I have bought my last Optima battery

[AlanCasida]

Not long after Dragweek last year(maybe November) I went to start my Galaxie and the battery was stone dead. I couldn't remember how old my Optima battery was but it wouldn't keep a charge so I ordered another one. I do like the sealed gel cell part of them. Anyway, probably about 5-6 weeks after I got it I went to start my car again...nothing. Surely something is draining it. So I charged it all evening and left it disconnected. About 3 weeks ago I checked it and it measured about 11.7V..not too bad but it did drop a little. Tonight I checked it and it had 7.3V and it has been disconnected from the car. That's it...enough is enough. I can leave my '67 F250 or my Mach1 set for months at a time and they fire right up. I think I am going to get a Motorcraft battery for it. 

[Rory428]

I don`t blame you, when I bought my enclosed car trailer, it had an Optima "Blue Top" battery in one of the cabinets, used for operating the trailer winch, electric tongue jack, and 120 volt fluorescent lighting & outside flood lights. I always thought that the winch seemed a  little slow & weak, and not wanting to spend a bunch on a special Optima battery charger, and not having much luck using a regular battery charger, I talked to an Optima rep, who said to charge a weak Optima battery, you had to have a good regular battery, and connect that battery to the Optima, and than hook the battery charger to the regular battery. That seemed to work fairly well, but a bit of a PITA, as the Optima was inside a plastic marine box, and was akward to access inside the trailers cabinet. After I while, I gave up, and bought a regular wet cell Deep Cycle battery, and since then, the winch works much faster and stronger. The deep cycle never seems to need charging during the race season, so much nicer.

[machoneman]

O.K. but did you test for a voltage draw since the battery started losing juice?

Not long after Dragweek last year(maybe November) I went to start my Galaxie and the battery was stone dead. I couldn't remember how old my Optima battery was but it wouldn't keep a charge so I ordered another one. I do like the sealed gel cell part of them. Anyway, probably about 5-6 weeks after I got it I went to start my car again...nothing. Surely something is draining it. So I charged it all evening and left it disconnected. About 3 weeks ago I checked it and it measured about 11.7V..not too bad but it did drop a little. Tonight I checked it and it had 7.3V and it has been disconnected from the car. That's it...enough is enough. I can leave my '67 F250 or my Mach1 set for months at a time and they fire right up. I think I am going to get a Motorcraft battery for it. 

[cattleFEeder]

http://www.jegs.com/p/Odyssey-Batteries/Odyssey-Racing-Batteries/743313/10002/-1
I have had really good luck with odyssey. When you can get 1200 cranking amps on an 80 degree day out of a 7 inch battery it comes in handy on a heat soaked motor.

[cjshaker]

O.K. but did you test for a voltage draw since the battery started losing juice?

He said he disconnected it, Bob. No reason for a battery to lose charge when it's not hooked to anything.

Like Rory said, the 'special' charging that an Optima requires is a PITA. The gel cell is nice, but not worth the hassle in my opinion. Batteries aren't what they used to be, that's for sure, and a battery maintainer is pretty much a necessity anymore if it sits for any length of time. I have 3 maintainers hooked up to spare batteries and all my vehicles that sit, and I get a pretty good lifespan out of them that way. You can hook up multiple batteries to a single maintainer in a parallel circuit, it just takes longer to come up to a full charge.

[e philpott]

Gel Cell Batteries take days to charge , sometimes three days , just a thought , I had my Optima for 15 years in my Fairlane

[mbrunson427]

Had the same experience in the Cougar. It needed a new battery, bought an Optima thinking I was upgrading, ended up replacing it with a normal Motorcraft after about a month. The car has a battery tender on it all the time, I actually made a little hole through the trunk weather stripping and the pigtail goes through that, every time it's parked it gets plugged back in. Pretty disappointing.

[wowens]

My Optima red top is 5 years old, sits for months, never had to charge it, allways starts, 60 amp alternator puts out 13.5 v, no accessories.

[Falcon67]

The Red Top in the Falcon is 3 years, slow crank unless boosted between rounds.  I yanked it out and put the Sams AGM from the dragster in the car. I buy all my AGMs from Sams now, 3 yr replacement.  File the receipts, if one barfs, take it back and swap.  Easy.  Cheaper than Optima too.