great battery comparison - do you need that Optima Red or Yellow top?

[toadster]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7rTcBanpMk

[RoadRacer]

The funny thing is that I bought a "temporary" second-hand battery from the local parts store to go-kart (if you didn't know, they always have a shelf of old batteries with remaining life that you can buy for cheap). I bought the biggest they had - Group 65, 750CCA, dated 2/20 - and expected it to fail quickly.. it's still going strong and still tests as very healthy. Given the Texas heat, I'm pretty impressed.

The best part.. it cost $42. So, yes, it's hard to justify $200 just for a pretty battery.

[Jeff Kleiner]

Optima….

I must resist posting :p

Jeff

[Alan_C]

Odyssey IMO, not cheap but the quality is still there unlike the Optimas.

[Ducky2009]

Optima - Not me. If you use the Breeze front battery box, compare the cold cranking amps (battery size 51) to other brands and you'll find the Optima batteries are a lower rating.

[Nigel Allen]

What is it with us fellas? We will whine and complain about the cost of a battery (which over here costs less than a tank of fuel) but will spend thousands on other shiny bits for a car without a second thought. No wonder our wives think we are nuts.

For the record I have a trunk mounted basic everyday battery. Replaced once in 10 years. The starter spins faster than a politicians advisor.

[chuckster]

I bought an optima yellow top from Amazon, died after 19 months. Neither optima or Amazon will honor the warranty. They both say the other is responsible.

[J R Jones]

The video illustrates good points specifically at the start. It is advantageous to establish the charge threshold prior to using (discharging) the battery. Initial use of the battery without an initial charge establishes a lower threshold. This is most important in the case of "fill electrolyte and charge" batteries as often experienced with motorcycle batteries.
I have found date codes on my battery purchases and they occasionally had a long shelf life. I always slow charge a new battery before use.

I had the misfortune of a motorcycle battery failure at a gas stop on an out of state trip. Shorted internally. A sympathetic passerby took me to the local WalMart where I bought a dry battery with electrolyte.
Back at the station I filled and installed the battery realizing it would have some power from the chemical reaction, but I did not want to load it with the starter before it was fully charged. The passerby also had jumpers which we used for the start and I let the alternator do the initial charge during the subsequent tank of fuel.
jim

[Tony_G]

I bought an optima yellow top from Amazon, died after 19 months. Neither optima or Amazon will honor the warranty. They both say the other is responsible.

That's not good to hear. I had been running the Durlast Gold. It finally shot craps. So I bought another one. It leaked battery acid out the caps on a track day. The old one never leaked. I returned it for the Optima Yellow. Hope it last. If not looks like the Diehard Gold AGM would be a good choice. Did you keep it on a tender? Curious if that might help...?

[RBachman]

Red or Yellow, either will work great as long as you pack a jump-box and jumper cables. That's the key to owning an Optima. LOL;)

[AC Bill]

I read gushy stories about the wonders of Optima battery's. I then read an equal number of sob stories, about how they failed to live up to expectations. I wouldn't waste my money on one.

I bought an off the shelf battery from my local auto parts store, ten plus years ago. Every year I trickle charge it a few times during winter storage, and a final charge in the spring when the roadster is back on the road again. It hasn't failed me yet. in spite of some cold winters.

[J R Jones]

These personal experiences are a paradox. It would be more understandable if one manufacturer was responsible for poor performance, but Johnson Controls makes many of those tested. So with expertise and success why would their high end product be sub-par? Just deceiving customers? Or customer use?
Periods of storage are not good for batteries, I heard once Optimas are not great for storage, although blue tops are for RVs. Not all battery chargers are great, cheap chargers are just that, guess what suffers?
Yuasa batteries for recreational vehicles are great, but they do not make car batteries.
jim

[rthomas98]

I have used both. I never had an Optima go bad on me, nor have had the local auto parts store version go bad either except at the expected interval. The reason I had an optima in the past was because where I was mounting the battery. The only advantage to the Optima is being able to mount it laying on its side because of it being a dry cell. If this is something that you don't need to do. Don't waste your money. You will never notice the difference between it and a normal battery in a standard vertical mounting location.

[progmgr1]

I just wanted to share my endorsement of the AGM (absorbent glass mat) battery construction. I bought an Odyssey battery for my Hot Rod back when I was still employed by Enersys (employee discount) and stored it on a shelf in my garage. I put it on a trickle charger and it was happy for several years waiting to be installed. Then "someone" managed to pull the battery off the shelf and allowed it to fall onto a concrete floor roughly 5' below. A terminal was broken off and the case split open, but not a drop of acid came out. While I don't expect that anyone else would be dumb enough to bounce their battery off the floor, I imagine that an AGM battery would not leak acid during a track day or (G-d forbid) an accident.

154603

Keith HR #894

[Big Blocker]

What Jeff said in post #3 . . . Optima
FWIW, mine has been in the car just shy of 19 years <-- that's NOT a typo.

Doc

[RJD]

What Jeff said in post #3 . . . Optima
FWIW, mine has been in the car just shy of 19 years <-- that's NOT a typo.

Doc

Care to share any special tips you do to make your battery last so long? Thank you.