optima batteries

[stephen]

has anyone ever had any problems out of these things not holding a charge?

long story short...i don't drive my car nearly as much as i should, but the damn redtop optima battery in it is only 1yr old and will not hold a charge (also deemed "BAD" by the automotive store testers). this is the 2nd one i've had during the 3yr warranty period and the warranty ended last year. i've worked on, and bought cars with 5...6...7yr old "cheap" batteries in them that still work after sitting for years.

i've been doing a little research and the reviews are pretty mixed. some people experience an issue with the optima's after having them sit for a week or two, some have had no issues after 7 or 8yrs of use. with such different experiences, i'm curious as to whether or not there's some sort of "common user error" (aside from letting your battery just sit) or are these batteries just HYPE and not worth the money?

[Barefoot]

has anyone ever had any problems out of these things not holding a charge?

long story short...i don't drive my car nearly as much as i should, but the damn redtop optima battery in it is only 1yr old and will not hold a charge (also deemed "BAD" by the automotive store testers). this is the 2nd one i've had during the 3yr warranty period and the warranty ended last year. i've worked on, and bought cars with 5...6...7yr old "cheap" batteries in them that still work after sitting for years.

i've been doing a little research and the reviews are pretty mixed. some people experience an issue with the optima's after having them sit for a week or two, some have had no issues after 7 or 8yrs of use. with such different experiences, i'm curious as to whether or not there's some sort of "common user error" (aside from letting your battery just sit) or are these batteries just HYPE and not worth the money?ive had about 7 of them. out of the 7 1 had a charging issue.

[neon_ert3]

my current yellow top is shittin on me right now, but i had a yellow top in my bagged neon that was awesome.

[jew_boy]

i work at autozone and we rarely have red tops come in for cores. now im tested a few and when they tested bad, we set it on the charger for at least a hour and it takes a charge and was all good so just get your local autozone to put it on the charger. and its free to so it wont hurt to give it a try

[slostang]

^ what he said. except i work at advance. never seen an optima go bad.

[Barefoot]

i work at autozone and we rarely have red tops come in for cores. now im tested a few and when they tested bad, we set it on the charger for at least a hour and it takes a charge and was all good so just get your local autozone to put it on the charger. and its free to so it wont hurt to give it a try
^ what he said. except i work at advance. never seen an optima go bad.i wish i had the 1 i had to warranty still. failed my load test and oriellys machine.

[slostang]

i wish i had the 1 i had to warranty still. failed my load test and oriellys machine.

alot of times good batteries will fail a machine's test because of low amperage. when we have any weak battery come in we put it on the slow trickle charger for about 12 hours then the rapid charger for about 30 minutes to top it off then let them cool off for about an hour. 99% of the time it will be a good battery.

[MongolPup]

I've had a Yellowtop for almost 6 years, it has survived two alternator problems and being drained dead (it ran the car when the alternator died until it had no juice left) twice. It has been in a luxury car with a full audio set up and now a swapped car (in the trunk) with zero problems. I've been very impressed. Car cranks cold, hot, rain, shine, night, day.

[Barefoot]

alot of times good batteries will fail a machine's test because of low amperage. when we have any weak battery come in we put it on the slow trickle charger for about 12 hours then the rapid charger for about 30 minutes to top it off then let them cool off for about an hour. 99% of the time it will be a good battery.like i said if i still had it u would change your mind. if u thought of it ive already did it. an it still had to be warrantied out.

[Formally...]

I have one in every car I own, even my wife's car. I also have a yellow top that I bought in 99 that still works fine. However, I also have a red top here at the shop that will not hold a charge. You can charge it over night and it will show 12 volts but as soon as you try to start a car it goes dead. I would check and make sure you don't have a small drain as a slow draw will hurt a battery more then a fast one (ex, dome light left on will kill a battery worse then headlights left on)