Optima Battery?

[WANG]

Optimas are great. I've used and abused them in some pretty extreme environments without disappointment.
The only Exide that I have ever had (OE on a BMW motorcycle) is also the only battery that has ever left me stranded on the interstate. Internal failure straight shut my machine down with zero warning.

 

[hattaresguy]

I'm not really impressed with Optima batteries. My buddy put one in his truck around the same time I had to change mine. I used an $85 Interstate he used a $200 Optima which I thought was a lot.

4 years later the Optima is long dead and my $85 dollar Interstate still seems just fine.

IMHO the only batteries I have seen last a very long time are OE Ford batteries, 7-9 years, OE Toyota batteries around 7, and OE Mercedes I have seen 10-12 out of a couple of them in friends cars. The OE white Mercedes batteries before they went to AGM were made in Spain, heavy (lots of lead) and durable.

 

[dailydriver]

Originally Posted By: Chris142
Theres no love for the optima batteries on the jeep forums. Then when someone posts about a optima failure "optima jim" posts that the jeep has a problem and not the battery. The optima gets replaced with another brand and the jeep lives a happy life. My optima is about 3 yrs old and seems to be cranking my jeep slowly.the exide orbital i had before the optima lasted 90 months.


Yes, he ('OJ') comes on LS1tech as well for every Optima thread.

My first U.S. built Red Top lasted almost 8 years before I replaced it with a Mexican built, JCI owned, Red Top (the first RT might have gone longer, but it was NEVER machine charged once in it's life, and was deep discharged MANY times, so I wanted to be safe for that winter and replaced it).

The south of the border made RT lasted 4 years without ever being deep discharged, but also was never machine charged once, and when I tried recently it would not take a charge, even with the 'parallel method' of hooking it up to the charger through another battery with more than 12.6 volts, as recommended by Optima.
It was DONE.
So I went out and got a bigger, higher AH, CCA, and reserve capacity Die Hard Platinum, which IS an EnerSys Odessey AGM in a different color case, with Die Hard stickers instead of Odyssey ones.
After coupons, the Sears store matching their OWN internet price, and a discount card from the Sears Rewards Club, it was under $200.00 for one of the best car batteries in the world, and for which the Odyssey labelled version costs over $300.00 retail.

THIS one I am going to take care of, and I just ordered an Odyssey charger for it which is made for this battery with special, pre-programmed charging algorithms that will NEVER 'cook' this battery, and always bring it up to 12.7 volts SAFELY.

 

[dailydriver]

Originally Posted By: dernp
My understanding is that it was made by Johnson Controls.


Yes, EXCLUSIVELY at their plant in MEXICO.

 

[Lyman]

I work on a military base. I just put in a request to have 56 Optima batteries picked up by HAZMAT. They are all dead as can be. The oldest is 2009. Our mechanic tested them all trying to find a few that we could use in our yard. None were worth even trying to save. I will never run one again. Years ago they were great batteries. I have been running an AZ Platinum in my truck with good results. The last AZ battery I had lasted 7 years.

 

[ARB1977]

Had a red top, lasted three years. Diehard platinum currently going on 6 years.

 

[SteveSRT8]

Originally Posted By: Keith_Stone
What kind of service life are you guys getting out of the Optima battery? I'm now at 4yrs.
I noticed today at AZ the Optima's and the new AZ Platinum's(Deka??) are around $200. Boy, battery prices have shot up.


I had 3 and quit buying them due to poor service life.

I have heard they are all better now, but I take a while...

 

[MinamiKotaro]

No one in my family has ever had a battery die. We just replace them after 8-10 years because they'll probably go bad soon.

 

[HTSS_TR]

Originally Posted By: Blkstanger
I work on a military base. I just put in a request to have 56 Optima batteries picked up by HAZMAT. They are all dead as can be. The oldest is 2009. Our mechanic tested them all trying to find a few that we could use in our yard. None were worth even trying to save. I will never run one again. Years ago they were great batteries. I have been running an AZ Platinum in my truck with good results. The last AZ battery I had lasted 7 years.

Agreed.

 

[Keith_Stone]

Originally Posted By: dailydriver
Originally Posted By: dernp
My understanding is that it was made by Johnson Controls.


