging or cleaning or replacing battery cables, defective alternators etc. From what I have read a 3 year and 7 year battery may be identical, the purchaser is simply buying the sticker, a longer warranty. The internal construction is the same. For all that over the years I have had good luck with batteries and for the most part of that never gave them any special attention. I've never tried to warranty one or pro rate it. When it died I bought another one. Agreed, alway buy fresh stock and charge it up at a slow rate overnight or 12 hours. New batteries are "hard" and take a couple dozen starts and recharges to reach their full capacity. Periodic equalization charging with an appropriately sized charger is a good thing. If you've ever monitored voltage and current while charging a typical automobile start battery using the typical "dumb" charger such as a Shumacher you'll see right away they had this stuff figured out a long time ago. The key is don't forget about it and leave it hooked up indefinitely, it will boil a battery dry in the summertime. In extreme cold - well below zero - they would be similar to float charge and could be connected indefinitely. The smart chargers aren't always so intelligent, the old dinasaur chargers have their uses still.
I have one of those yellow top autozone brand batteries and it stays hooked up in my old truck i run the truck once a week or sometimes once a month. Ive had the battery since 08 and it holds charge perfectly since the day it come off the shelf. Never had to charge it or jump it
Had an Auto Zone Duralast Plus battery that lasted nearly 12 years, which is twice as long as I recall any other battery I've had. I think it has more to do with maintaining a good charging system and driving long enough (I was driving a half hour twice each day to work and back), and keeping the car in a garage at night. Lead and sulfuric acid are pretty basic chemicals, so I'll bet battery life has less to do with composition than how it is treated.
the only optima that fell short of satisfying me was my 6volt optima. it died at 6 years. i like the idea of no acid issues and no leaks.
I was looking at Napa when I was battery shopping, anything in a 24 series was $90-120. Looked quick when I was in an Advance store, some on sale for around $95, so the going rate is a c-note for a regular type battery. Just shop around and catch a deal when they come up.
I got 5 years out of mine, a rarely driven 47 Ford street rod. Got 7 years out of the one in my '28. They would no longer take a charge even using the hi dollar specific AGM style charger.
The Jalopy Journal
