Optima Battery Questions

[spindlecone]

i have a red top. got it for $109 with a discount. i LOVE it!!! i had a slight voltage problem. turned out to be my battery. i replaced it and the voltage gauge does not even move now. even with everyhting on(all lights/heater on full blast,rear defroster..ect) and stoped in gear. and before it would drop some.

anyway the place that sold it to me gave me these "new" holders that snapped to the battery so it would work with the stock battery hold downs. works great. and its rock soild!

AK are you back?
At any rate shop the optimas, is a huge price diff

 

[96limitedX]

i have been back on this site sense early march.

 

[spindlecone]

i have been back on this site sense early march.

Thats cool, so how is Grandpa: Screwiffic doing

 

[davesexplorer]

wow some of those battery mounting thingy's scare me, aluminum still conducts electricity.

 

[Bwana Bob]

i have the yellowtop. i prolly couldve went the red though....i was intending on getting a winch but that fell through. ive had no problems at all with these batteries and probably will never go back to a CCA batt..

just an FYI, the different color tops represent

Red - baseline Optima (recommended for cars/light trucks)

Yellow - Starting Batt (recommended for HD trucks/intese audio/off road accesories I.e -winch, KC lights, on board air systems)

Blue - Deep Cycler (mostly used in boats and RV's)

i find that Advance and Auto Zone sell them a bit cheaper than anyone around here in MS. advance sells the red tops for 98.99 while sears sells them for 139.98

That's right. The red is an automotive starting battery. The blue is a marine battery that has engine starting ability plus good deep cycle characteristics, and the yellow is for deep cycle use with long duration loads that are not as big as a starter. I specified yellow tops for a military application because I know that even though we told the customer that they were for "backup" I knew that they would run the electronics all day without starting the engine to charge the backup batteries.

Less than $100 sounds like a great price, to me.

Bob

 

[aldive]

I decided to go with the Yellow Top 34/78. Installed it today. I used the Optima Wing Adapter for the installation.

 

[DCExplorer]

I was told the yellow (Auto) and blue (Marine) are the exact same battery except for the extra acc. post on the marine battery. I have a blue top in my boat ($139). I've seen blue tops put in 4x4s that use the acc. post for quick access to a 12V supply. I don't know about AGM batteries taking out alternators, but I do know you have to be careful when bench charging them. If you get out of the amp specs given by Optima you can destroy the battery. No high amp quick charges.

Aldive, I saw you left the handle on the battery. Did you know it will slide down and come off the battery. I keep my handle in my toolbox and only get it out if I need to move the battery. I think having the handle off just looks better.