Hi Jim K, I appreciate your question regarding our batteries and believe me when I tell you, I hear all kinds of second-hand stories about all kinds of batteries. As far as changing the design of our batteries, I haven't heard about any such plans. If there were no performance advantage to a Spiral Cell design, Optima would probably make flat-plate batteries like everyone else. There are certainly cheaper ways to differentiate our products from a marketing standpoint, than radically changing the entire design.
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Optima uses a continuous cast strap to join adjacent cells and there are no welds to add resistance or corrosion points between the cells. A cast strap is unique to Optima, proprietary, more expensive, and more difficult to manufacture, but it is a process that gives superior performance. A larger and/or better-designed, manufactured or connected strap will allow better high current flow due to lower internal resistance, which can be reflected in the CCA rating. This also allows the Optima design to use taller cells and thus, in general, to have higher electrical performance characteristics because there is more active material present.
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From a one-dimensional viewpoint, it may look like a flat-plate battery utilizes more space within the parameters of a given group size. However, that assumes everyone assembles their batteries the same way, using the same materials. All of our cells are inserted into our cases under compression in a fully-automated and precise process, while many flat plate battery cells are simply inserted into the case by hand.
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Our grid alloy is one of the most corrosion-resistant alloys in production. The high purity of the alloy and it's simple, binary composition also minimizes gas generation. Typical wet or flat-plate AGM batteries use grid alloys that contain three or four elements, which results in lower overall purity and gassing characteristics that are not as good as Optima's binary lead alloy. As a result, Optima batteries will have less corrosion at elevated temperatures and less water loss, when compared to conventional wet or flat-plate AGM products.
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There is generally a trade-off between cranking amps and reserve capacity, where in batteries of identical size, more cranking amps will come at the expense of more reserve capacity and vice versa. While physically heavier batteries may offer more cranking amps and/or more reserve capacity, simply because there is more material present, that is not always the case or the lone deciding factor in making a purchase.
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The way tournament fisherman have prepared their boats has evolved to near-NASCAR like standards and they analyze every pound on their boat. Anglers like Edwin Evers prefer our batteries, because of the pound for pound performance they deliver on the water and off. It is not uncommon for those guys to run their batteries down well into the single-digits by sunset. Regardless of voltage level, they expect consistent performance throughout the day and the same performance by the following sunrise. The ability to consistently and repeatedly deliver and receive current in those demanding applications and others will often come down to the design elements that aren't listed in a spec sheet that tells you reserve capacity and cranking amps.
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We don't offer the wide range of batteries that other companies do and we'd rather let other folks try to offer something for everyone. The biggest battery we offer is our Group 31, but we understand that simply isn't enough for some folks. A guy who wants a single battery to deliver 1250 cold cranking amps and 495 minutes of reserve capacity at 25 amps will have several to choose from, but we won't be one of them and we're fine with that.
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JCI also manufactures flat-plate flooded and AGM batteries and they are very familiar with the technologies, but at the end of the day, we really like the benefits of our design and the combination of performance, price and warranty we offer.
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Jim McIlvaine
eCare Manager, OPTIMA Batteries, Inc.
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