Optima Battery Selection, Which Model and Size to Buy? Options

[m170seeker]

I finally need a new battery and wanted to get an Optima. Any opinions on Red or Yellow Top and what size do we need?

[wildman]

I have a friend in the battery business, i told him i wanted an Optima and he asked me "why?" i replied "well my old one lasted for years and years" he told me the new ones are "absolute shit!" as per his recommendation i got an Odyssey PC925, its smaller, lighter, and I love it so far.

I have no personal experience with the new Mexican produced Optimas, Just passing the word along as best i can (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[willamp]

I have a friend in the battery business, i told him i wanted an Optima and he asked me "why?" i replied "well my old one lasted for years and years" he told me the new ones are "absolute shit!" as per his recommendation i got an Odyssey PC925, its smaller, lighter, and I love it so far.

I have no personal experience with the new Mexican produced Optimas, Just passing the word along as best i can (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Can you tell us exactly which Odyssey 925 you bought and if there were any mounting 'accessories' you had to buy? The PC 925MJT looks like it would be the one but as far as I can tell there is no adapter that would let it mount exactly like the stock battery. Is this the case? Did you have to come up with some alternate method?

thanks in advance

[monkeyboy]

I have a friend in the battery business, i told him i wanted an Optima and he asked me "why?" i replied "well my old one lasted for years and years" he told me the new ones are "absolute shit!" as per his recommendation i got an Odyssey PC925, its smaller, lighter, and I love it so far.

I have no personal experience with the new Mexican produced Optimas, Just passing the word along as best i can (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Can you tell us exactly which Odyssey 925 you bought and if there were any mounting 'accessories' you had to buy? The PC 925MJT looks like it would be the one but as far as I can tell there is no adapter that would let it mount exactly like the stock battery. Is this the case? Did you have to come up with some alternate method?

thanks in advance

I was able to bolt down the PC925 battery hold down bracket in the stock battery tray, and then put the battery in the tray.

[SKL1]

I've had a red top in mine for at least 6-7 years, always on a battery tender. Never failed me yet and the car is not driven that often. Still sittting on the original battery tray as well!! (and I should know as I've had the car since new...)

[bcheney]

Anyone know if this is a 34 or 34R Optima? It was new years ago and has just sat in a dry garage for over 4 years. Hoping it could be charged at a Optima dealer and brought back to life..

[bcheney]

Anyone know if this is a 34 or 34R Optima? It was new years ago and has just sat in a dry garage for over 4 years. Hoping it could be charged at a Optima dealer and brought back to life..

Just found this thread on Pelican...great stuff!

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-911...ma-battery.html

How to recharge a deeply-discharged (below 10.5 volts) Optima battery.

Virtually any standard automotive battery charger on the market will charge an Optima battery just fine. However, most automotive battery chargers will not charge any battery that has been discharged below 10.5 volts. If a standard flooded battery is discharged below 10.5 volts, there’s not much of a chance that it will be serviceable again. However, AGM-style batteries, like Optimas, can be recovered from a deeply-discharged state, by using an AGM-specific charger or by parallel charging.

To charge a deeply-discharged Optima with a regular charger, you can wire a second fully-charged automotive battery (12V+) to the discharged Optima in parallel (+ to + and – to –). Then hook up the charger to either battery, setting the charger at 10 amps for 2 hours and monitoring it frequently.



When the discharged Optima reaches 10.5 volts or more, remove the second battery and continue charging the Optima until fully charged.

Typically we recommend charging at a relatively low current, such as 2 amps, but when a battery has been deeply discharged, some sulfation of the battery plates may have occurred. However, if you charge at 10 amps, the higher current will help to break up sulfation that may have occurred. If you have an automatic charger, let it run until the charger indicates charging is complete. If you have a manual charger, estimate charging time by multiplying the capacity (amp hours or Ah) of the battery by 1.2 for a rough estimate of charging time in hours.

In most cases, these steps will recover an Optima battery. It’s ok for the Optima battery to get slightly warm during the charging process, but hot to the touch or hissing from the battery indicates a short and the process should be discontinued. If you are able to fully charge the battery, but it gradually loses it's charge (without any loads on it) over 12-24 hours, the battery is probably not recoverable.

If you’d rather not deal with this process, you can always take your battery to a professional battery specialist, like Interstate, who knows AGM technology. Most of them are willing to provide “charge and check” procedures for a small fee and many will provide the service for free.

If you have any other questions, I’ll do my best to answer them. I appreciate your interest in Optima batteries!

Jim McIlvaine
eCare Manager, OPTIMA Batteries, Inc.