fbksurferjoe
Adventurer
Been working on a few things;
So my optima from my old truck decided not to hold a charge, i tried just about everything to get the thing to work again. I have decided to give up on optima as this will be my 3rd yellow top in about 6 years. I feel like a battery should last longer than that especially at the optima price point. So back to the drawing board.
Here is what i have learned about optima with some research
The Good,
It gave me a non serviceable battery that can be placed in any position without spilling.
It is sealed so it doesnt offgas.
They are in a relatively small package compared to other group 34s.
They have good CCA rating.
The Bad
Well for starters they dont seem to last as long as they claim. I have tried all the known tricks of reviving yellow tops with no luck.
The max AH rating i can find for any optima is somewhere around 70-75ah, this is all across the board from group 31-34.
They are prone to overcharging
Let me tell you what i learned about the last point. Without diving into how alternators work and the way they charge. AGM's are one of the few batteries that require a very specific charge. The charge up to 100% is relatively the same as any flooded battery however once charged the AGM batteries need to be floated at a lower amperage than a standard flooded battery. My theory is that i was overcharging my AGM batteries frequently as i was driving causing my optimas to fail prematurely. This can be remedied by using a ctek dc to dc charger that will provide the right type of charge to an agm but they also cost as much as a new battery.
I may have this wrong but i tried to find multiple sources and talk to battery experts and this is the basic understanding that i got.
So my optima from my old truck decided not to hold a charge, i tried just about everything to get the thing to work again. I have decided to give up on optima as this will be my 3rd yellow top in about 6 years. I feel like a battery should last longer than that especially at the optima price point. So back to the drawing board.
Here is what i have learned about optima with some research
The Good,
It gave me a non serviceable battery that can be placed in any position without spilling.
It is sealed so it doesnt offgas.
They are in a relatively small package compared to other group 34s.
They have good CCA rating.
The Bad
Well for starters they dont seem to last as long as they claim. I have tried all the known tricks of reviving yellow tops with no luck.
The max AH rating i can find for any optima is somewhere around 70-75ah, this is all across the board from group 31-34.
They are prone to overcharging
Let me tell you what i learned about the last point. Without diving into how alternators work and the way they charge. AGM's are one of the few batteries that require a very specific charge. The charge up to 100% is relatively the same as any flooded battery however once charged the AGM batteries need to be floated at a lower amperage than a standard flooded battery. My theory is that i was overcharging my AGM batteries frequently as i was driving causing my optimas to fail prematurely. This can be remedied by using a ctek dc to dc charger that will provide the right type of charge to an agm but they also cost as much as a new battery.
I may have this wrong but i tried to find multiple sources and talk to battery experts and this is the basic understanding that i got.
