Optima battery??..

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j par

j par

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I'm wondering if it's worth the money? I really like the idea of a group 34 red top. One that I would hope if I ran out of gas I could crank the car all the way home LOL...
My O'Reilly's battery has lasted at least five years now and is seemingly working fine. Although if I have a situation where I have to crank it more than 30 seconds it starts to die off kind of quickly.
Anybody and everybodys thoughts and opinions would be appreciated. I have a moroso battery box in the trunk so I'm kind of limited....
And years ago when I put the battery in the trunk I had a full length battery cable made so it's got what it needs...
Thank you...
 
Have used them for years, I like them for what I use them for. They are more expensive but I think they are worth the extra. I have only one that failed, it sat too long between starts and it failed after several years.
 
They are nice, seem to last 2X of a conventional battery. they require a special charger setting. IIRC I had to charge one with a smart charger (no Optima style setting) by hooking up a standard batter in parallel so the charger would 'sense' the battery condition. make sense?
 
pishta said:
They are nice, seem to last 2X of a conventional battery. they require a special charger setting. IIRC I had to charge one with a smart charger (no Optima style setting) by hooking up a standard batter in parallel so the charger would 'sense' the battery condition. make sense?
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I wonder if it would give some kind of different reading on my voltmeter in the car? You know like when the fans come on it starts bubbling down from 14 to 12 and stuff like that?...
 
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This is what I have now..
 
I think they are bad-*** enough to not drop voltage when fans kick in. Are these turning on without alternator input?
 
I use them, glass mat battery is definitely the way to go. You can use a regular charger on them as long as it’s not over 3 amps. Takes longer to charge but they can recover better than a flooded lead acid battery
 
Never liked them. When I worked the parts counter, they were constantly causing trouble.

Never charge one with anything but a trickel. Never, ever Jumpstart a dead optima - the high current from the battery WILL explode it.

There are those that swear by them, and they probably mostly work. But I've seen too many blow up, burn down, fail to charge (brand freaking new, even) or cause tons of drama with other electrical devices.

I'd spend for a quality agm first unless I needed something which can be installed in a semi enclosed spacer or on its side. Even then it would live on a tender to avoid a low bolt condition.
 
I've been running the red tops for years, the battery in my bracket car is 4 years old. I only use the Optima charger & it works great.
 
pishta said:
I think they are bad-*** enough to not drop voltage when fans kick in. Are these turning on without alternator input?
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I don't think so... The alternator is working.. I think it's like a 64 amp or something?... It's just a cheap parts store alternator... I've looked at upgrading the alternator as well but really when you get into the 80 and 100 amp alternators they seem not so great at low RPMs anyways..
 
I think I've only had to charge my battery one time and that was my fault leaving something on or leaving the kill switch on. buying this battery I was never thinking of having to recharge it or anything like that I thought it was the ultimate battery or something...
 
I wouldn't listen to me if I were you, but if I was I'd add a second battery and an isolator.

When one battery starts to act up, swap them and replace the more worn one when convenient.

Standard batteries got stupid expensive about 10 years ago, so I'm not sure if a two battery setup would be cheaper or not (no clue how optolimas are anymore either) but it would definitely be more flexible and I like flexible.
 
Phreakish said:
I wouldn't listen to me if I were you, but if I was I'd add a second battery and an isolator.

When one battery starts to act up, swap them and replace the more worn one when convenient.

Standard batteries got stupid expensive about 10 years ago, so I'm not sure if a two battery setup would be cheaper or not (no clue how optolimas are anymore either) but it would definitely be more flexible and I like flexible.
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Lol.. not listen to you? I'm definitely not looking for two batteries. Just a very good one...
 
An Optima will still discharge if you leave a key on. The reserve time is better than conventional batteries, but not by more than a factor of 2 (less actually, I think).
So it might last 1.5 times as long when your forget the key on.. Then it will burn up if you jump it. Or you'll be stuck charging with a trickle charger for a day before you can use it again.

As far as a good battery - the best place to go used to be the local interstate dealer. Are they still around?
 
