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Avarage life of a Yellow top Optima

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1978Blazerk5

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Well what do you guys think it is. The one in my truck is going i think. I know my alternator is good cause once the truck is runnin shes puttin out 14 with most of the accesories on and its only 2 months old. So basicaly the battery is discharging quick, its been really hard to get the truck to even crank over, and she aint holdin a charge. Today I went and filled up the truck and couldnt get it started again, freezin cold and no one would help. So lucky after an hour a guy driving an 73' chevy truck stoped. anyway sounds like its going right? also i think the battery is 4 or 5 years old.

sorry for the noobish question just kinda bored and wanted to share my story, of how I got help from a fellow chevy owner.:D
 
My red top is over 6 years old and still powers my burb strong! I would definately check the cables, how old is your battery? I would take it to get tested?
 
nm4x4 said:
My red top is over 6 years old and still powers my burb strong! I would definately check the cables, how old is your battery? I would take it to get tested?
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I checked all everything all the connections are tight cables look new. I am guessing about 4 or 5 years old. I got it from my uncle and he had it in his burb for probaly 2 or 3 years before he sold it andhe gave it to me when i bought my K5 from him about 2 years ago. But the battery went from completly opposite weather. the truck was from california with a 110 degrre weather, last year i didnt drive the truck in the winter, this year i kinda am. So I think that has something to do with it.
 
I have a red top optima doing the same thing, everybody has told me to run it until its completly dead and then charge it. i tried it and it worked, dont know how long it will last now but Im still gonna use it. i also bought a parts truck the day with an old optima in the back of it, the guy said it wasnt any good, I drained it of a charge and then put it on a charger over night and its working fine now.
 
well I am going to go to the battery shop tommorow, have em' test it and if they say its good well i will have them put a good charge on it.


Also I was probaly gonna be doing a dual battery this spring. What i wanna know is there a way to have a 3 way switch where you can switch to what battey you wanna use and then where you can switch to both?



Thanks
 
1978Blazerk5 said:
...Also I was probaly gonna be doing a dual battery this spring. What i wanna know is there a way to have a 3 way switch where you can switch to what battey you wanna use and then where you can switch to both?
Thanks
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That's been covered on here a lot.









nevermind.
 
Last edited:
1978Blazerk5 said:
we

Also I was probaly gonna be doing a dual battery this spring. What i wanna know is there a way to have a 3 way switch where you can switch to what battey you wanna use and then where you can switch to both?



Thanks
Click to expand...


I believe there are MARINE switches/Isolators that can do this.

I am using a HELL ROARING dual batt setup. I run everything off my main battery and have my aux batt as a backup. I can flip a switch and combine the two for more power.
 
My grandpa just made an interesting point, he just reminded me i had a undersized alternator on there for almost 2 years. That probaly didnt help the battery any
 
Well I just got it tested up at the battery shop, Its going, she has a 3rd of the power it should, I cant get to hold a charge. Died right there at the battery shop. Got them to give me a jump drove home, put the new battery in. WOW what a difference, she has never started that nice before.
 
dual baterries, i would go w/ optimas deep trollling kit, 2 blue tops, i have a yellow top just about 6 yrs. old,(they didn't pull the yr and month sticker off, and i pulled the side sticker, that tells date off) and still fine, i have been told that optima has changed hands, and to increase profit, they said they quit using virgin lead in the batteries and qaulity suffered...
 
well the battery i put in is working 5 times better than the optima. and it is alot cheaper. But I still got the optima around i might use it as an auxilarly. Its been snowin all day and Ive towed a couple people out of ditches, made the money i spent on the battery back.:D
 
i had a red top that died it was in a jeep grand cherokee with a nice system drained it down twice and it lasted 6 months then wouldn't hold a charge i have heard that once a red top is drained down it ain't good but who knows, i have a deep cycle yellow top in my 77 k10 for running my hella 500's and a warn winch till i do a dual battery setup a yellow top is made to be run down and recharged on a regular bases the red top is not, its strictly a starting battery
 
1978Blazerk5 said:
well the battery i put in is working 5 times better than the optima. and it is alot cheaper. But I still got the optima around i might use it as an auxilarly. Its been snowin all day and Ive towed a couple people out of ditches, made the money i spent on the battery back.:D
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What battery did you put in??? :confused:
 
I got one from the battery shop.
My grandpas been going there for about 30 years and has never had a problem, hell ive been going there since before i got my drivers license.
 
batteries yellow top bad

actually for some reason all this year and part of last year the yellow tops and red top batts have been having major problems. my buddie that works at advance has been taking returns left and right he said. i dont know what that company has done but there messin up
 
I have an optima that got drained down completely and my expensive diehard automatic charger wouldn't charge it. The interstate guy picked it up and gave it back working again. He says he loves when people think their optimas are dead cause he can always get them to come back to life. I think the trick is really low amperage for a long time.
 
sandypants said:
actually for some reason all this year and part of last year the yellow tops and red top batts have been having major problems. my buddie that works at advance has been taking returns left and right he said. i dont know what that company has done but there messin up
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'06 and part of '07 were bad years for OPtima. I went thru a few RedTops and then I got a drawn on my system. sorted out the draw and both my red and yellow tops ahve been working great.
 
That's interesting. I might have to try that. I just had to buy a new Optima b/c my 25 month old yellow top was one month out of warranty. I'm VERY unimpressed with Optimas in the past few years. I have had 3 Yellow Tops crap out on me in 3 years (I run duals in my suburban, and a single in the K5). I tried charging my K5's yellow top and it wouldn't hold it. I wonder if I took it to my interstate guy here he could bring it back to life. Sucks I already bought a red top to replace it!!!! I've been running yellow tops since 1999, and in that time I have had 6 of them go to crap. You would think I would quit buying the damn things, huh?
 
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