I have had the same Optima battery in my autocross Spider for the last 8 years. I park the car in early November, and start it in mid March of the next year. No battery tender, but I have used a disconnect for the last few years. The car always starts.

You may want to do a further search on the BB for batteries. I have read recently about some Optimas either failing or leaking.

 

I have had the same Optima battery in my autocross Spider for the last 8 years. I park the car in early November, and start it in mid March of the next year. No battery tender, but I have used a disconnect for the last few years. The car always starts.

Wow - I wouldn't have believed that (I mean, without a tender). But you're in Kentucky, what's the lowest temperature you see 60

 

And like any other battery, you don't want to let it freeze.
Possibly something to consider if just leaving it in situe during a NY winter.

 

Don't those "dry" batteries require special "Tenders?"

 

Interesting thread--I will soon have to get a battery for the Sprint.

 

I have experience using odyssey batteries in my boat (4.3 gm V6) and my motorcycle 1985 yamaha fj1200. I have had nothing but good experiences with both. The motorcycle unfortunately only gets started and run every couple of months and idles for 10- 15 min with an occaisional run up and down the street , no tender and starts every time. I have left the boat with out a tender or disconect over the winter for the last several years and it always holds a charge except for one year we did not use it in the summer due to low lake levels so it sat for about a year without being started and i think I needed to jump it then and still have the same battery in now. I have not needed to replace the Alfas battery yet it has an interstate in now from the PO but I will be putting in an odessey when it needs to be replaced. My understanding is the optima are gel where the odessey is dry cell so neither should give you issues with acid leaking. I have never used any special tender, none at all, and when recharging the boat battery just used my wal mart battery charger after jump starting it just to ensure it was fully charged back.

 

i know that the optima is a popular choice with members on here, but i also understand that if the car is not used for an extended period of time it would damage the battery

I don't think this is entirely true. Optimas are lead acid batteries, and they'll hold their charge as well as any other lead acid battery. If you've got a standard battery and it's working for you, then the Optima should be fine.

What I've been told is that the Optima Red Top doesn't particularly like being fully discharged and may have trouble recovering. With my old Red Top I accidentally drained it a couple of times and didn't have any problems, but YMMV.

If you're concerned, you might consider the Optima Yellow Top: this is the deep-cycle version. It trades a bit of cranking power for a better ability to handle deep discharge cycles.

All that being said, with any of these options if the car's going to sit for 4-5 weeks at a time you might as well get a quick disconnect terminal for the battery to completely disconnect it. No point in having a draw on the battery just to keep the radio and clock going.

 

If you're concerned, you might consider the Optima Yellow Top: this is the deep-cycle version. It trades a bit of cranking power for a better ability to handle deep discharge cycles.

Aren't those YT's used for Marine use. I thought they really weren't applicable to vehicle use unless you have a lot of power robbing accessories used when the car isn't running or if you're running lot of auxiliary lights and/or a super sound system with subs and big amplifiers. I also remember hearing a couple of years ago that quality went downhill on at least the Red Tops - but that's all hearsay.

 

No, the yellow top is for automotive deep cycle use. The blue top is marine.

 

Quality seems fine lately I guess, or ain't heered a lot of folks complaining :shrug:

For amusement though, if you get off on that kind of thing anyway, there's an old old thread around here someplace where JoeCab (I think) posted a pic of an engine bay after a red top barfed its guts all over the place for no apparent reason what so ever.

Apparently the gel is easier to clean up than outright liquid acid, and doesn't spray as far when it does blow. (if you're looking for an 'up side'...)

 

Since this thread is already started ...
My experience with Optima batteries is limited to just one ... it was procured 5 years ago at the town dump for a cost of: Zip. I used it one season in an ALFA and removed it for the idle winter season. Sometime later, the battery died in my 72 F-600 Ford truck fitted with a hydraulic crane - this only sees occasional use, maybe a half-dozen times per year. When I do use it; it must crank-over at least 20 times to replenish the fuel that has evaporated from the carb. I connected the Optima Yellow-Top in the Ford, used it, and left it there. It's worked flawlessly ever since. I have little doubt that its ready to power that truck today - no less than five years from its date of manufacture.
If I were about to buy another battery for an ALFA or anything else ... I would make it a yellow-top Optima.