I use 'em to stop the darn acid from eating me out of house and home. I am willing to pay more for that feature alone. Otherwise, seem like any other battery is my personal experience.
 
I have optima’s I all of my cars, I think I have 5 of them? The one in my Challenger is over ten years old. I trickle charge that one with a motorcycle charger that has charging functions for regular and lithium ion batteries (what I have in my motorcycles). Never had any issues with it.

I had one go bad in my wife’s Tacoma, it still lasted a couple years but started to get weak. The replacement optima has outlasted it already. They’re not perfect but I’ve had much better luck with them then anything else I’ve run.
 
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Go to the local junkyard and pick out something that looks OK and fits. May pay 20 bucks. If it fails Oh well your not out 150 and buy a new one and use it as a core which is over 20 at Advance Auto. RECYCLE. Also batteries seem to last much longer
when mounted in the trunk.
 
DARTGAME said:
I use them, glass mat battery is definitely the way to go. You can use a regular charger on them as long as it’s not over 3 amps. Takes longer to charge but they can recover better than a flooded lead acid battery
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I have been using a 2 amp trickle charger on my agm battery , only when it sets a long time in the winter months, altho I drive it year round (some) when the weather permits , and I `m not too busy.
Going on about 5-6 yrs now, sealed batteries are great for trunk install. .
 
Phreakish said:
An Optima will still discharge if you leave a key on. The reserve time is better than conventional batteries, but not by more than a factor of 2 (less actually, I think).
So it might last 1.5 times as long when your forget the key on.. Then it will burn up if you jump it. Or you'll be stuck charging with a trickle charger for a day before you can use it again.

As far as a good battery - the best place to go used to be the local interstate dealer. Are they still around?
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A mech. buddie of mine used to handle interstate batteries, I tried a couple of them just because he sold them. He quit handleing them because they were too much trouble, I never got over about 3 yrs. out of any of them..........
 
Kind of liking the idea of the yellow top?
Deal cycling.. something to take up the slack when the alternator can't keep up..
 
j par.
Battery in trunk means you should use some sort of 'sealed' and probably a gel cell or AGM battery unless there is a dedicated box and vent to outside.
Optima is just one of many manufacturers of such batteries.

It's unlikely the car's equipment will draw down the battery like one would do when trolling on electric power in a boat. Your ammeter will clue you in to whether this is the case. No ammeter? Then assume for now that's not the case because you've said nothing about trouble starting or eating batteries. I know for drag racing some people will purposely run on battery only. So there, maybe. Otherwise, a battery for starting is the important thing.

Joey4speed said:
Anybody running the AGM in the Mopar style case?
They recommend charging on 10 or 12 amps only, every two months during storage.
Seems to have really held a charge (over 12v) on the shelf for entire winter.
1965-1974 Plymouth Barracuda Parts | MD2467 | 1965-74 Mopar A/B/E-Body AGM Goup 24 Maintenance Free Battery - w/ Yellow Caps | Classic Industries
View attachment 1715549620
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What we are reading on Classic's website has a big red flag that its marketing BS written by someone who has no idea.
AGM is a battery made with liquid acid in an Absorbant Glass Mat
Gel-Cell is, well, an acid in gel form.

As far as the instructions go, its a little hard to know quite what they mean.
It says charge the battery to maintain 12.84 Volts. That's different than charging at 12.84 Volts.
Recommending a charger that is rated for 10 or 12 amps is not really informative.
To reverse the chemical reaction that occurs during discharge, its neccessary to connect to a power source at a slightly higher voltage than the battery.
To force 10 or 12 amps when a battery is close to fully charged will require supplying power at a high voltage. Perhaps they mean an automatic charger that is capable of 10 to 12 amps, but will reduce as the battery charge increases.

All car batteries that we use should be around 12.8 Volts when fully charged and in good condition.

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Cranking Battery vs. Deep Cycle Marine Battery
Wayback Machine see especially sec 7.1.8 for deep cycle vs starting, and 7.1.7 for gel cell
 
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