Home  |  Forums  |  914 Info  |  Blogs
 
914World.com - The fastest growing online 914 community!
 
Porsche, and the Porsche crest are registered trademarks of Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG. This site is not affiliated with Porsche in any way.
Its only purpose is to provide an online forum for car enthusiasts. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.
 

Welcome Guest ( Log In | Register )

2 Pages V  1 2 >  
 Reply to this topicStart new topic
> Optima Battery
neyen14
post Dec 1 2011, 10:04 PM
Post #1


Member
**

Group: Members
Posts: 67
Joined: 2-December 07
From: New Mexico
Member No.: 8,408
Region Association: Southwest Region
Hi all, I just received a Red Optima and the thing is radically heavy, is that the way they are or did I get the one for aircraft carriers? It's funny cause I've heard the battery location is to offset the driver... this one definitely will.
User is offlineProfile CardPM
Go to the top of the page
+Quote Post
partwerks
post Dec 1 2011, 10:12 PM
Post #2


Senior Member
***

Group: Members
Posts: 1,593
Joined: 7-September 06
From: Grand Island, NE
Member No.: 6,787
Mine was heavy when I carried it in to Wally World to get a different battery. I went back to a normal battery since I moved it to the front anyway. It was ready for retirement and pooped out on me the other day when I had to start the car in gear, cuz of the clutch cable being broke to limp it to the mechanic. It didn't have the brass balls to start it in gear.
User is online!Profile CardPM
Go to the top of the page
+Quote Post
Rand
post Dec 1 2011, 10:37 PM
Post #3


Cross Member
*****

Group: Members
Posts: 7,409
Joined: 8-February 05
From: OR
Member No.: 3,573
Region Association: None
It's a good battery. If you want light, go with this:
http://odysseybatteries.com/battery/pc680.htm
User is offlineProfile CardPM
Go to the top of the page
+Quote Post
GeorgeRud
post Dec 1 2011, 10:52 PM
Post #4


Advanced Member
****

Group: Members
Posts: 3,725
Joined: 27-July 05
From: Chicagoland
Member No.: 4,482
Region Association: Upper MidWest
Loved my first Optima battery, was satisfied with the second one, and disappointed in the life of the third one. I store my cars over the winter with the battery hooked up to a battery maintainer in a garage, and it seems that they don't last as well as they used to.

Went back to an Interstate when it was time to replace the battery as I don't drive the car in the rain anyway and the price of the Optima was getting up there.
User is offlineProfile CardPM
Go to the top of the page
+Quote Post
partwerks
post Dec 1 2011, 10:57 PM
Post #5


Senior Member
***

Group: Members
Posts: 1,593
Joined: 7-September 06
From: Grand Island, NE
Member No.: 6,787
I've had good luck with Wally World batteries. I think it was an Ever Start, in my Jetta? I milked 8 years out of it and so I went back for one for the 914!
User is online!Profile CardPM
Go to the top of the page
+Quote Post
PancakePorsche
post Dec 1 2011, 11:34 PM
Post #6


Member
**

Group: Members
Posts: 236
Joined: 29-July 11
From: Southern California
Member No.: 13,373
Region Association: None
No mystery why the Optima is not as good. Now manufactured in Mexico with cost cut materials. The Odyssey battery is now the hot ticket and lightweight versions are available.
User is offlineProfile CardPM
Go to the top of the page
+Quote Post
brant
post Dec 2 2011, 12:17 AM
Post #7


914 Wizard
**********

Group: Members
Posts: 11,623
Joined: 30-December 02
From: Colorado
Member No.: 47
Region Association: Rocky Mountains
QUOTE(GeorgeRud @ Dec 1 2011, 09:52 PM) *

Loved my first Optima battery, was satisfied with the second one, and disappointed in the life of the third one. I store my cars over the winter with the battery hooked up to a battery maintainer in a garage, and it seems that they don't last as well as they used to.

