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Posted by ken in co [72.1.111.1] on Thursday, February 24, 2011 at 23:03:31 :
In Reply to: Re: ?WHY IS OPTIMA BATTERY BETTER? posted by mannyc [68.165.89.2] on Thursday, February 24, 2011 at 11:22:40 :
I have had great success. They had been built about 2 miles from the place I work. Now they are in Mexico. My buddy was one of the mechanics at the plant. I often bought seconds and reconditioned batteries and a few experimentals that lasted years. Some I take out of a used vehicle and put in a newly purchased vehicles. I have only had one that litteraly died (12 years in my Bobcat tractor). The vehicle usualy gets resold by that time!
The Mexico batteries are not as strong. The old USA versions had to far exceed the specs to pass. Absolutely amazing what the old batteries could put out! Not happening today! 7 to 10 years (at least) was typical for mine. Then I keep them for a while as spares or jump start batteries. They also sell a cool little charger (about 2" x 5" x 8") that is very lite weight.
The blue and the yellow (according to my friend) are the same battery internally with differant mounting hardware. If you can use the yellow connections don't waste your money on the blue top thinking it is better! Lots of people get fooled by that. I run two yellow tops in my diesel. They do well with the grid heater in cold weather. I used to buy sears when I first got out of school. They lasted one or two years, junk! I got tired of the lead acid solution eating up the metal on my projects.
Since they moved to Mexico I won't buy them any more. Especialy since they raised the price. I will shop for another brand of gel cell. I have 7 Optimas in use now. No maintanence required, no corrosion of terminals, very long lasting. Bad side very heavy and they do come at an initial cost.
I had a little foriegn car I drove to work and raced on week ends. The optima battery died in it once. Turns out I ran a full tank of gas with out the alternator pluged in. It was winter and the driving was in darkness with heater, lights and radio etc. Tough battery with a bunch of capacity!
Wish they did not move to Mexico!