Optima batteries.. experiences?

[Simon]

hey all,

looking at upgrading the battery in my daily and the 2 in my rx to something decent.

anyone here use or have used optima batteries before?


pros? cons?

[Alt_F4]

Good batteries if sized right, but pricey.

Not really a worthwhile investment if located in the engine bay, just get a normal 'sealed' battery and be done with it.

[Mariuszfc20b]

I use them on all my cars. there great.. started the vl up yesterday after 6months and it fired first go BANG! was quite surprised

[Simon]

in my daily yeah itl be in the engine bay,

i use two 12v batts in parallel mounted in the boot on my rx

looking at buying 3, anyone know a supplier?

[Sciflyer]

smaller and more grunt than your typical Exide/Century/whatever

My Redtop was half the weight of the truck battery it replaced and still outperforms it

[sethor]

I have one of the Red top Optima's, never missed a beat. have had it for nearly 3 years after the stock one shat itself after a year. Don't bother with Odysseys, had one in my old car it was useless turned to shit after one year. I tried to source some though a battery supplier recently for a customer of mine, but they have stopped selling them as they kept coming back for warranty.

[Alt_F4]

looking at buying 3, anyone know a supplier?
Battery King in Belmont has them on hand

[AMPERAGE]

Malz Auto have them on hand as well.

I've had a yellowtop for a while. I replaced an ACDelco with it and noticed immediately that the engine fires faster and high-load accessories like the power windows and sunroof open faster and smoother.

The only issues are that they aren't any lighter than OEM and the cost. My yellowtop was ~$450 IIRC.

They're proven to be pretty tough too:

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y218/AMPERAGE/Untitled-1.jpg

[[RX2]]

i had a yellow top in my rx8 , nothing but drama's ,(was in it when i bought the car but the battery was only 12months old) went flat all the time & car woundnt start etc etc , put a acdelco sealed maintenance free battery in it & never had a problem

could of been i had a dud tho ? its still sitting at home

[Bakerboy]

i got my yellowtop from battryworld have had it for about 2years and not 1 problem so far apparently they can hold there charge for over a year

[NoOg_sTaR]

I had my yellow top for 3 years now, I love it. It is on the heavy side but charge/crank is no problem.

As a reference my car used to dip via stereo to 13.4v and idle at 14.3v with the old Century battery. After I fitted the yellow top dips are at the 14.1v mark and idle is at 14.5v.

[DTM-031]

i've got a redtop in mine, love it. pricey but definitely worth it. car sits for months at a time and never has a issue starting

just remember, red top is for high cranking power, yellow top is deep cycle

[Simon]

i bought 3 deep cycle D35 yellow tops today at lunch.

got them for $270ea from store out in jandakot called "goodchild".........

(family porn related maybe)

there a wholesaler and i got trade rates for quantity.

very happy, cheers for the info!

[indecline]

hot italian looking chic with glasses still working there?

[Simon]

nah not that i saw, a decent little aussie/asian chic there tho. id hit it

[syther]

we deal with "goodchild" alot , if you ring them up and get teh asian bird then hang up right away and call back in 5. she tends to get 8/10 orders wrong. never had a problem with any of they others there

[Saf]

FWIW, I have not used them over the long term, what ever you guys do , forget oddesey. Biggest fail ever.

Im using a China battery right now that is amazing, Full River. I run them in my cars, and jet ski's, they are a sealed lead acid valve reg battery, are light, small (come in std sizing of gel type batteries) and very very reasonably priced for how good they are.

[Mistikal]

Had a Red-Top in the VT, worked an absolute treat until the moment it died without any warning.

[joshg123]

Im not convinced on them, mine is fine but pretty new, but ive seen customers ones and others fail within warranty periods.

From what ive seen, not all their cracked up to be. Would stick with a lighter chinese battery FTW, amaron, exta batteries, challenge batteries (all same factory so im told).

[kirbo]

Power Absorbed batterys are housed in my cars. Made of win for a reasonable price. But looks like you got a great deal on the yellows anyway Simon.

[colt75]

also on the look out for a new battery.

bought a deka motorbike battery for my 180sx, was pretty good and tiny.
was rated at like 300cca, but when tested actually had 660cca.
while my car was off the road for 6months the battery died completely.
was charged once and left to drain again.
and now it wont hold charge at all.

so will be looking into these optimas tomorrow

[syther]

optimas are used in the army because you can shoot it with a shotgun slug and the batteries will run with one or two cells down . That's why the army uses them. well something like that. when they try and sell you the battery you usually get the big talk on them

[Saf]

Im so building a bulletproof case for my China battery.

[Jiblet]

what does shooting a battery have to do with it's performance? i'm also lookin fora battery too...

[colt75]

i guess a battery that can still be used after being shot, was something the military required.
as in it still works its still performing its job.

how do people find battery worlds prices?

think i might just go with another deka battery as im pretty tight on cash atm

[Alt_F4]

Realistically, once the car has started, the battery serves no real purpose other than a big capacitor... the alternator should be looking after the cars 'performance'.
Don't get me wrong, they're great batteries, but unless your mounting them sideways or using them for aeronautical use, you're not going to notice the difference over a run of the mill sealed battery.

I'm quite happy with china brand batteries, as lead is lead, and acid is acid.
If they're shit, you'll usually get a free one under warranty anyway.

ps. Battery World generally don't know shit, and are usually more expensive than most places.

[R3N]

jimbo... go see liu at battery king in ascot, he's pretty good on prices

[colt75]

cheers mate.

ascot is a bit of a mish but if its better pricing vs battery world, should be worth the travel.

anyone else recommend any other decently priced stores?

[wrxrw]

had good success with several yellow tops. at one stage running parallel 34's and this proved very potent. it all went well until a failing to keep healthy float in one destroyed it after only 2 years as it was running with a rather average 925 odyssey due to engine bay size restraints. since then i have taken the leap into 31A territory and if the ctek is as good as it claims, i should have years worth of service from them.

31's vs a "baby" 34

http://i288.photobucket.com/albums/ll170/wrxrw/F6F/DSC00236.jpg

31's in a neat cubby hole behind the seats

http://i288.photobucket.com/albums/ll170/wrxrw/F6F/DSC00243.jpg

[Tocchi]

forget oddesey. Biggest fail ever.

gay! didnt want to know that :p
whats their flaws?

[Joe]

AC Delco lead-calcium battery ftw.

[esky]

whats the difference between red and yellow top?

[kiasu]

i've got a redtop in mine, love it. pricey but definitely worth it. car sits for months at a time and never has a issue starting

just remember, red top is for high cranking power, yellow top is deep cycle

this

[colt75]

just got my self a new deka from battery king. ($189, battery world wanted 250)

hes also has got yellowtops and redtops in stock.

i rang around a few different places and battery king was by far the best price.

[RELEASE]

i have had for now over a year a Yellow Top Optima D34 running my stereo setup in my car and no issues at all *touch wood*

cheapest place i have found to buy them from is here
http://www.batteriesdirect.com.au/shop/product/4357/d34.html
thats the link to the D34 and has free freight!

mate just had one come in couple weeks back for his battery relocation and stereo install.