What's new
CK5
Register an account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members.

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

Hmmm advance offered me a "used", as in it was installed and sold to the customer and he realized they sold him the wrong size 2 days later, redtop for $80. I think Im gonna go for it. Its nice and light and I wont need a battery box in the tool box of the truck...
 
70jimmy said:
Mine is still working fine. I do drive it a little more often now that I live in the hills. Usually once a every week or two.
Click to expand...
This one I bought 06/28/2013 so not old. KTM fixed the draws that killed my last couple batteries.


Well mine seems to have failed. Maybe the -24 temps helped kill it. I have charged it completely twice with the optima charger. When done it would start the vehicle fine but if it sat overnight no Bueno.

Today I charged it fully again and it started. Hooked up the volt meter and all tested well. However it was draining sitting there on the voltmeter. I disconnected the cables and it was still draining sitting there not hooked up to anything. Alternator tested fine.

So off to O'Reilly and they gave me a new one even though it tested good. They wanted me to bring it back when it was dead.:dunno: Uh if its dead I can't drive it down.

I will update again if I have any issues. Since it was free I figured I would give Optima one last shot.
 
My Zombie Optimas are still going fine truck sits months at a time in all sorts of weather and it ALWAYS fires right up
 
70jimmy said:
This one I bought 06/28/2013 so not old. KTM fixed the draws that killed my last couple batteries.


Well mine seems to have failed. Maybe the -24 temps helped kill it. I have charged it completely twice with the optima charger. When done it would start the vehicle fine but if it sat overnight no Bueno.

Today I charged it fully again and it started. Hooked up the volt meter and all tested well. However it was draining sitting there on the voltmeter. I disconnected the cables and it was still draining sitting there not hooked up to anything. Alternator tested fine.

So off to O'Reilly and they gave me a new one even though it tested good. They wanted me to bring it back when it was dead.:dunno: Uh if its dead I can't drive it down.

I will update again if I have any issues. Since it was free I figured I would give Optima one last shot.
Click to expand...

Well I may have jumped the gun. It was dead again yesterday, so time to check for a new draw. :doah:
 
I've heard lots of bad stuff about Optima in the last several years. It's interesting that the price of them seems to be going down, or at least when I was shopping I found them significantly cheaper than Odyssey/Die Hard Platinum. I went for the $$$ Die Hard platinums on my Jeep and K5 and so far so good.

My old Red Tops did last 15+ years though, although they were getting tired at the end.
 
Surprisingly my red top is right where I left it at 10.9 volts. Lol. Checked my bluetop and its fine at 12.8. Not to bad for sitting on a trailer for the last 4 months.
 
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![/QUOTE]
-—------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4/29/2016
99-K2500 with the red top:
After sitting all winter in a shed w a bettery tender on it, it has been in use in/off for about 6 weeks now and has sat for 5 days unattended and shows 12.4
The yellow top in the Maiden has sat all winter in the garage w a tender and shows 13.2
 
Batteries in Smokey are still plugging along ,I only use it every two or 3 months and then its usually to just move crap around the yard, or recovery jobs . They start the old 6.5 at any temp and have held up to some serious winching duty.

My other set from the D8 are still doing good in my plow truck, it gets used even less then The crew cab
 
I also should say that I have kinda become the Optim guy in these parts people give me " bad " optimas all the time , I use the charging procedure with my lttile schumacher charger and a known good battery and have about 90% success rate . The only ones I have not been able to bring back usually have shorted cells or have been so over charged they have distorted cases and litterally had the "gell" cooked out of them.

I have optimas in all of my vehicles now except for the 2012 ram ,which still has the factory batteries , which I will probally buy a new set for come fall time when I get the winch bumper on and the onboard air setup.


I understand that people have had bad luck with optimas , but I have to say my experience with them has impressed me , and I will continue to use them.
 
Mine also!
I do believe keeping a tender on them helps as well

In other news, the battery of unknown age that came out of the 76 CC, has been sitting on the concrete (oh no you can't do that....surely it will kill the battery!) tested it today and it's reading 12.8.....hasn't been used since November
 
I am sure a tender would help, but I have not ever used one on my trucks , If I ever start having issues with them holding a charge I will try a tender for sure.
 
76zimmer said:
In other news, the battery of unknown age that came out of the 76 CC, has been sitting on the concrete (oh no you can't do that....surely it will kill the battery!) tested it today and it's reading 12.8.....hasn't been used since November
Click to expand...

Hilarious! I still get a big kick out of it whenever somebody says you can't put a battery on the concrete floor.
 
I have the red top for primary and yellow top for secondary. Only had the red top for 4 months before it wouldn't hold a charge. Went to O'reillys and they swapped it out at no charge (no pun intended). Both are running great so far. We'll see further down the road.
 
this one crept up on me today:
My 1975 JD 214 lawn tractor has an Interstate battery in it, been working great for the 2 years I've had the tractor, and the battery shows to be 5+ years old by the month/year punches on the tag. I started it up and proceeded to pull out of the garage toward the lawn to start mowing, went about 10' and it completely died...like I pulled the batt cable off. no power anywhere, but battery showed 12.6 voltage, so I started removing and checking cable and wiring connections and figured it has to be the starter solenoid (remote mounted) so I replace that with a known good one from my other 1984-214 tractor and it don't do anything, after fumbling around on/off a couple days I decide to put the good battery out of the 84-214 into the 75-214 and it starts right up....hmmmm, so why is the 12.6 voltage Interstate battery not working?
 
The battery probably has a corroded internal connector between the cells or one of the posts,that will conduct voltage enough to give a meter reading,but wont let enough amperage pass through to power the starter...a load test is a better indicator of battery health..
 
Pretty much. It's not scientific but if you're putting it under that load and it drops below 12v or so while it's cranking it's not good.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest Posts

Top Bottom