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Optmia Red Top Life

Darter6

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I have a Optmia red top 34/78 that is now 7 years old. Still works fine.
How long has yours lasted ?
 
I’ve wondered about this also, do these batteries give any sign that they are going bad? Or are they all of a sudden dead? My red top is 12 years old and still going strong.
 
Had two red tops in my diesel pickup. One quit at nine years, replaced both with interstates (less than half the cost). If the interstates last five years, i figure im ahead. The other red top is now eleven, holds a charge and is in use on my trailer winch.
I think the red top in my opel is somewhere around four years old. Access to the battery is a nightmare , so when it dies, its gonna get a new red top.
 
I had Optima reds in two cars and one lasted 14 years and the other was still fine after 12 years when I sold the car.
I do disconnect the batteries if not going to use the car for a while, and I charge them once or twice a year.
They were pricey but they lasted.
 
Had one in my Jeep and replaced at 8 years so I would not be left stranded
I sat in my garage for a 1 1/2 then I past it on
My nephew has been using it for 5 years now on his back up generator
Still works well
Pushing 15 years of service scary
 
So I have /had a few
My very first one I put in my first charger some 17 years ago I had car for awhile I bought batt with every penny I had was pissed when I gouged it going in !
Drove car as a d.d. many years sold car to friend they had for 3 years they blew trans I bought it back batt still there still working I drove car again for a while . I sold car again maybe a year this time before it came back they couldn't live without ac!
Batt still there/ working I couldn't believe it and I checked it had the gash I made on install finally I traded this car off for something else as I had 3 other chargers at the time and no room it got a 440 shoved in it and some other things paint job ECT. batt stayed. Guy sold it to a guy in Daytona!
Years went by without seeing the car I found it one day on c.l. for sale got a good laugh at what my old Bondo bucket was "worth"
A year later at turkey rod run (last year,maybe two years ago) there it was for sale with that same battery in it !

I might add the guy was telling me there's no Bondo in the car at all or rust ! As I was laughing my *** off I proceed to show him every Bondo spot on the car and all the little Bondo worms ! He was not happy !
But yeah that battery made it some 13 years or so
 
Oh forgot I had put one in my wife's Hyundai when we first started dating and I replaced it after 8 years of content on off and daily usage! I have that batt in shed for the winch I put a interstate in car when I gave it to her kid brother!

My wife's current car cx9 has one I put in before my daughter was born since the car was coming up on 4 years old didn't want to be on side of road with baby !
I would have one in my superbee but they don't make one that fits ! 07 bee batt in trunk
 
I've had Chrysler factory batteries last 7 years on several cars. In my opinion Optima reds are over rated.
 
In my humble opinion.... part of the trouble with red tops is that if they run down, for whatever reason, people either don't have the right charger, or don't know that if they parallel with a good battery, the red top will recharge. The stories of good.batteries that got warranteed, or thrown away, are legion, because they "wouldn't take a charge".
 
bought mine in 08 was in car for a week or so sat unhooked until roughly 2014, never put a battery charger on it, need a battery for a forklift so i put it in the forklift and it just started acting up after the starter in the forklift went bad. The forklift gets started 30-50 times a day and we just pulled the red top out of the forklift this morning and replaced it. I am impressed and will by another, a lot of vibration with the fork lift too.well worth the money to me for a red top.
 
Installed mine in 2012. Don't want all that nice paint ruined with a lead acid battery. It's still going strong! Very happy with my decision.
 
I've used and still use a variety of Optima (red and yellow). I have one red top that is still going strong after 15 years, but I had another that lasted about 5. I like the yellow tops better but I have learned a lot about them over the years, having the right charger is a huge advantage. I have a wide variety of chargers and had read a lot about how to charge them but then saw a video on the optima charger. The guy in the video started off by saying that you really didn't need their charger, however by the end of the video he had changed his mind as he had brought back a discharged optima that his normal charger could not. I went out and bought one (actually on Amazon), I had a discharged optima that would not charge at all, I used the optima charger and lo and behold it took a charge and I am still using it. I am sure I am going to get "you don't need no Optima charger" comments, but I will say that I have proven at least to myself that their charger does work and worth what it costs if you own their batteries. I think I have 5 or 6 of them (batteries that is).
 
Before they came out with the "Smart" chargers you had to hook up a lead acid to the Optmia and run the charger thru the lead acid to get the Optmia to charge. I have 2 of the Shumacher chargers now for the AGM batteries.
Had 2 Optimas go bad by swelling and they will leak when they crack. 1 red top and 1 blue that was the cabin battery for my Camper. Both were about 5 years old. Like anything else, some last longer than others.
 
I've had better luck with the yellow top marine ones. Seem to be able to handle sitting around unused longer than the red tops. I'm pretty good at not using battery tenders. I'm starting to think that they are pricing themselves out of the market, last battery i bought came from walmart which way cheaper than the auto parts stores.
 
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