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Another battery question. Which one to get?

Brunoboy

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Apr 25, 2008
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San Bruno,CA Home of SFO
I see everyone talk badly about optimas and I can agree. My yellow top won't crank the car anymore and it's a year old. It powers the headunit and all but it's died quite a few times. My batteries in the trunk and I need a new on. I don't want to vent it out a hole in my trunk and I don't want gases. Anyone have a good battery for the trunk setups besides the optimas?
 

PreskitVR4

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Jun 28, 2008
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272
Location
Prescott, Northern AZ
As a Route Sales Manager for Interstate Batteries, I can tell you that 98% of peoples problems with Optima batteries is charging. I can guarantee you are not getting it fully charged from whenever it was discharged. See if there is an Interstate Battery "Distributor" in your area, they can perform a charge and check for you, wether yours is an IBS p/n or not.
If there is no Distributor near you, try taking a charged batt and run jumper cables to your yellow top, a good couple of hours. This brings the surface voltage of the battery up to where a charger will recognize that it is connected to a battery. Most all battery chargers that are on the market are proccesor controlled, an Optima's design allows it to provide peak performance below 8 volts, where most chargers do not go that low. Lead acid battery charge acceptance is between 5-7 amps per hour, any more than that you are just creating heat and shortening the lifespan of the batt. Optima says you can charge at whatever rate you want, as long as the battery doesn't exceed 125 degrees.
I hope this helps, I am a big fan of Optima Batts, I guess that shows. I know the bad rap they get, because of this exact problem. I have Optimas in everything, even my wife's bone stock Navigator, and a red top that is 9 years old in my Talon. You just spent a couple hundred bucks on a yellow top, I dont want you getting a bad taste for no reason. Also, a yellow top was the wrong application for you unless you have some massive stereo or offroad lights or something. Red top is the right thing for pretty much all of us, unless you use a blue top because of the handy dandy marine terminals.
 

Brunoboy

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Apr 25, 2008
Messages
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Location
San Bruno,CA Home of SFO
Thanks for that, I do use the jumper method to bring it back to life but it never holds it. I leave it over night and it's dead or it powers everything still but doesn't crank over. If it's connected and I jump the car it starts up everytime . I run the d51R as suggested on optimas website.This battery has been completely dead quite a few times though for a good amount of time.
 

PreskitVR4

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Jun 28, 2008
Messages
272
Location
Prescott, Northern AZ
It could have already sulfated then. Threr is no bringing them back from that. Being that it is in the trunk, i would have suggested the grp 34, i also have the 51r but in a custom (hacked) civic tray next to the passenger strut tower. if its less than a yr and IBS can get it to fail, it is under free replacement warranty and can be adjusted toward the larger batt that I think you should have /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 

Brunoboy

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Apr 25, 2008
Messages
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Location
San Bruno,CA Home of SFO
I originally bought it at napa auto and lost the receipt, how does the warranty work that your talking about? And mine is in a battery box in the back passenger strut side of the trunk. So a 34 should be sufficient? And are there any other choices for batteries in the trunk?
 

PreskitVR4

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Jun 28, 2008
Messages
272
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Prescott, Northern AZ
There is a laser etched code on top of the batt, if they special ordered it for you, that will be pretty close to purchase date. the red top 34/78 is 800cca, more than suficient to overcome the lineloss from the trunk.
 

Brunoboy

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San Bruno,CA Home of SFO
The battery was in store and they said they can't do anything about it.
 

Brunoboy

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Apr 25, 2008
Messages
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Location
San Bruno,CA Home of SFO
Quoting PreskitVR4:
It could have already sulfated then. Threr is no bringing them back from that. Being that it is in the trunk, i would have suggested the grp 34, i also have the 51r but in a custom (hacked) civic tray next to the passenger strut tower. if its less than a yr and IBS can get it to fail, it is under free replacement warranty and can be adjusted toward the larger batt that I think you should have /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif


I realized I always charge the battery at 2 amps, but after watching a youtube video they said 10 amps is what is needed to break down the sulfate, Is this true? and should I charge it at 10 amps until fully charged?
 

Galactica

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Aug 23, 2011
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103
Location
Beaverton, OR
I have heard that de-sulfating a battery involves a circuit that send pulses of current into the plates that helps to break up the sulfates.
 

Brunoboy

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Apr 25, 2008
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2,880
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San Bruno,CA Home of SFO
The charger they used on the YouTube video is the same one I have. He mentions to use 10 amps to break it down.
 

Brunoboy

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Apr 25, 2008
Messages
2,880
Location
San Bruno,CA Home of SFO
How about Exide batteries? they say they are AGM and are leak/spill proof and dont emit gases under normal use.

Exide Orbital 34XCD
 

makedollarz

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Joined
Aug 24, 2003
Messages
261
Location
Phoenix
I also use yellow top optimas and actually really like them. Have them in 3 different cars... Trunk of the galant, bone stock Honda, and in a big chevy express van that has 12 12" subs and a amp draws more amps then the alternator puts out and never had a problem. 1 time 1 left my lights on all night and it was dead in the morning but after jumping it it has always started my car. I think the optimas are really good batteries.
 

PreskitVR4

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Joined
Jun 28, 2008
Messages
272
Location
Prescott, Northern AZ
Pulse charging breaks down sulfation. Although, an AGM batt's design does not allow the broken sulfation to go anywhere because of its "roll of toilet paper" design.
 

Do yourself a favor. Put the one lead of your dmm on the batt + post and one up front where the cable connects to the car. Have someone crank the car and observe the voltage. This number is the amount of voltage being lost in the cable. Many battery replacement kits are subpar and have cables not capable of carrying the required juice. On my car the cable was dropping almost 5 volts under load. Lots of cranking and charging problems. Replaced the cable with a 0 gauge gl audio power cable, problems solved.
 
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