Went back to an Interstate when it was time to replace the battery as I don't drive the car in the rain anyway and the price of the Optima was getting up there.



its not really the rain that will get you with a standard wet lead battery
its the fact that they outgass

they outgass and that can combine with any moisture
humidity... washing your car... anything to lead to a corrosive substance

the optima's are lead batteries too, but they contain their own gas and are thus called "sealed"

I put a standard battery in for a few months and couldn't believe how much more cable corrosion and powdery corrosion the tray showed in comparrison to the sealed battery

brant
User is offlineProfile CardPM
Go to the top of the page
+Quote Post
johannes
post Dec 2 2011, 06:09 AM
Post #8


Club Porsche 914 France President
****

Group: Members
Posts: 3,084
Joined: 13-January 06
From: France
Member No.: 5,409
Region Association: France
QUOTE(Rand @ Dec 1 2011, 08:37 PM) *

It's a good battery. If you want light, go with this:
http://odysseybatteries.com/battery/pc680.htm


I can't agree more ...
User is offlineProfile CardPM
Go to the top of the page
+Quote Post
tod914
post Dec 2 2011, 07:22 AM
Post #9


Advanced Member
****

Group: Members
Posts: 3,755
Joined: 19-January 03
From: Lincoln Park, NJ
Member No.: 170
How did you guys mount the Odyssey? Anyway to do it without drilling into the tray?
User is offlineProfile CardPM
Go to the top of the page
+Quote Post
sean_v8_914
post Dec 2 2011, 08:32 AM
Post #10


Chingon 601
****

Group: Members
Posts: 4,011
Joined: 1-February 05
From: San Diego
Member No.: 3,541
lead purity is key. the MX optimas are as Pancakeporsche stated. the Odyssey and Braille are made with high purity lead. The Inerstate or std car battery is not dependent on high tolerances to be all it can be.
the MX factories are fun to deal with. I helped manage a production facility south of TJ. quality cycles with the experience of the work force. these guys come from deep south in MX, earn more in a month than their entire family can in a year. they work for a year or 2 sending their money back home to their families. then one day you come to work and your lead guy is gone and he took 10 of your best workers with him back to Oaxaca or Medina or some place you cant even find with Google. they refuse to teach another guy because they feel threatened by replacement
User is offlineProfile CardPM
Go to the top of the page
+Quote Post
JMKnight
post Dec 2 2011, 08:43 AM
Post #11


Aces & Eights
**

Group: Members
Posts: 135
Joined: 30-December 09
From: Northern Indiana
Member No.: 11,188
Region Association: Upper MidWest
QUOTE(GeorgeRud @ Dec 1 2011, 08:52 PM) *

Loved my first Optima battery, was satisfied with the second one, and disappointed in the life of the third one. I store my cars over the winter with the battery hooked up to a battery maintainer in a garage, and it seems that they don't last as well as they used to.

Went back to an Interstate when it was time to replace the battery as I don't drive the car in the rain anyway and the price of the Optima was getting up there.


Me too! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)
User is offlineProfile CardPM
Go to the top of the page
+Quote Post
flipb
post Dec 2 2011, 09:28 AM
Post #12


Senior Member
***

Group: Members
Posts: 1,722
Joined: 2-September 09
From: Fairfax, VA
Member No.: 10,752
Region Association: MidAtlantic Region
QUOTE(tod914 @ Dec 2 2011, 08:22 AM) *

How did you guys mount the Odyssey? Anyway to do it without drilling into the tray?


I just switched to an Optima Red Top too.

Bought the model closest to the stock size. It comes with a custom bottom-edge retaining piece, made of heavy plastic - the standard bolt and hole location on the battery tray work perfectly with it.

And yes, the first thing I noticed was the weight! But so far, so good with performance.

EDIT: Oops, you asked about mounting the Odyssey, not the Optima. My bad. Disregard!
User is offlineProfile CardPM
Go to the top of the page
+Quote Post
windforfun
post Dec 2 2011, 10:04 AM
Post #13


Senior Member
***

Group: Members
Posts: 1,779
Joined: 17-December 07
From: Blackhawk, CA
Member No.: 8,476
Region Association: None
My first one only lasted a year or two. I can't remember. They replaced it for free since it was still under warranty.
User is offlineProfile CardPM
Go to the top of the page
+Quote Post
bigkensteele
post Dec 2 2011, 11:01 AM
Post #14


Major Member
****

Group: Members
Posts: 2,197
Joined: 30-August 04
From: Cincinnati, OH
Member No.: 2,660
Region Association: South East States
I just put a red top in mine. I used a size 35, which is taller and just barely fits beneath the rain tray. However, it is somewhere around 6 pounds lighter than the 34R.
User is offlineProfile CardPM
Go to the top of the page
+Quote Post
Scott S
post Dec 2 2011, 11:12 AM
Post #15


Small Member
***

Group: Members
Posts: 1,697
Joined: 30-April 03
From: Colorado
Member No.: 633
I have 5 "dead" red tops that will not hold a charge sitting down at the shop right now. None of them are more than 2 years old. I did replace them with the same thing (cant remember if I got them at Costco). I did so becasue of the mods made to the hold downs and didn't want to go back and re-engineer everything again. I now use battery tenders on them all and they have been fine.

