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Optima batteries, 4/10/18...battery status update

David, I'm glad to hear your batteries are doing well for you. Keep in mind, whenever your battery gets discharged below 12.4 volts and sits in that state, it starts to sulfate, which diminishes both capacity and lifespan. I'm glad it's on a tender now.

70jimmy, if you pull your battery from your vehicle and fully-charge it (~12.6-12.8V for RedTops and ~13.0-13.2V for YellowTops) and leave it disconnected from your vehicle, it should hold close to it's maximum voltage for 12-24 hours afterwards. If it can't do that when it is disconnected, the battery needs to be replaced. If you find it only drops voltage when connected, there may still be something drawing it down in your vehicle.

eagle mark, where does your son work that has brand-new batteries that are three years old?

Jim McIlvaine
eCare Manager, OPTIMA Batteries
www.pinterest.com/optimabatteries
 
OptimaJim said:
eagle mark, where does your son work that has brand-new batteries that are three years old?

Jim McIlvaine
eCare Manager, OPTIMA Batteries
www.pinterest.com/optimabatteries
Click to expand...
O'reillys! Seems it just got pushed back instead of rotating inventory. They checked all the batteries when this happened and a few others were not rotated properly when re-stocking. He knew better and purposly grabbed the batt in back... :doah: all others in front were new and in order.
 
Merry Christmas!! Hope that doesn't offend anyone. Anyways went to fire up my trucks as they haven't been started in awhile. Red top was deader than dead(3.4 v) flipped the switch for the reserve battery(blue top) and she came to life. Blue top hasn't been connected to anything or charged since the last wheeling trip(September). I am really impressed as the regular wallyworld batteries in my duramax had trouble even though I have started that a week ago.
 
Jess,

I'm sorry to hear about the problem you had with your RedTop. 3.4 volts is deeply-discharged, but you may be able to recover it. Fully-charged, it should measure about 12.6-12.8 volts. I trust that battery is properly-isolated from your BlueTop, as all dissimilar batteries in the same application should be. If you have trouble recovering your RedTop, please let me know. It might also be a good idea to top off the batteries in your Duramax to at least 12.6, if your truck seemed to have a sluggish start and doesn't get used on a regular basis.

Jim McIlvaine
eCare Manager, OPTIMA Batteries
www.pinterest.com/optimabatteries
 
OptimaJim said:
Jess,

I'm sorry to hear about the problem you had with your RedTop. 3.4 volts is deeply-discharged, but you may be able to recover it. Fully-charged, it should measure about 12.6-12.8 volts. I trust that battery is properly-isolated from your BlueTop, as all dissimilar batteries in the same application should be. If you have trouble recovering your RedTop, please let me know. It might also be a good idea to top off the batteries in your Duramax to at least 12.6, if your truck seemed to have a sluggish start and doesn't get used on a regular basis.

Jim McIlvaine
eCare Manager, OPTIMA Batteries
www.pinterest.com/optimabatteries
Click to expand...


Yes jim its on a isolator. Both Trucks don't get driven much at all. The Red top may come back if not no biggie as its a few years old, and I'll keep it on the battery tender if needed.
 
76zimmer said:
_______________________________________

update 5/22/12

today I checked my Redtop DD battery...12.83

the yellow top in the Maiden was 13.2 has been sitting with the battery switch off for about 3 mo.
Click to expand...

__________________________________________

Update 4/25/13

Redtop in the DD 99-2500...hasn't been driven in a week (driving BART) battery shows 12.3 the phone charger is plugged into the cig lighter (with a small power light on it) other than that stock GM stuff.

Yellowtop for the Maiden is sitting in the Maiden, not hooked up to anything and shows 13.4, hasn't had a charge in months.

My 76 CC has an unknown battery in it, and was on a maint charger all winter and showed 12.6...I have no idea how old it is.[/quote]


___________________________________________

12-19 Update on my Optimas:

Redtop in the 99-2500...hasn't been driven in a month (driving the Rav4 now) showed 12.0...put a battery tender on it for the winter...its sitting outside all winter

Yellowtop in the Maiden is showing 13.2 and hasn't been on a charger, battery disconnect switch is off, but the FAST EZ EFI is hooked directly to the battery still...this was put on a battery tender as well.[/quote]

3/26/14 update:

Redtop in the 99-2500 4 years old now...after sitting outside all winter with a Battery Tender on it, it fired right up...no surprise there, the BT did its job.
drove the truck daily for about a week, let it sit for about a week doing nothing but sit outside, voltage is 12.3...not quite what it used to be, but it starts the truck without fail still.

