Optima Basics?

[Sputnik40]

The problem people are having with the AGM batteries is they are not charging them correctly. An AGM battery needs to charge at 30 amps and 15 volts which most standard battery chargers can not do. Also and AGM battery can sit for 24 months and retain a full charge. If your battery is going dead after being in storage the problem is most likely a drain in the vehicle not your battery. This can easily be solved by installing some sort of on board battery maintainer.

I'm actually learning something from this thread - many thanks to all.

As to storing and properly charging batteries. I have a high end Snap On battery charger that is capable of properly trickle charging most of these types of batteries. I don't have a drain anywhere - sitting idle has not been good for this last red top. The previous one could sit and sit and sit - and then fire right up. It lived a long and useful life. The yellow top that was far less than 2 years old and never used did not hold it's charge per your statement above. It was dead, toast, nada, roasted, worthless. I don't like rolling the dice hoping I'll get a good one - I expect consistency, especially when the environment and vehicle are the same...and I have to watch my $$$.

Overall - only having had 3 or 4 batteries in 11 years with plenty of hard use - I'm pretty satisfied with the Optima's (except for that damn yellow top) - but have been hearing more and more horror stories about failures. Ironically - I like the compact design of the optima - they did a good job of marketing eye candy.

I'm still undecided between the 34/78 yellow top or the same from Oddyssey - with the 880 CCA and warranty of the Oddyssey sounding like the best deal - we'll see.

 

[joeyg1973]

Sounds to me early on they engineered and built a great battery that lasted a very long time. They built up a great reputation but weren't making great profit. Then the bean counters go involved and specs were revised so that it had planned obsolescence. Get to the bare minimum specs for the design and produce to those standards and survive, show a profit, then sell the company and get out rich. Sad.

 

[apeterson]

Sounds to me early on they engineered and built a great battery that lasted a very long time. They built up a great reputation but weren't making great profit. Then the bean counters go involved and specs were revised so that it had planned obsolescence. Get to the bare minimum specs for the design and produce to those standards and survive, show a profit, then sell the company and get out rich. Sad.

always those bean counters messing it up for everyone...

 

[Jepson]

Interstate does NOT make/manufacture batteries...they market and distribute under their brand name batteries made by Johnson Controls

You are correct :whoops:

The yellow top that was far less than 2 years old and never used did not hold it's charge per your statement above. It was dead, toast, nada, roasted, worthless.

Sounds like you must have just gotten a bad battery to start with. And that just sucks!

The newer Optimas do seem to be hit and miss on quality.

I have heard nothing but good things about the DieHard Platinum. I have one myself and have had no issues at all.

 

[camcruiser13]

i also hace a red i just bought about six months ago, i let it drain once and now it doesnt like to stey cherged.

wtf

im goin to take it back

 

[Weedhopper]

Wal Mart batteries are made by Johnson Controls. Never had a problem. They last about 4 years, they sit in vehicles that are idle for months. If they are discharged a quick jump start and a little bit of driving charges them back up.

You can buy almost 3 Wal Mart batteries for the cost of an Optima.

I am beginning to believe Optima's are the Range Rover of batteries.

 

[cruiser88]

so true

I am replacing two yellow tops in my camper that just died and are less than a year old.

Optimas suck..

If you need a sealed battery, I would look elsewhere.

 

[bsevans]

Wow there is a lot of incorrect information in this post that I would like to help clear up.

The Sears Platinum battery is not a gel cell nor is made by Odyssey. It is made by EnerSys, who also makes the Odyssey battery, although they are not made to the same standard. The Sears Platinum and the Optima batteries are not a gel cell, they are an Absorbed Glass Mat or AGM battery. They are a sealed valve regulated wet acid battery.

