I dunno how I missed this thread!
A friend of mine has got an ancient (I'd guess mid 90s) Yellow Top in his 67 Olds Delta 88 rag top with an Olds 425 in it. The car is never driven in the winter, ever, so it literally only gets driven for 4 months of the year, and maybe only a couple weekends during that time. I know for a fact that he does zero maintenance on that battery while it is connected to the car all winter in cold storage. Despite that it still starts the car every spring.
I had discharged it pretty much almost to dead once when it died on the side of the road a year or so back. I boosted it with my truck after we finally found the problem and repaired it, then drove it back to my place (hour long drive or so). The car wouldn't start when he went to leave, so I tossed one of my lead acid batteries in for him and sent him on his way. I came online and found Optima's instructions for bringing the thing back to life. Low and behold, that battery bounced right back! Load testing showed it actually slightly above the advertised CCA rating.
Put that battery back in his car and it is still good!
That said, we've got a set of Mastercraft (Canadian Tire brand, similar to Wal Mart) spiral cell batteries in my Father's truck and they are absolute garbage. I've had them changed under warantee 3 times now and the latest set are already shot after just a few months. I've tried Optima's instructions to try and bring them back, but they just won't do it. The worst of it is that Dad actually does use a battery maintainer as the truck isn't driven very frequently, and it is kept stored in a heated garage whenever it isn't used. I've checked the truck for unusual current draw when it is all powered down and only found about 30mA of draw, so it isn't something in the truck killing the batteries either.
I imagine we'll be putting the wet cell batteries from my Tahoe into his truck, and I am thinking I'd like to put a set of yellow top batteries in their place. I like to use my Tahoe for camping and such, which regularly sees me running an inverter all night to charge accessories etc and don't want to be left dead out in the bush somewhere. That, and the fact that they don't spill acid out if you get yourself into a hairy situation is a nice touch!
A friend of mine has got an ancient (I'd guess mid 90s) Yellow Top in his 67 Olds Delta 88 rag top with an Olds 425 in it. The car is never driven in the winter, ever, so it literally only gets driven for 4 months of the year, and maybe only a couple weekends during that time. I know for a fact that he does zero maintenance on that battery while it is connected to the car all winter in cold storage. Despite that it still starts the car every spring.
I had discharged it pretty much almost to dead once when it died on the side of the road a year or so back. I boosted it with my truck after we finally found the problem and repaired it, then drove it back to my place (hour long drive or so). The car wouldn't start when he went to leave, so I tossed one of my lead acid batteries in for him and sent him on his way. I came online and found Optima's instructions for bringing the thing back to life. Low and behold, that battery bounced right back! Load testing showed it actually slightly above the advertised CCA rating.
Put that battery back in his car and it is still good!
That said, we've got a set of Mastercraft (Canadian Tire brand, similar to Wal Mart) spiral cell batteries in my Father's truck and they are absolute garbage. I've had them changed under warantee 3 times now and the latest set are already shot after just a few months. I've tried Optima's instructions to try and bring them back, but they just won't do it. The worst of it is that Dad actually does use a battery maintainer as the truck isn't driven very frequently, and it is kept stored in a heated garage whenever it isn't used. I've checked the truck for unusual current draw when it is all powered down and only found about 30mA of draw, so it isn't something in the truck killing the batteries either.
I imagine we'll be putting the wet cell batteries from my Tahoe into his truck, and I am thinking I'd like to put a set of yellow top batteries in their place. I like to use my Tahoe for camping and such, which regularly sees me running an inverter all night to charge accessories etc and don't want to be left dead out in the bush somewhere. That, and the fact that they don't spill acid out if you get yourself into a hairy situation is a nice touch!
