I have a yellow optima in my truck and accidentally left the ignition switch open for three days...it completely died, jump started, ran for an hour and didn't hold a charge (GM-1 wire alternator) Hooked it up to my sock Fairmont (daily driver) and used it a couple of days and is now working good, I returned it to the truck. There is a lot of technical ignorance on this subject....it'd be interesting to know a little bit more.
i use optima red battery in my Falcon. its been a great battery. killed it a few times and it came back. i have a run of the mill battery charger, never heard of gel specific charger. sounds like a drain on the system of wiring problem.
You can add me to the "No Buy Optima Battery list", I have had a yellow and red die in my wifes hor rod truck, and my son has had two red die. We are done.
After reading everything I could find on the various batteries available I stepped up and bought two Odyssey 925's, hooked them in parallel, mounted them in the rear of the Woodie and ran 1/0 fine strand welding cable to ground and the starter solenoid. Hopefully I'll be a satisfied customer with years of trouble-free service. Ain't the cheapest batteries in the world but hopefully they'll justify the expense.
I'm probably going to be sorry for saying this, but I have a red optima in my 48 coupe. Its been in the car for four years, left in al winter with no trickle charge. Once when I left the switch on and it completely discharged, and because I didn't know any better I just put the old regular charger on it. No problems at all.
Guys you need to google "optima charging" and read some of the info. Things are not always what they seem. There are special charging methods required for these batteries . I run them , like them even if i have replaced a couple over the years. They hate a slow charge and it helps to join up another regular battery to them and charge at a high rate.....
You are correct sir, I've had one in my truck (red top ] since '07 with no problems. Optima web site has some good, quick little videos, and Wikipedia has some technical info as to battery types and construction-search on VRLA batteries.
I didn't think that Optima was a gel battery and Optima Jim has confirmed that. I purchased a red one several years ago when my local parts house was selling them. It lasted about 18 months. It was supposed to have a 36 month warranty but since it was used in a 4 wheel drive pickup, Optima said it was only a 1 year warranty. The parts store I purchased it from quit handling them because they had too many failures and problems getting warranty.
Never mounted one upside down but have laid them on their side with no problems.. and if I remember correctly they can be mounted in any position so should not be a problem....Heat from the exhaust pipe maybe?
I have had optima in my car nothing but problems! The bat was change four times all under warrenty. Got my money back last time and the new bat has been in there for two year no problems.
What I meant was the Dynabats don't seem to have specs anywhere like you posted for the Odyssey. I looked in several places and couldn't find anything. It seems like there should be specs on them somewhere.
I have a BIG problem with the newer optimas.. The first red top i ever bought (1994) is still in service. In a race car without a charging system , and it has been through hell. Including having a corner knocked off the case in an accident ! I have sold and installed maybe 100 or so red optimas since then. There are 5 of them in service in my fleet today, and they ALL were purchased prior to 06. EVERY red top that I have purchased since mid 06 has FAILED ! every one.....7 bad ones..I gave up ! I do not buy them any more. I have got the same run around as Von Rigg Fink from optima..The "lady" on the phone tech line was so rude and condescending that I will never do business with them again.. Told me in no uncertain terms that I did not know how to properly charge an optima, and "no sir, we are not having warantee problems". It must be your charger, etc... I called schumacher and had a long dialog with Mr. Schumacher himself. It seems that he had been getting a bunch of calls from customers with the same issue as me. Optima was telling everyone with problems that it was the charger, not the battery ! My point in this long rant is this.... The problems began when the production moved to mexico . Period. Dave
Yep Dave, same shit different person both of my less than optimal Optimas were post 06.. one was in a daily driven modern (97) vehicle the other was in a mild custom , driven 6 Mo. out of the year. they both failed within months of each other and were suppsed to be within the time line of warrenty(kept papers and the date stamp)..but they dicked me around for over 3 weeks, so guess what happend to the "warrenty"?..it was their procrasitination that cost me 2 junk batteries, and their attitude sucks ass. I bet no one in Mexico can even afford these POS batteries also side note..if you have a pre Mexico battery and a post Mexico battery..weigh them both..the ones from Mexico weigh less..because they have less of the good shit inside.(so im told i cant weigh mine because they are gone) you can almost tell just by picking them up VS picking up a good one from the good ol days. ok im done beating this horse, Love my conventional $60 dollar batteries, some of the ones i have , are out living these optimas by twice the life..you can do the Money math
My first optima lasted 8 years in the race car, the next 2 less than a year, 1 left, seems to be fine but I think the battery tender is its savior.Not buying anymore till the quality is back.