I was under the impression that the great thing about Optimas was that they could drain to nothing, but always be recharged. This sure has not been my experience.

The 49.00 autozone cheapo that I threw in the 914 in 1999 still works great... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/dry.gif)
User is offlineProfile CardPM
Go to the top of the page
+Quote Post
mwyatt
post Dec 2 2011, 11:17 AM
Post #16


Member
**

Group: Members
Posts: 84
Joined: 5-April 03
From: San Diego, CA
Member No.: 516
Region Association: Southern California
I went with the lightweight Odyssey about 6 months ago and have been completely satisfied with it so far. I did have to drill the tray to mount it.
User is offlineProfile CardPM
Go to the top of the page
+Quote Post
underthetire
post Dec 2 2011, 11:19 AM
Post #17


914 Guru
*****

Group: Members
Posts: 5,062
Joined: 7-October 08
From: Brentwood
Member No.: 9,623
Region Association: Northern California
Been saying optimas are junk for a few years. My exide orbital has been bullet proof.
User is offlineProfile CardPM
Go to the top of the page
+Quote Post
Rand
post Dec 2 2011, 11:28 AM
Post #18


Cross Member
*****

Group: Members
Posts: 7,409
Joined: 8-February 05
From: OR
Member No.: 3,573
Region Association: None
QUOTE(Scott Schroeder @ Dec 2 2011, 09:12 AM) *

I was under the impression that the great thing about Optimas was that they could drain to nothing, but always be recharged.

My understanding is that a deep cycle battery is required for that, which would mean a yellow version of the Optima, not red.
User is offlineProfile CardPM
Go to the top of the page
+Quote Post
VegasRacer
post Dec 2 2011, 02:07 PM
Post #19


ELVIRA
*****

Group: Benefactors
Posts: 8,506
Joined: 27-March 03
From: Between Scylla and Charybdis
Member No.: 481
Region Association: None
QUOTE(underthetire @ Dec 2 2011, 09:19 AM) *

Been saying optimas are junk for a few years. My exide orbital has been bullet proof.



(IMG:style_emoticons/default/agree.gif)
User is offlineProfile CardPM
Go to the top of the page
+Quote Post
c12croft
post Dec 2 2011, 03:08 PM
Post #20


Member
**

Group: Members
Posts: 167
Joined: 24-December 04
From: Long Island, New York
Member No.: 3,331
QUOTE(Scott Schroeder @ Dec 2 2011, 09:12 AM) *

I have 5 "dead" red tops that will not hold a charge sitting down at the shop right now. None of them are more than 2 years old. I did replace them with the same thing (cant remember if I got them at Costco). I did so becasue of the mods made to the hold downs and didn't want to go back and re-engineer everything again. I now use battery tenders on them all and they have been fine.

I was under the impression that the great thing about Optimas was that they could drain to nothing, but always be recharged. This sure has not been my experience.

The 49.00 autozone cheapo that I threw in the 914 in 1999 still works great... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/dry.gif)


I also winter store my 14 with Optima group 34/35 and I went thru 2 within 2 yrs. First year I kept it on a maintainer via the cigarette lighter socket, I was told it was just a factory flaw.
Second yr I even removed it out of cold and stored it inside my house, charged it in Spring with an automated charger and it wouldn't take.
I'm on my 3rd and wondering what's going to happen this yr?
I was told not to keep it on trickle charge, but a maintainer is a trickle charge is it not? Should I remove it and put it directly on a maintainer?
User is offlineProfile CardPM
Go to the top of the page
+Quote Post
« Next Oldest · 914World Garage · Next Newest »
 

2 Pages V  1 2 >
Reply to this topicStart new topic
1 User(s) are reading this topic (1 Guests and 0 Anonymous Users)
0 Members:

 

Display Mode: Standard · Switch to: Linear+ · Switch to: Outline

Track this topic · Email this topic · Print this topic · Subscribe to this forum

- Lo-Fi Version Time is now: 11th May 2024 - 07:36 PM
Invision Power Board v9.1.4 © 2024  IPS, Inc.
All rights reserved 914World.com © since 2002
914World.com is the fastest growing online 914 community!
We have it all, classifieds, events, forums, vendors, parts, autocross, racing, technical articles, events calendar, newsletter, restoration, gallery, archives, history and more for your Porsche 914 ...