Yellow top in the Maiden, not quite 4 years old, sitting in the heated shop all winter, without a charger on it, I've been keeping tabs on it about once/month...it show 13.1 consistently...the electrical disconnect switch has been off.
 
I've had a yellow top and a red top.... Both 5-6 years old and still going. However, the price of new ones seem to trickle upward. Hopefully the quality hasn't gone downward....
 
Another Optima bites the dust! :dunno:

The starting battery in my boat, probably about 3 years old. It's on a duel isolated system and stays charged year round.

Put it on the charger last night at 10 amps. It had 10.45v and in the morning would not go over 11.15v and was very hot. Drove it over to Oriely's so they could test it for me and it failed. By the time I got home it was already bleeding down volts. I'm going to run it over to the battery store where they have one of those load testers and get it check. I'm sure they are going to tell me the same thing they told me about my two yellow tops that failed. It's got a bad cell.

Thanks Optima, again.

bluetop.jpg
 
that sucks Tim, but I'm diggin the avatar!!!!

 
I get hypnotized by that avatar every time I see it!...:eek1::D

And...I doubt I'll ever buy an Optima after reading this thread,and many other ones on other forums expressing dissapointment with them..
 
Accessories, we all need and love them, but I'm under the impression they can run batteries down!!

Innuendo, it's deep in that one!
 
Don't mean to hijack, but have any of you guys ran an Odyssey battery? They're kind of pricey, but I've heard nothing but good things about them (thought Optima was the best until I started reading about the problems with recent year batteries from them).

I didn't read through all 50+ pages of this thread, so this might have been brought up already.
 
76zimmer said:
_______________________________________

update 5/22/12

today I checked my Redtop DD battery...12.83

the yellow top in the Maiden was 13.2 has been sitting with the battery switch off for about 3 mo.
Click to expand...

__________________________________________

Update 4/25/13

Redtop in the DD 99-2500...hasn't been driven in a week (driving BART) battery shows 12.3 the phone charger is plugged into the cig lighter (with a small power light on it) other than that stock GM stuff.

Yellowtop for the Maiden is sitting in the Maiden, not hooked up to anything and shows 13.4, hasn't had a charge in months.

My 76 CC has an unknown battery in it, and was on a maint charger all winter and showed 12.6...I have no idea how old it is.[/quote]


___________________________________________

12-19 Update on my Optimas:

Redtop in the 99-2500...hasn't been driven in a month (driving the Rav4 now) showed 12.0...put a battery tender on it for the winter...its sitting outside all winter

Yellowtop in the Maiden is showing 13.2 and hasn't been on a charger, battery disconnect switch is off, but the FAST EZ EFI is hooked directly to the battery still...this was put on a battery tender as well.[/quote]

76zimmer said:
__________________________________________

Update 4/25/13

Redtop in the DD 99-2500...hasn't been driven in a week (driving BART) battery shows 12.3 the phone charger is plugged into the cig lighter (with a small power light on it) other than that stock GM stuff.

Yellowtop for the Maiden is sitting in the Maiden, not hooked up to anything and shows 13.4, hasn't had a charge in months.

My 76 CC has an unknown battery in it, and was on a maint charger all winter and showed 12.6...I have no idea how old it is.
Click to expand...


___________________________________________

12-19 Update on my Optimas:

Redtop in the 99-2500...hasn't been driven in a month (driving the Rav4 now) showed 12.0...put a battery tender on it for the winter...its sitting outside all winter

Yellowtop in the Maiden is showing 13.2 and hasn't been on a charger, battery disconnect switch is off, but the FAST EZ EFI is hooked directly to the battery still...this was put on a battery tender as well.[/quote]

3/26/14 update:

Redtop in the 99-2500 4 years old now...after sitting outside all winter with a Battery Tender on it, it fired right up...no surprise there, the BT did its job.
drove the truck daily for about a week, let it sit for about a week doing nothing but sit outside, voltage is 12.3...not quite what it used to be, but it starts the truck without fail still.

Yellow top in the Maiden, not quite 4 years old, sitting in the heated shop all winter, without a charger on it, I've been keeping tabs on it about once/month...it show 13.1 consistently...the electrical disconnect switch has been off.[/quote]

Nov. 03.2014
Redtop is still in the 99 p/u....it gets used very little when I got the ole 76 CC doing duty...it has sat outside all summer/fall without a charger on it, and after sitting about 2 weeks without use, it measured 12.4. Still starts the truck without fail.

The Yellowtop is still in the Maiden and continues to sit for weeks or months at a time, usually with a tender on it in the shop, however it has been sitting in the garage for weeks at a time without any attention and measures 13.2 on a warmer day for November!
 
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