I've left my Optima in my Merc over the last 6 Minnesota winters (I know, not the best plan). Wouldn't take a charge. Brought it in the house and let it warm up and charge at the same time. Worked fine since 2004. It's trunk mounted too. It might be one of the older, US built ones.
Sounds like voltage checks out but when cranking (CCA) it probably drops below the necessary 9 or so volts. They may say it tests good as far as voltage is concerned, but when encountering an amp draw it's not sustaining volatage...at least that's my take on it. I've seen this with the big 8D and 4D AGM batteries we use on the 36 to 44 foot RV's we sell and recondition at work. Have it tested under a draw and have the CCA's confirmed before you take their word that the new battery is good to go.
Von Rigg Fink, I hope you don't let your blind stupid anger rule your life. Opitma Jim was clearly trying to assist with your problems. Your response was uncalled for & shows you are the type that prefers to bitch & moan rather than solve your problems & enjoy the ride. No matter what the they told you when you purchased the battery, you should have read the product information. Why on earth would you mount a battery upside down? What possible purpose could this serve? Were you trying to get the last bit of energy out of the battery? Next time buy the right length battery cable & mount the battery correctly. Heat kills batteries, all batteries regardless of manufacture. I am currently working in Iraq & have seen vehicles with perfectly good charging systems go through two batteries/year. When the outside air temp is consistently above 100, batteries fail. Mounting your battery near your exhaust pie may not be a problem unless you spend lots of time idling or going slow and don't get airflow to cool the battery. Electronic chargers will not charge a battery that is very low on charge. You might switch to an old style charger to get the charge up to where an electronic unit can handle it. And as OptimaJim stated, these are not gel batteries. Don't believe the kid working the counter as he can't find an oil filter to fit a SBC w/o a vin#. And chill out a bit, you are making this hobby seem like work. Later
go back and read MY posts dude..you aint even talking about me or what i said..Optima Jim was trying to solve Displaymans problem, not mine your lumping me in with the original thread poster., and the guy from optima....comprehension is required as part of this forum...I dont use Optimas, i use regular batteries..mounted the right way..i had an issue about the lies i and others have been told by optima , and the lack of follow thru on thier product.. Displayman is the OP.. not me..read from page 1 post 1..and than read on thru til the end and see if you get it than and no i dont let my blind stupid anger rule my day..but than again i dont like it when a company takes us for suckers either and i voice my opinion when i feel i should..you dont have to agree, and you dont have to read it either is this forum that hard to follow?..oh, i see.., you dont post much here next time you feel you need to be parental..let it go, or at least jump all over the right guy....lol have a nice day
I'm an electric lift truck tech. and deal with industrial batteries on a regular basis. I've had all kinds of problems with sealed cell batteries, on average they last approx. 18 months but need to be discharged to about 20% before being charged. In situations when proper charging hasn't been getting done they last about 6 months. So I'm thinking that the fact they are hooked up to an alt. is causing the short life span on them. I'm a firm believer that traditional lead acid batteries are the best and most reliable way to go as I have seen alot of premature failures and charging problems with the sealed cell type batteries.
I've never run an Optima, but I've had good luck with the Odyssey. I ran a little 680 in the storage compartment behind the front seats of an OT 2-seater for quite awhile with nothing but good things to say. That model doesn't have huge cold-cranking amps, but for my application it worked fine. For a big V8 you would want to move up to a bigger one, although they are still small for the CCA's you get.
AAA does not do a load test, they use a Midtronics tester that does a capacitance test which is pretty much the industry accepted procedure now-a days. I've done both tests on the same battery and for my money...I think a real "resistance" load test isn't necessary.