 

I installed an Odyssey battery in my 69 GTV 3 years ago, the car is not driven much, I do keep the battery tender hooked up and so far I'm happy with this battery. I believe there is also at least 13 lbs. savings when you switch to the Odyssey battery.

 

Hello, I noticed your conversation regarding our batteries and wanted to offer some assistance. All of our batteries are of a Spiralcell, lead-acid AGM (not gel) design. There is a lot of good advice in this thread already, but if I could offer one key to long battery life, whether you’re using our batteries or anyone else’s, it would be to make sure the battery voltage does not drop below 12.4 volts. That is why battery tenders/maintainers are such good investments for vehicles that are not driven daily. The best units are microprocessor-controlled and feature AGM-specific settings, but most typical battery chargers will also work just fine on an Optima battery. This video offers some additional tips on proper battery storage-

The quality of our batteries has always been excellent, but we are always looking for ways to improve both our product and production process. Most of the “bad” batteries returned to us today are just deeply-discharged and work fine when properly recharged. This video explains how to recharge a deeply-discharged Optima-

The factory warranty on all new RedTops and YellowTops is three years, with no pro-ration. If you have any battery-related questions, I’ll do my best to answer them. I appreciate your interest in Optima batteries.

Jim McIlvaine
eCare Manager, OPTIMA Batteries, Inc.
Optima Batteries | Facebook

 

Thanks for stopping by Jim, nice to have some manufacturer direct info.

Just a quick question as long as you're here, becuase I'm so lazy I won't even watch a video to find out:

Spring 'top up' recharge after sitting by itself in a heated area on a board, 6 amp or 2 amp, or 6 followed by 2?
(I've never actually needed to, but knowing never hurts)

 

Just a quick question as long as you're here, becuase I'm so lazy I won't even watch a video to find out

Oh, c'mon Tifosi, watch the video! Sure, we could type out the answer and you could read it, but it won't take any longer to just listen to the narrator describe the secret. It's kind of clever, actually.

Spring 'top up' recharge after sitting by itself in a heated area on a board, 6 amp or 2 amp, or 6 followed by 2?

I too always store batteries on boards. The old mechanics' lore is that it's bad karma to let batteries sit on concrete. While I know that today's battery cases are made from materials that are impervious to everything, I still set them on a piece of wood. No sense in offending the "battery gods".

 

Ok, mabe two questions:

How did you stumble across us here anyway? LOL

 

Learnin' words for AGM/absorbed glass mat type batteries.

 

Hi Darren, thanks for the welcome. Although batteries should be stored in cool, dry places, they don’t need to be stored on top of boards. The best way to maintain a battery through the winter months is to keep it connected to a battery tender or maintainer. The alternative to that is to make sure the battery is fully-charged when it is put in storage and periodically checked to make sure it maintains at least 12.4 volts.

If a battery is deeply-discharged (below 10.5 volts), it may be necessary to charge it initially at 10 amps to help break up the sulfation that may have occurred. If that’s the case, you may want to watch the second video I posted, as it explains this recharging procedure in greater detail. If your battery just needs to be topped off before being re-installed in your vehicle, a 2 amp charge should work just fine.

I don’t know exactly how many different forums I’m registered on, but it’s probably in the neighborhood of 300 sites, covering just about every kind of car and truck out there, as well as RVs and boats of all kinds. I do enjoy watching the Alfas run at Road America, so I guess I have a soft spot for these cars. If you have any other battery-related questions, please don’t hesitate to ask.

Jim McIlvaine
eCare Manager, OPTIMA Batteries, Inc.
Optima Batteries | Facebook

 

@ Jim:

Thanks for coming back to answer.
Muchly appreciated.


@ Alfajay:

I saw the 10amp bit and such, (I watched both later just to say that I did), but as I'm limited to either 6 or 2 amps on my rather ancient and zero optioned charger it was kinda useless for my particular purposes and didn't actually provide the answer Jim did.

