I have only had one battery and it is in my 1978 ford truck. i am very happy with it. this truck gets started and driven about once every six months. the battery has held up fine. the truck starts in dead of winter after setting for months,I have never had to jump start it. I am not going to bash optima,other batteries died or had to be jump started every time i wanted to use the truck under the same circumstances as the optima. maybe I am just one of the lucky ones that got a good battery,who knows?
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Optima batterys suck
- Thread starter Stumpalump
- Start date
ejemily
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- greenwood sc
ive got a 91 xj and i run a red top optima in it, never had a problem.
Sounds to me like it is best to have an old optima. Like someone else stated they seemed to have less problems before Optima was bought out/sold. Quality went to crap. Personally, I am a cheap bastard and buy wally mart and rural king batteries. If I can get 2-3 years out of a $35-40 battery, so be it.
- Location
- on the beach in Ocean View, VA
[quote
I picked up an Exide Orbital at Kragen. It looks like the same bloody thing as an optima to me.[/quote]
It should-- J.C.I. owns Exide as well!
I picked up an Exide Orbital at Kragen. It looks like the same bloody thing as an optima to me.[/quote]
It should-- J.C.I. owns Exide as well!
I've worked AZ and O'Reilly - yes, the AZ Optimas sit for a long time, the Wallyworld shoppers there won't spring for $180, it's a $45 market. At O'Reilly we were told to "Never Test Optima's" on the regular computerized hot charger - put them on a 2A trickle for a couple of days, then load check them with the manual load tester. Funny, only one was bad - it was 6 years old.
So stories about running them on a 10A or more charger sounds like somebody shot themselves in the foot. And running a deep cycle battery for a cranking battery doesn't sound too good either. And running an Optima deep cycle battery in a Jeep with no winch - huh?
I see lots of misapplication and a desire to spend bucks for something that's cool - not a properly selected battery choice. Now, if I had an electric winch and planned on being stuck underwater or upside down, an Optima, Odyssey, or other sealed battery would be a good choice. Maybe I could get out of the jam. Looks like lots of folks do well with them - properly selected and used.
But really, 4 pages deep, what we see here is how to abuse an Optima through bad selection and maintenance. A course in Battery 101 is sorely needed.
A dead flat battery with 500 CCA, at 10 amps/hour, takes 50 hours to properly charge. Not overnight. And an Optima, at 2 amps/hour, a lot longer. Hence the battery float chargers success. And sitting unused for months at a time with no charger? And then hot charge it quick for the weekend? :banghead: :confused1 :rattle:
Soembody's setting themselves up for failure.
So stories about running them on a 10A or more charger sounds like somebody shot themselves in the foot. And running a deep cycle battery for a cranking battery doesn't sound too good either. And running an Optima deep cycle battery in a Jeep with no winch - huh?
I see lots of misapplication and a desire to spend bucks for something that's cool - not a properly selected battery choice. Now, if I had an electric winch and planned on being stuck underwater or upside down, an Optima, Odyssey, or other sealed battery would be a good choice. Maybe I could get out of the jam. Looks like lots of folks do well with them - properly selected and used.
But really, 4 pages deep, what we see here is how to abuse an Optima through bad selection and maintenance. A course in Battery 101 is sorely needed.
A dead flat battery with 500 CCA, at 10 amps/hour, takes 50 hours to properly charge. Not overnight. And an Optima, at 2 amps/hour, a lot longer. Hence the battery float chargers success. And sitting unused for months at a time with no charger? And then hot charge it quick for the weekend? :banghead: :confused1 :rattle:
Soembody's setting themselves up for failure.
Begster
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Cape Cod/Boston, Mass
Thanks for bringing up this thread thats months old to complain about everyone in it.
No problem - but it showed on the first screen in Mods Tech to me. Hmmm. Must have been a senior moment.
I'm not complaining about the folks who use and maintain a battery correctly, or at least get away with whatever they do.
I'm simply trying to combat ignorance with knowledge, the purpose of the forum. If some don't understand what they are doing is counterproductive - and yes, even that was addressed by another poster, well, that's on them. My point is to fill in the future purchaser that maybe things aren't what they seem after all the griping is sorted out.
Once the last teenager moves, out, I'll mellow. I guess I'm stuck in Dad mode reading some of the posts in this thread.
I'm not complaining about the folks who use and maintain a battery correctly, or at least get away with whatever they do.
I'm simply trying to combat ignorance with knowledge, the purpose of the forum. If some don't understand what they are doing is counterproductive - and yes, even that was addressed by another poster, well, that's on them. My point is to fill in the future purchaser that maybe things aren't what they seem after all the griping is sorted out.
Once the last teenager moves, out, I'll mellow. I guess I'm stuck in Dad mode reading some of the posts in this thread.
