Optima batteries junk now?

[waskly]

But then again, this was a 400-500 CCA battery - which is why I think a 600 would be more than enough (and I had my Explorer in Rochester, NY for 2 yrs).

ex's come with a 650 cca from the factory.

the 100 cca you are missing isnt much, it will never use the whole battery i think they are set to 75% of the battery in whats needed to start. at zero.

edit: you also had a good cca battery not a junk ca battery.

 

[ahodges]

I humbly disagree and say that I'm on the opposite end of the spectrum. I dont think it's all about CCA rating. I had a small battery on my Explorer with a 9,000 lb winch and it did just fine. This battery was for a Civic so it hovered around maybe 400 or 500 CCA. I think that, for most of drivers at least, the battery is really only used for cranking the engine - and that doesnt really take much CCA since our compression ratio is nowhere near a diesel (for example). Everything else depends on the alternator. What is more important I think, is the quality and composition of the battery (virgin lead plates, etc..). I wouldn't run a 400 CCA battery on a daily driven Explorer, but anything over 600 CCA is probably more than enough.

ok.. let me reword a little. As you said you don't need all that many CCA's when starting our explorer's. But, what the higher CCA's will get you is more power to your accesories with the engine off for longer with out killing it. If you use a battery that is weaker than stock or just flat out under rated for the application you can expect shorter over all battery life (in years).

 

[1Aauto]

I have an Optima yellow top in my Mustang. I pull it out in the winter and place it on a battery tender on a bench.Never had an issue with it at all. It works awesome.

Tony

 

[safn1949]

My 2000 battery got replaced last month,the truck sits at work for 2 weeks at a time in temps from 20 F to -35 F.I put as close to 1000 amps as I can get from.....Wal Mart for $77.

I have the same battery in my 94 and it sits even longer out in the cold and it's 3 years old,starts every time.I am putting a 1000W inverter in the 94 so a second battery that will be deep cycle might be in the future.And I see Sears has a deep cycle 1100 cca Diehard Platinum marine battery.

 

[OptimaJim]

Hello, I noticed your conversation and wanted to offer some assistance. There is quite a bit of information to cover, so I apologize in advance for running long. While we did eliminate pro-ration from our warranties, the free replacement period on our warranties has only been increased over the years. If any battery fails from a manufacturing defect, it is likely to do so well within the first year of use, if not the first month.

As ugexe suggested, many of the “bad” batteries returned to us now are just deeply-discharged and work fine, when properly-recharged. As Rick indicated, many battery chargers will not recognize or charge any battery that has been discharged below 10.5 volts. This is a charger issue and not unique to Optima. Some manufacturers have dealt with this issue by simply voiding the warranty on their batteries if they are deemed to be deeply-discharged. We decided a better alternative was to explain to folks how these batteries can be recharged, by using this parallel charging technique

Since toypaseo mentioned the “g” word, I should clarify that our batteries are AGM batteries and can be treated and charged just like a regular lead-acid battery under most circumstances. However, “gel” or “gel/AGM” charger settings should be avoided. All lead-acid batteries will sulfate if left in a deeply-discharged state below 12.4 volts. That makes a quality battery tender or maintainer an excellent investment for any vehicle or battery that only sees occasional use or has a high parasitic draw.

The quality of our batteries has always been excellent and has continued to improve, since we were acquired by JCI in 2000. We still use 99.99% pure lead in all of our batteries, which is fairly amongst AGM manufacturers and while I cannot speak for other manufacturers, we all strive for a zero defect rate. The degree of automation in our current production process has resulted in even more consistency and reliability in our products. You can watch a video on this process here.

Although we are owned by JCI, we produce all of our own batteries in our own facility and they are the only batteries produced there. We never re-brand or re-spec our batteries for anyone. Some retailers do have exclusive contracts with battery manufacturers, but other customers, including our military, source their batteries from multiple suppliers (including us) for a variety of reasons.

It is fairly common practice for all retailers to offer warranty service only on the products they sell. If you purchase an ipod at Sam's Club and take it to Best Buy for warranty service, they'll probably suggest you go back to Sam's. Batteries are no different in that regard and many of our retailer partners do have hundreds or even thousands of locations spread across the country.

Since many of you run winches, I should mention that RedTops are designed and warrantied for starting applications. If you are running a winch or other significant electrical accessories, we strongly recommend a YellowTop, which is designed and warrantied for deep-cycle use, including winching. Many people can get hung up on a battery's cold cranking amps and that is important if you live somewhere cold. However, reserve capacity and a deep-cycle design is far more important for batteries used in deep-cycle applications, as long as the cranking amps meet or exceed the OEM specs.

Nasty350LT1, I'm sorry to hear about the problems you had with your battery. What were the circumstances surrounding your issues? Was your Z28 a daily driver? Based on your screen name, is it safe to assume you did an LT1 swap in this vehicle?

Tbars4, Foxracin, LBarr2002, BrianDye, celly, Anime, rookieshooter, gmanpaint, Rick, RickOTR, and 1ATony, I'm glad to hear you are all pleased with your Optimas. We are always collecting Optima stories, so feel free to share your story with us. If anyone has any questions about our batteries, I'll do my best to answer them.

