OPTIM Battery or Not ?

[427HISS]

So far, it's seems like you love them or not. I need to replace my Interstate battery after sitting for over 15 years, so I'm interested in this type of battery. What's the pro's and con's with anyone that has one ?

[Drew Pojedinec]

Pros?
I had a 12 year old optima that worked great. Sold it with a vehicle.

Cons?
The last two I bought failed in the first year of usage. Both times they held full voltage but wouldn’t crank an engine, like it had a bad cell.

Yes I have the expensive Optima charger.

Anyhow I will never buy one again.

[BattlestarGalactic]

I like my Interstate batteries.  Get them at Summit Racing for about $120 for the big group 27 with about 1000 CCA.  No special chargers needed< I keep a few Tender Jr's for the hotrods that sit a lot.

I have a friend that lives and breathes his Optima.  Me, not so much.

[AlanCasida]

I have owned several and like previously mentioned the early ones were good but the last few I've gotten did not last and I too will never own another one.

[427HISS]

Don't they require a special charger, dry cell ?
I've also heard that it need's to keep a full charge, if you don't it'll never charge up again ?

[BattlestarGalactic]

It is a glass mat battery.   Not a gel, not a liquid.  Yes they have specific charging instructions.  All batteries can be ruined by bad charging, but AGM are more picky.

[Falcon67]

No.  I use Duracell AGMs from Sams.  As for charging - yea, AGM should use a proper charger.  The one in the dragster has been in there 3 years and it gets treated very badly.  Hammered on the track, running fans and big water pump while getting hit with 40A burst charges for 10~15 minutes between rounds, then off the the next round.  Down track it only gets support from a mini 50A alternator.  It's about out of warranty and still doing just fine.  It does get to see a proper support charge between races from a nice Schumacher.  But at the track its a big conventional don't-care-what-battery 2, 10, 40, 100, 200 charger.  So they ain't that dad gum picky.  Door car uses an old Optima that barely works, that one would be gone except the big F-350 asked first.  $170 more or less each, way way cheaper than Opti-crud.

[fastback 427]

Don't care for them myself, only run Caterpillar batteries in everything. Best warranty you can get, have one that finally died from 96.

[Falcon67]

I usually tell people to look for the warranty and ease of return should it fail.  Sams does well at both, and even took an extra dead one I had at no charge for disposal. 

[My427stang]

I haven't had an issue with Optima, but I also bought a "Genius" batter charger that works as a tender or a recovery charger.  It doesn't replace my big charger, but I use it at the beginning of each season and my Optimas seem to last forever

Lots of AGM batteries now, unlike the old days when Optima was the only game in town, so any one would likely work great

[70tp]

I, personally, wouldn’t buy another.    I have four or five now.   One works.  One tests good but won’t start anything.   One won’t hold a charge over night.  One loses charge over a week.   I wanted them because they are kinda sealed and usually don’t vent any acid out to eat up connections and surrounding metal.  I got a couple other sealed batteries , I think the brand is Mkpower.  They will outlast an optima four times over. I believe the MK is a deka battery and it’s an agm style.    I bought them used from the scrap place and still got six years out of it.

[cammerfe]

I put an Optima red top in my land speed car.

Just as the starter motioned me to the line, after sitting for a couple of hours in line waiting, the engine quit. Dead battery and dead alternator. Long story a bit shorter, we took the truck into town and spent a couple of hours in the dirt of the pits, with a flashlight putting the new alternator in the car. I recharged the battery from the generator that ran the snack tent. (Everybody's VERY helpful and friendly at an ECTA event.)

I set four records the next day by changing jets in the spray system. (After the fourth run I ran out of jets.) But the Optima battery was not trustworthy after that experience. I sent Optima several emails asking to talk to them about their almost new battery. I didn't try to explain my problem, just that I had one. They never had the courtesy to reply to my several attempts. Never again.

I don't know who supplies Costco with batteries, but their 1K CCA item has been flawless for a number of years now.

KS

[RustyCrankshaft]

The last two I bought failed in the first year of usage. Both times they held full voltage but wouldn’t crank an engine, like it had a bad cell.


Anyhow I will never buy one again.

Very common problem with a lot of gel/AGM batteries now and certainly Optima. I've seen a lot of Optima's that had a good charge, voltage is good but no one is home. Load test them and they fail miserably.

When it really comes right down to it, there aren't that many battery manufactures. A lot of gel/AGM's are made Enersys. A TON of wet cells are made by Interstate and then rebranded as Exide, Napa, etc.

A WELL built wet cell is pretty good. Trouble is you have to go to a specialty manufacture like Dyno Battery to get a good wet cell anymore. Otherwise from what comes through our shop the Dyno's or Interstate/Exide for wet or Enersys (odyssey) for AGM's seem to hold up the best. We just installed 6,500 group 31 Odyssey's 2 years ago and so far they have been holding up the best as far as AGMs go.

[RustyCrankshaft]

I put an Optima red top in my land speed car.

Racing ECTA is getting completely covered up in a three layer Simpson suit, plus a set of long-handle Carbon-X, plus a Cool-Shirt, etc. Sit down, get the six-point belt hooked-up, complete with elbow tethers, and all pulled tight---with the help of my Crew Chief. The combination of all the belts,etc, means that you need help to get it all in place. The elbow tethers have you so constricted you can't do it all by yourself.

Drive from the pit to the starting line, which is a mile from my pit. Get in line and sit there for about an hour-and-a-half or perhaps two hours. Temps outside were about 106 degrees farenheit. The car was set-up to run on C116, with an auxiliary set-up of methanol and nitrous oxide. Just setting and idling, the car ran so smooth and quiet you had to look at the tach to be sure it was going. The combination of the AC and the Cool-Shirt made it bearable in the car.

Just as the starter motioned me to the line, the engine quit. Dead battery and dead alternator. Long story a bit shorter, we took the truck into town and spent a couple of hours in the dirt of the pits, with a flashlight putting the new alternator in the car. I recharged the battery from the generator that ran the snack tent. (Everybody's VERY helpful and friendly at an ECTA event.)

I set four records the next day by changing jets in the spray system. (After the fourth run I ran out of jets.) But the Optima battery was not trustworthy after that experience. I sent Optima several emails asking to talk to them about their almost new battery. I didn't try to explain my problem, just that I had one. They never had the courtesy to reply to my several attempts. Never again.

I don't know who supplies Costco with batteries, but their 1K CCA item has been flawless for a number of years now.

KS

Sounds like most of my experience with the Optima's.

Costco batteries are supplied by Johnson Controls I believe and are pretty good batteries, especially for the price.

[67428GT500]

Costco has generally used Excide. I have had great luck with them and the way Costco handles the warranty should they fail is phenomenal.

                                                                                                     -Keith