I've kinda wanted to know since the day I got the battery actually, as even the available documentation for DL doesn't cover things for savages like me who don't have chargers that do everything up to mocha latte', sock drying all with automatic timer control. (my timer is 'go look every 20 minutes, or send someone to do it for you')

Still gonna store on a board though and will pass that legacy on to every person in upcoming generations I can find who will listen

 

I think the reason to store a battery on a board is to insulate it from the usually cooler concrete. Stored on cooler concrete will keep the battery cooler promoting condensation. The battery will loose current through the moisture and discharge itself... not good for most batteries. There is usually a grain of truth in "wives tales" and such.

 

That and setting a battery down on a board is 'softer' than setting one on concrete, which in a conventional lead acid battery, can do wierd things to the plates that in turn effects the batterys function as a whole. (lotta folks think batteries are heavy, and set them down like they are: 'whew, it's good enough right here' *slam* )

I prefer to go with the 'vampire effect' myself where concrete literally sucks the life spirit out of them.

 

I've heard a lot of good about both Optima and Odyssey.

Since I sell (Battery Chargers) for a living I certainly do hear a lot of comments about NEW TECHNOLOGY batteries... both good and bad. To date most of the comments are by far better about new technology batteries than bad. The only negative I hear is that sometimes if you let them discharge too much they are very hard to get back. If this happens then use a small charger to get them back... don't try and push too much current into them too quickly.

I only have 3 of my cars on Optima's but all 3 have been in there over 5 years and the cars are on my chargers and are doing just fine. Voltage is around 12.8 - 12.6 and they are only about 10% sulphated... which isn't bad considering their age.

The solution to keeping batteries alive and fresh is just to take good care to make sure they don't discharge and if they are disconnected that would certainly help... of course if you put them on something that maintains them that's even better. If you take the car out to get things flowing and recharged remember to keep it running long enough to get the voltage up all the way. Undercharging a battery also promotes a shorter life... as does overcharging.

 

only about 10% sulphated

So how do you actually know if, and how much, things are sulfated then?
Is there like a tool or something as obviously opening up the battery to look is out of the question.


This is like a whole new learning curve to race around looking for a good line

 

Batteries are not that complex.

All we want to know is that the Sulfuric Acid H2SO4 stays in suspense and doesn't go or stay where it doesn't belong. To test for how sulphated a battery is all you need is a voltmeter... a small load... to get rid of surface voltage... and then a simple understanding that 90% of the battery capacity to conduct current is in the top 1 volt of the battery. So... if a great batter is 12.7 a very depleated battery is 11.7... every tenth of a volt can represent 10 percent of sulphation. So, if you charge up your battery and it is 11.7 with a small load then it's time to replace that puppy... or find a way of cleaning up the plates.

 

OK, that's easy enough to grasp.

Small load like low beam on an old headlight, or smaller yet, like an instrument bulb?

 

Running lights provides a small load.

20 watts is a couple of bulbs... but turning on the running lights would do just fine... not headlight or brake lights. Just leave them on for a minute or two and then check the voltage.

OK... sounds like a sales pitch.. but we built this feature into our charger. Without it our voltmeter would read incorrectly. I have talked to so many people who charge up there batteries then check them with a voltmeter to find that the voltage looks good... then they put the battery back the car and.. the car still has no current capacity... rurrrr ... rurrrr. rurrrr... silence. To get an accurate reading you have to have a little load. My thing is I don't like removing batteries so I want the know how good it is before I remove it. If I go through the task of removing it then I usually replace it. My method of testing doesn't require that the battery be removed to find out it's sulphation level. Now there are really cool tools that can tell you these things but they all require you to remove the battery to test it. Dirty work.... ick.

 

Cool, thanks for explaining.
It really is appreciated.

 

I was given a new battery charger by a fellow BB'er that has a disulfate function in it and also charges at 2, 10 and 25A if desired. As Geico guy's poster sez, "It's the Bee's Knees."