Jim McIlvaine
eCare Manager, OPTIMA Batteries, Inc.

 

[voodoofire1]

+1 to Jim for coming here and explaining things a bit..................I have 3 red tops, bought them all new, or I should say I bought all the originals new, as each has been replaced at least 3 times, all were "charged", tested and none would hold or in a couple cases not take the charge, I have one in my daily driver explorer, one in my 67 ford flamethrower, and one in my lawn mower.....all work very well if I use them regularly, but leave them sit for a few days and they're dead, I understand they can be brought back with a long low charge as I have had to do this many times, but lugging these around in and out of the shop or jumping them is sure getting old...... why do I even have to do this?........I've got an old crappy wet cell in my motorhome and it will start on it's own right now, and I haven't started it for a month.......but my hot rod...... that I like to start ( and listen to) on a regular basis.... no way....I need a jump box or a charge..... sure takes the fun out of a needed quick fix of rumbling power.......summer though is not quite as bad as they seem to hold a charge a couple days longer, but winter.... when I really need them...1 maybe 2 days max.......Why?
PS. there is no power drain on either the hot rod or lawn mower when not running...and both are stone cold dead.

 

[Tbars4]

...We now have an Optima battery thread that should cover buying, testing, and charging of the Optima Battery's..
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=304566

..It might answer some of your questions until Optima Jim chimes in...

..I would like to add over the past couple of years I have purchased RedTops and YellowTops for my trucks...The YellowTop I bought for my X was a new battery a year and a half before I bought it and had sat for a year before I got it...So far, the Optima's including that one have sat in the truck for up to 6 weeks at a time between starts and start right up with no problems and have lost no charge during the time they sat..

 

[Anime]

The quality of our batteries has always been excellent and has continued to improve, since we were acquired by JCI in 2000. We still use 99.99% pure lead in all of our batteries, which is fairly amongst AGM manufacturers and while I cannot speak for other manufacturers, we all strive for a zero defect rate. The degree of automation in our current production process has resulted in even more consistency and reliability in our products.

While it's great that Optima has people reading threads on forums on the internet, it's a shame that they're only talking heads spitting out canned responses.

Really, the point of this thread isn't that Optimas are great or wonderful or defect free. The point is that there are thousands of buyers who got burned buying an Optima and posted their experience on the internet after their battery failed and Optima didn't take care of it. The point is Johnson Controls closed the Optima Battery facility in Colorado and laid off all the workers to move production to Mexico for CHEAP LABOR.

It would be nice to see any representative of Optima directly address these issues in a public forum, rather than just pasting basically the same canned posts on automotive related forums throughout the internet. Really, it only makes Optima seem more desperate that they have to have people going around the internet doing this sort of thing rather than simply making a quality product so there aren't problems or negative posts about Optimas being junk now.

I was generally pleased with my Optima, but they did have problems, though I was still pleased because when the cels went bad in them, I was in Colorado at the time and able to get it replaced since it was a known issue. However, a cel going bad in two different batteries over a period of 2-3 years, and it happening so much that it's a non-issue of warranty replacement doesn't scream quality. And that was the USA-made ones.

I will stick with my USA-made-by-EnerSys DieHard Platinum. It's been stellar so far.

I will not buy an Optima unless they return production to the USA.
Hopefully after JCI no longer owns the company.

 

[Rick]

That's all fine and dandy... In the meantime I'll continue to enjoy my SEVEN Optima batteries. Optima isn't a sponsor, I bought all my batteries over the counter and didn't receive any discounts. My personal experience with seven batteries purchases over many years, has proven to ME that Optima is as good as they've always been.

RV - 2 Yellow Tops
Dart - 1 Yellow Top
Explorer - 2 Yellow Tops
Mach 1 - 1 Red Top
Trailer - 1 Yellow Top

 

[Anime]

ok...

 

[SoCalExplo]

Go With XS Power Batteries

 

[Fredness]

I will stick with my USA-made-by-EnerSys DieHard Platinum. It's been stellar so far.

- Yay.
Installed one yesterday, Group 65 (P-2) Platinum.
Had warranty issues with Optima (echoing what was repeatedly stated above) and decided to get the Platinum, after much research - and this post.
Thanks to all!

 

[mattadams]

I have run Optima's in most of my modified vehicles but with that said I was never terribly happy with them, but I could never proove if it was the battery or my other modifications. On my old truck I had a capaciter with a switch so I could actually have one battery out of the rotation and "jump" it to the other battery when needed, and I needed it fairly often... if I let the truck sit a week or two, I typically had a dead battery... whether it was the battery or other drains on the battery, that I could never proove...

 

[Rick]

Both our Mustang and Explorer will kill deplete batteries if not started regularly. Seems to happen much more quickly in our Fords than in the Dodge Ram.

 

[toypaseo]

Back to the top for more opinions.

Now that winter is closer, the Motorcraft battery that I have now is getting quite dated.

I can get a Red Top for $134.99 plus tax from a local Advance Auto, using the promo code VISA.

