Optima red top car Battery

[ransley]

Is this the best, what are its drawbacks.

[CM]

Must be one of the best. My neighbor had one here in the Phoenix area with temps above 110 in the summer and it lasted 6 years.

cm

[Pete C.]

A tad expensive, but otherwise I'm not aware of any issues with them. They are supposed to be more vibration resistant then the regular batteries which could help in some applications.

I seem to get adequate service life out of the regular batteries at a decent cost savings though, and I do go off road with some frequency so that vibration seems to not be an issue. With dual batteries in the truck, when one does fail I can typically just swap the Aux into the main position in about 10 minutes and continue on my way.

I'm not sure what the usual failure mode of an Optima is, but on the regulars in my truck at least they seem to fail with a shorted cell and nearly explode (never actually exploded though). When you start to get a strong sulfur smell check the voltmeter and see if it's a few volts below normal and if so stop and check the battery quickly.

[jmagerl]

I've got one on my 99 Blazer. goin on 6 years now. Got another in my S10 pickup goin on 2 yrs. THe pickup has been deep discharged at least a dozen times. Still no issues. and they realy crank on a cold day. You may need to adjust the voltage regulator to the battery if its an older car The battery FAQ is a good place to read.

[hallerb]

the heavier the same size battery is the better it is........

more lead costs more

[Max]

On Sun, 20 Jan 2008 20:46:10 -0800 (PST), " [e-mail]" graced this newsgroup with:

not necessarily true. It's not just the amount of lead but also the purity of lead.