Peteyg, it's not funny at all that battery threads keep popping up on a lot of different forums. Now is the time of year when folks start taking their summer vehicles and boats out of storage and find their batteries are dead. Unfortunately, many of them stored their vehicles for the winter with a partially-discharged battery and gave no thought to maintaining it over the winter. Some may have thought enough to at least disconnect the battery from their vehicle, but those who take the time to check voltage before storing their battery and maintain it properly through the winter months are definitely in the minority and every battery company in the world has years of sales data to back that up.
cal, while I understand individual experiences can vary, the quality of our batteries has always been excellent and is better now than it has ever been. Glenn B's experience of finding a fair amount of good Optimas returned under warranty, as well as the attitude of several others in this thread, who prefer to simply return a battery for a warranty exchange with no questions asked speaks to the issues that all battery manufacturers face. The issue of good, but discharged batteries being returned under warranty has been costly enough for some companies, that some will now void the warranty on their batteries, if they are found to be discharged below a minimum voltage level, which is a legitimate concern for anyone who runs a battery in a demanding application. We didn't do that with our warranty, but we have been very pro-active in trying to inform our customers about how they can recover these batteries on their own.
ZAX DAD, our RedTops will measure about 12.6-12.8 volts fully-charged, while our YellowTops will measure about 13.0-13.2 volts fully-charged. I'm not sure I understand what you posted about each of our cells having approximately 12 volts when charged, as that is simply not the case with any battery that I know of. As techno1154 and Shorty indicated, if each battery cell has about 2.1 volts, then I don't know how it is possible for a battery with five or fewer functional cells to measure 11.9 volts. While batteries that measure between 10 and 11 volts may have lost a cell, batteries with voltages outside of that range are often just deeply-discharged (and some within that range as well).
88_cherokee, please PM me the name and location of the retailer that does not want to perform warranty service on our batteries.
RWKHausSupply, what kind of draw are you dealing with in your XJ? With the accessories you mentioned- parker pumper, race radio, trans fan, radiator fan, lights, etc... you would probably be better-served by a battery designed for deep-cycle use, like our YellowTop.
GrimmJeeper, any battery that has been deeply-discharged, Optima or otherwise, may not take a charge from a traditional battery charger, as many chargers will not deliver current to batteries that have voltage below a minimum threshold (usually around 10.5 volts). That is why some other companies have opted to void the warranty on their batteries, if they are deeply-discharged. Newer chargers, like your AGM charger, will deliver current to these batteries and successfully recover them. In addition to the vibration resistance you mentioned, our batteries are designed to last up to twice as long as traditional flooded batteries. That doesn't mean they are the best choice for every application, especially if someone can't get more than a few years out of a battery, no what kind they buy. In those cases, buying the cheapest battery with the longest warranty and most-liberal return policy might be a better choice.
Jim McIlvaine
eCare Manager, OPTIMA Batteries, Inc.
www.twitter.com/optimabatteries