Hi Von Rigg Fink, I'm sorry to hear you were given incorrect information regarding either how to charge or mount our batteries. You raise valid questions about underhood and exhaust temperatures. I didn't know the answer, so I went out and measured my truck. As a '92 Chevy, it is relatively-new, compared to most of the vehicles talked about here, but it does have headers and dual exhaust. I drove it over to my kid's school, which took about 20 minutes of mostly city driving, so I didn't go over 60 mph. When I got there, the headers had a maximum temperature of 281 degrees at the point closest to my battery, the radiator had a maximum temperature of 147 degrees at the point closest to my battery and my exhaust pipes had a maximum temperature of 228 degrees behind the back tire (the air temperature here was 36 degrees) The battery itself measured a maximum of 80 degrees at the points closest to the radiator and headers. I also measured the closest distance between the battery and the headers (12 inches) and radiator (six inches). Most of the batteries I see in engine compartments, even in older cars, are tucked in the corners of the compartments, either up on the firewall or up front by the grille. While I'm sure there are some cars that have batteries within 2-3 inches of the exhaust manifolds, that can lead to problems for any battery as engines get hot. The next OEM installation of a battery I see that is installed upside down and straddling exhaust pipes will be the first. If you have pictures, please share. I don't know how close Bob's battery was mounted in relation to his exhaust pipes, but I would expect a battery box would give him some measure of insulation. Whether it was enough insulation or far enough away from his exhaust pipes, I don't know. As for a situation where you cannot charge our battery like most lead-acid batteries, I would suggest avoiding using an amperage rate that exceeds 10 amps. <!-- Im not aware that any battery mfr (flooded or AGM) recommends more than 10 amps. Not saying no one does, I just dont know -->While most chargers have settings of 10 amps or less, some shop chargers have settings as high as 200 amps<!-- The 200 amp setting is generally marked as a jump start mode, and wouldnt be healthy/ideal for a battery for any length of time -->. Once an AGM battery (or any other sealed battery) is overcharged to the point where it vents, the lost electrolyte cannot be replaced. There is a lot of very useful charging information that is supposed to be included with every battery we sell. I say supposed to be included, because I will acknowledge that when you are dealing with millions of batteries sold, it is impossible to expect that every battery sold will still have the owner's guide. For that reason, we also print our website and toll-free number (888-8OPTIMA) on every battery we sell, where that same information can also be found. Ddawg16, plumpcars, djust, Fopelaez, 61falcon, 48FordFanatic, GMC BUBBA, flatoutflyin, seesko, I'm glad to hear you have all had good experiences with your Optimas. Bosco1956, I will certainly shoot you a PM. Paintcan54, deleware1930 and Bigdaddyhemi, I'm sorry to hear about the problems you all had with our batteries. I understand your dissatisfaction with our product, but I would still be interested in hearing more about the circumstances surrounding your issues. GMC BUBBA, I can see where some folks would see the parallel charging technique as a special method, but the truth is that would probably work on just about any other deeply-discharged battery and is only needed when using a charger that won't recognize deeply-discharged batteries. As for the rate of charge, our batteries do just fine on any amperage up to 10 amps, but I would reiterate that we do not recommend exceeding 10 amps. Engine man, I'm sorry to hear about the problem you had with your RedTop. The fact that you had it installed in a 4x4 pickup should not have impacted your warranty. However, those batteries are not designed or warrantied for deep-cycle applications, including vehicles with winches. I wish I would've heard about your situation, as I would've liked to have been of more assistance to you. Sheep Dip, you are correct in that our batteries can be mounted in any position except upside down. Dave, I'm sorry to hear about your problems with our batteries and I apologize for the way you were treated by the person you spoke to on the phone. The truth of it is, many of the bad batteries returned to us now are just deeply-discharged and work fine, when properly-recharged. My truck is running on a dead YellowTop that was returned to us from a guy in New York, who discharged it to 7 volts. Deeply-discharged batteries became enough of a warranty issue for us, that we created the YouTube video on parallel charging that I previously posted and Optima sent me out to the message boards to help spread the word. As I mentioned before, other companies dealt with this by simply adding language in their warranties that excludes many of these deeply-discharged batteries, based on their