I used the term Gel Mat and EnerSys, the manufacturer of the Odyssey battery line, uses the term dry cell (“ODYSSEY batteries employ dry cell AGM technology to contain acid, allowing the battery to be installed even on its side”). Yes, I was mistaken using the term Gel, my sincerest apologies. Odyssey, Optima and Sears Platinum are all Absorbent glass mat (AGM) technology with both the Odyssey and Sears Platinum using rectangular flat plates that offer 15 percent more plate surface area compared to the six pack Optima design. Personally, I could give a s*** whether the technology is called cell or mat or AGM or dry cell. It's not going to matter one iota once they are installed. What proof do you have that the Sears version is made to an inferior standard? The Sears Platinum charger uses a 40 amp setting with micro-processor control that varies the charge voltage to obtain the maximum charge of both a Sears and Odyssey AGM technology battery. You imply that the Optima and Sears Platinum are a sealed valve regulated wet acid battery unlike the Odyssey. The Sears Platinum battery uses the same AGM technological design as the Odyssey. If an Odyssey or Sears Platinum battery were to split open neither one would leak because there is no free acid inside the battery; all of the acid is kept absorbed in the glass mat separators. And yes, I made a mistake when I said the Sears Platinum was made by Odyssey instead of EnerSys, the company that builds the Odyssey battery line. Again, my sincerest apologies.

 

[MtnClimber]

The problem people are having with the AGM batteries is they are not charging them correctly. An AGM battery needs to charge at 30 amps and 15 volts which most standard battery chargers can not do. Also and AGM battery can sit for 24 months and retain a full charge. If your battery is going dead after being in storage the problem is most likely a drain in the vehicle not your battery. This can easily be solved by installing some sort of on board battery maintainer.

Just because two batteries are produced by the same manufacturer and come out of the same plant do not assume that they are build to the same standard and will perform equally.

That was what optima would say. I had gone through 3 red tops in 3 years with regular driving. The unit that I was in the Air Force went through a LOT of them, and so did the rest of the AF. They are now a black listed product in the AF inventory after an investigation was done that found that the batteries were just dying no matter what was done or how they were tended to. The biggest failure was that the battery would start the vehicle just fine one day and then the next attempt to start there would be absolutely no voltage in the battery and would not charge. Just an abrupt death of the battery. Not something that you want troops in their equipment.
Optima came out with high marks and all this hype in advertising when they were new, but with all the issues they've had, it's obvious that it's a junk product.

 

[Sputnik40]

Regarding the manufacturer's maintenance charging requirements - I'm shamelessly copying a PM that Bret just sent me regarding our discussions on a better charger I'm going to borrow from him.

Emphasis on fact he also had two dead Optima's...

"The main reason I got the other charger was to try to recover my dead yellow tops. After reading the hype from the battery charger MFR I thought I would give it a try, I needed another charger anyways. Supposedly the high frequency pulses that the charger uses breaks up and dissolves the sulfation crystals better. I had also read quite a bit about the special charging requirements for AGM batteries and wondered how folks were working that with a pretty standard charging system. I didn't find a good answer, but I figured I would just throw the charger on the batteries while it was in the garage and use it like a battery tender form my motorcycle battery. Anything to not have to dump another $400-500 in batteries until I have to."

As to the above - if the AF has blacklisted the product that says heaps about it's safety/reliability. Damn!

 

[calsum2]

Sears Platinum series

What size group platinum series will fit in a FJ40:?

 

[Sputnik40]

Post #2 here is a good response to your specific question: https://forum.ih8mud.com/40-55-series-tech/293594-optima-basics.html

Nice OEM orange 40 - damn nice.

 

[pb4ugo]

I just purhased a new battery charger w/a AGM setting on the charger for these type batteries.
Soooo, Wouldn't you have to modify the charging system of the vehicle so it will charge AGM batteries correctly?

I've been running deepcycle 2yr warranty autozone batteries for yrs. I get about 4 or 5yrs out of them w/no problems.FYI

 

[blitzkreigfj]

gee-am i glad i got my optima for $50,referb.friend owns a batt store.never once had an issue.infact i siezed the 22re in 2 years but the batt. is still good,infact its in my vw now.i cant believe what batterys go for!insane.