Dreaded click click click

[Chris]

I've 3 yellow tops and they're simply outstanding. Their capacity to retain charge is superb. I don't even have the trailer on a trickle charge anymore. I've two old red tops as well which I use to run the spare fridge occasionally. Incredible how well they still work. Not a clue where they were made though Dave.

Incidentally, you say it's BS, but that's not been my experience. One of those batteries was in the engine bay being charged by the alternator and in only a few months is was clearly going down hill. I pulled it out and used it elsewhere with the CTEK charging it hard and several years on, there it still is.

 

[Dave2000]

Hi Chris, back in IIRC 2005 I purchased two yellow tops for my DD/comp Discovery and they were great as well however, I feel that perhaps mine were in the last batch prior to production moved to Mexico?

When consumers started complaining of poor life expectancy, you have to keep an open mind, of course there are bound to be faulty units in any brand of battery. The problem seemed perhaps a little too coincidental that the battery manufacturing date was just a couple of years after the aforementioned move to Mexico, so conclusions are soon drawn. Even now given that perhaps they have sorted out production and quality control I will not entertain them.

I say BS because Optima never state you cannot use any of their battery range on a typical car/boat, if they did no one would purchase them right? As a matter of fact Optima state that Red top in vehicle use the alternator should charge between 13.3v and 15.0v, and 13.65v - 15.0v for the Blue and Yellow versions, well with the range of a typical alternator.

It is only when there have been issues when the battery has been heavily discharged (abused?) that particular charging voltages are needed.

So, in a nutshell, the Optima batteries are at least twice the cost of a typical wet cell battery, and if you do drain an Optima (by accident or otherwise) severely you need specific equipment to recharge them.

I want to fit and forget batteries, Given that modern alternators are pretty reliable, I still fit basic wet cell batteries to customers cars, I expect (and see) a minimum of four years work from a wet cell unit.

This is one of those subjects that can roll on and on, and of course everyones experience and opinions may (quite rightly) differ however, the higher cost of an Optima versus a typical brand does not IMO tip the scales in their favour.

Regards

Dave

 

[frank rabbets]

You have to look at battery warranties carefully. The typical 5 year ones only refund the full price/exchange of the battery during the first 2 years. After the first 2 years you typically get a diminishing yearly contribution to a new battery and at the 5th year it's usually only 20%.

 

[frank rabbets]

I'm thinking about getting Yuasa 5 year warranty batteries for the 80. After reading the usual mix of opinion as to their batteries I decided to contact Yuasa technical about their batteries, all of which are "calcium", asking them if 1995 period alternators are suitable. They replied :-

" A Calcium battery can readily be fitted without modification. They require less charge input than older Antimony products, so back-up compatibility is not a problem".

(Looks like the 1995 era batteries had Antimony in a small amount.)