voltage level. As for the quality of the batteries from our Monterrey facility, they simply are the best we have ever made. While the quality of the batteries produced in our Colorado facility was excellent, the degree of automation in our current production process has resulted in even more consistency and reliability. We still still use 99.99% pure lead in all of our batteries and we still use the same quality standards that were in place in Colorado. You can view a video of our production facility here. All four of the Optimas I own were produced after 2006, I don't do anything special to them and I haven't had any problems. However, the closest I come to abusing mine is leaving the oldest one fullly-charged and disconnected during the winter months. As for the question about the weight of our batteries, that has already been brought up before and just as I measured my temperatures for this thread, I weighed my battery for another and the results indicated our newer batteries do not weigh less than our older batteries. speedyb, I'm sorry to hear you've had mixed results with our batteries, but if your vehicle doesn't see regular use, it sounds like regular use of your battery tender is a good idea. No55mad, I assume you meant to type Costco? <!-- There are Costco stores in some regions that do carry OPTIMA, and some that dont. Every Costco does not carry the exactly the same items. -->They do still sell our batteries and while we would prefer that all of our retail partners stock our entire product line at all locations, availability may vary from one location to the next, based on seasonal demands, sales history and other factors (people in the desert don't buy a lot of marine batteries, etc...). I do appreciate everyone's feedback, both good and bad. I understand that folks can get upset and I appreciate the fact that even when they do, they keep things relatively-civil. If anyone has any questions about our batteries, I'll do my best to answer them. Jim McIlvaine eCare Manager, OPTIMA Batteries, Inc. www.facebook.com/optimabatteries
Wonderful thing about a Capacitance Tester like the new Midtronics testers (a $1400 piece) is the fact that they have to have a full charge to even run the test. On the german junk I work on each service requires a printout of the battery test. If below 12.4V it just tells you to charge. So it requires you to properly charge the battery before it will pass or condemn it. This saves companies money on warranty, but it leads to annoyed techs turning in test slips clearly saying "charge" on them. For a tech, time is money. Sometimes when working roadside assistance I find myself running a load test on a battery, using the starter, to make sure my customers are't going to have a problem a few miles down the road. Why? Because I don't always have time to wait until the battery charges to and maintains a 12.5+ V charge. Without that all mighty Midtronics slip that says "replace battery" I cannot warranty that battery. And even those $275 Mercedes VRLA batteries do not last if they're being drained all the time. Unlike the rods you're working on an S class will commonly have a drain of 125mA when all control modules are asleep. Not driven often or kept on a charger they EAT batteries. Vipers, of the Dodge type, also eat batteries. Why?????!!!!! Never did figure that one out, but they eat batteries in a couple weeks if not kept on a charger or driven. I'm not defending Optima, I have 2 good, and one bad Optima and have been very happy with the red top that has lasted 6 years. The Yellow top in the Jeep is only a year and a half old. However, had I had the issues that you guys have I would be buying into another brand. I even had my old man switch his F350 over to Optima's as he had been through 6 pair of batteries in 2 years the last two pair being Motorcraft. The root of the problem was a control module remaining on. But it was months of running the Optima's way down in charge and having to jump the truck and let it charge with the alternator to recover (not the best option really, but he works the truck hard). Why did the Optima's hold up to the deep cycling and harsh recoveries when the Motorcraft wouldn't...??? My point to all of this is simple. Try to properly maintain ANY battery that you have, they will last longer. Take a bit of time ensuring that you have no drains on them and that your cables aren't putting any excessive pressure on the terminals. But be advised. From a money making stand point. Companies do not want their products outlasting their warranties by much. Mercedes only recommends the transmission fluid and filters be changed ONE time at 39k miles. I have had people argue with me that you only change it that one time and the next fluid will last the life of the car (WTF ever). They need that consistent failure to ensure repeat sales and money flow. Just like the old light bulbs from the 20's and 30's that you can find (rarely but still) that work. How could they make money if everything lasted 10 or more years? Have fun out there guys.
The Jalopy Journal