The promo code SP15 gets 15% off, with a $50 emailed coupon for a future online purchase.

 

[fifthranger]

I belong to other forums and have learned a little bit about batteries from replacing the OEM Motorcraft w/in the last year in both my wife's 07 Ford Edge and my 08 Ford Ranger. My family has always driven Ford's, and up until 6 months ago, never really had issues with car batteries going bad since pre-marriage and kid's have leased. So many factors go into batteries and the abuse they take day-to-day in various weather conditions and under different loads. I understand that Johnson Controls makes most car batteries, so a CarQuest, AutoZone, and other national chains theoretically sell the same battery -- just rebranded. People swear by brands, and quite frankly, bad batches (and/or how long they sat around) can make a big difference in overall quality. I believe it is a crap shoot no matter what. My dad swears by Sears Diehard, and Consumer Reports give it a Good or Decent Buy. The best was Advance house brand. I replaced the Ranger OEM with a Wal-Mart $89.99 two-year replacement one because I happened to be in the parking lot stranded after shopping when the vehicle wouldn't start. The Edge I replaced with a NTB ServiceCentral battery since I needed the vehicle tested and the terminals checked, and AutoZone had a hard time testing the battery with all the buildup on the terminals.
There is so much info. available online that I would do a google search and get a good one for the price, but I wouldn't sweat it either way. So much out-sourcing occurs today that I hold less and less faith in quality of anything. Some people also say that Consumer Reports is biased -- eventhough they do not take money or donations of products. They claim to buy all their products for tests that way they remain completely independent and focused on unbiased research.
Good luck either way.

 

[Anime]

The Motorcraft P-2 Platinum is still going strong, I haven't had the slightest issue, even after several projects which involved leaving the tailgate open for hours at a time with the dome lights staying on, and using a sub-par quality WPS China-made 130A alternator while I'm still searching for a new one.

My old Group 25 USA-made Optima Redtop is still kicking too though, and it never sees much use and just gets recharged every so often.

I still say the DieHard Platinum is the best option for an Explorer, due to it being an Odyssey Enersys and the 4-year replacement/100-month prorated replacement warranty, not to mention the drop-in Group 65 size and higher specs. It's preferable to get it on sale though, as the raised-price of $219 is still steep, even if the Odyssey version does sell for hundreds more.

If you're going to get an Optima from Advance, they have $40 off $100 coupons as well, or sometimes more, but if you plan on getting something else later on, the 15% + $50 towards a future purchase might be the biggest discount. They sometimes have $50 off $120 coupons or something like that too, but they don't tend to last long.

 

[joecrna]

Optimajim- What is the CCA, Reserve capacity and Amp hour rating of a comparable Yellow top to a standard Explorer size battery? That's a group 65 I believe.

Rick- Why did you choose 2 Yellow Tops in your RV application instead of a Deep Cycle battery? Its unlikely you need the rapid high Amp flow rate, unless you are running a 3000 watt inverter and trying to power an airconditioner with it.

As with all of these discusions, brands are like opinions or A holes. We all have one! Seldom is there more than marketing hype or personal testimonials being regurgitated. There is just very little true science to back up a choice. Price, warranty and ease of getting that warranty filled is much more important than hype. As was stated before, Im always skeptical when I see company paid posters in these forums. Face it, they're usually here to tout their company line and defend their reputation, not help those of us that are actually enthusiasts looking for answers. We've seen it with Ford and now possibly here. Stop spewing advertising sound bites and give us solid unbiased scieentific research so we can make up our own minds. Oh yeh, I forgot. Thats propritory information. Wouldn't want that to get out.

In virtually all of the posts before, no one is using a high torque, aftemarket starter. So CCA makes little difference above factory spec (650). Reserve capacity may help with starting in cold temps (you can crank it longer) and may also help with sustained loads that excede alternator output at the RPM level it is receiving at that time. For true sustained loads that require moderate amperage over very long times, you need a deep cycle with a high Amp hour capacity. I've seen no scientific data that even hints that a AGM battery by any manufacturer will servive multiple deep discharges very well. For that, it is primarily about lead plate thickness and other factors that AGM batteries just do not accel at.

 

[Rick]

I run a winch in the Ex. The yellow top is a deep cycle, but it works great with continous charge as well. I have two in our RV too. Works great. Can pull them way down and they will come back up with no problem. IMO the yellow is their best multi purpose battery.

 

[IZwack]

In virtually all of the posts before, no one is using a high torque, aftemarket starter. So CCA makes little difference above factory spec (650). Reserve capacity may help with starting in cold temps (you can crank it longer) and may also help with sustained loads that excede alternator output at the RPM level it is receiving at that time. For true sustained loads that require moderate amperage over very long times, you need a deep cycle with a high Amp hour capacity. I've seen no scientific data that even hints that a AGM battery by any manufacturer will servive multiple deep discharges very well. For that, it is primarily about lead plate thickness and other factors that AGM batteries just do not accel at.

I agree that CCA isnt the biggest factor, but some people go with AGMs not so much for the CCA but rather because they are usually manufactured as a sealed unit - which is of course important for the trail.