Yes, EXCLUSIVELY at their plant in MEXICO.


I looked all over my red top. Only says Johnson Controls, didn't see any origin of manufacture. Fingers crossed.

 

[Keith_Stone]

Originally Posted By: Keith_Stone
Originally Posted By: dailydriver
Originally Posted By: dernp
My understanding is that it was made by Johnson Controls.


Yes, EXCLUSIVELY at their plant in MEXICO.


I looked all over my red top. Only says Johnson Controls, didn't see any origin of manufacture. Fingers crossed.

Looked again today, Made in mexico. Chit

 

[OptimaJim]

Hi Chris142, I don't know if your summary of my activity on Jeep forums is entirely accurate. I do my best to help folks on forums who are having issues. Sometimes it is the battery, sometimes it is something else. One of the biggest challenges I have is explaining to off-road guys that RedTops are starting batteries, not designed or warrantied for deep-cycle use. That's not always a popular message, especially if a guy only bought the RedTop because it matched the color of his vehicle. I believe the last time you and I chatted, it was regarding charger settings, correct?

wirelessF, your RedTops should measure about 12.6-12.8 volts when fully-charged and your YellowTop should measure about 13.0-13.2 volts. While those numbers can decrease with age (as indicated by the lower CCA on your 10-year old RedTop), if they are resting at 12.4, it might be worthwhile to cycle them down to about 11.5 volts a few times and then charge them back up at a 10-amp rate.

dailydriver, didn't you have the car that would start up and run for about 25 seconds before slowly dying out? I thought you posted you were going to get a new alternator, in addition to a new battery and charger. Did you get you ever get your situation sorted out?

Blkstanger, please PM (or post here if you'd like) the name of your base, as our military sales group would like to follow up with your base on the issues they've been having.

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

 

[Cujet]

I've given up on "Optima" batteries. It seems that some last, some do not, and that the real world performance and lifespan is not different from other high quality lead/acid batteries. Certainly the price/performance ratio is not favorable.

For a while, we were using them exclusively. Both yellow and red. They really do cost double what a quality battery costs.

FWIW, we regularly perform "capacity checks" on batteries on our aviation equipment and GSE. One thing has become clear. Quality Lead/Acid batteries of any type, will likely exceed the AH ratings when new, will meet the AH ratings at 1 year, will fall slightly short of the AH ratings at 2 years and by the third year, fall significantly short. UNLESS, the manufacturer has really sandbagged the ratings (cough, cough, Concorde SLA's)

What people fail to understand is that an old Lead/Acid battery won't and cannot perform as well as when it was new. That 7 year old automotive battery may still start the vehicle just fine. However, it's at well less than half of it's new capacity. Most likely at 15% or so!

I'm not interested in speculation. I'm interested in facts. A 44 AH Concorde will make better than 55AH when new, at the 20 hour rate. It will make around 48 AH after 1 year and about 40-44AH after 2 years. After 3 years, it's down the "Lead/Acid graveyard spiral" and it's just a guess. But, I've seen them fail miserably, with well less than 50% it's original strength.

The Optima seems no different.

 

[dailydriver]

Originally Posted By: OptimaJim
dailydriver, didn't you have the car that would start up and run for about 25 seconds before slowly dying out? I thought you posted you were going to get a new alternator, in addition to a new battery and charger. Did you get you ever get your situation sorted out?


It was the 15 year old, 165K mile original factory fuel pump, BUT, my south of the border built, 4 year old Red Top was tested at 11.4 volts, and would NOT come back AT ALL, EVEN with the parallel 'support battery' charging method.
It just started the car, but it would NOT last through this winter.

PLEASE, PLEASE try to convince your JCI bean counters/CEOs/etc. to bring OPTIMA manufacturing BACK to the states, with the higher quality materials which were used BEFORE JCI took over (they can use that plant for one of their lower line, flooded lead acid products).
MANY more would buy your product, even at a slightly higher price point, if this were the case, and they lasted like the originals did.

 

[OptimaJim]

I'm glad to hear you tracked down the source of your issue. As always, I'm happy to forward your request to see our production facility relocated. The quality of the materials we use and the products we manufacture has always been excellent and the batteries we are producing today are the best we have ever made.

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