is there a certain amount of amps i should stay within or that doesnt matter?

 

There is no problem with the quality of the Optima batteries that are produced today... Be careful of hearsay reports on this site... Listen to people who have been running the product and not the one that knock them in order to espouse their own choice... I have an Optima Red Top battery. It has 800cca and I have a lot of draw with my system... Winter temperatures can be in the single digits... No problems...







It does get cold...

 

whats the difference between the red one and the other ones that i see, like yellow and all... and did you upgrade your alternator or no?

 

The Red Top has higher CCA and is recommended for our trucks... The Yellow Top is deep cycle recommended for applications where the battery will be drained and can be recharged without losing capacity... The Blue Top is a Marine battery... Yes, my alternator is now a 200a unit...

 

so i guess il have to upgrade my alt to.. how much did the batt and alt run ya if you dont mind me asking? and did you have the dealer install the alt?

 

You do not have to upgrade your alternator in order to use this battery... I did it do to all of the equipment that is installed in my cab... The Red Top, Model 34/78 ran about $165... The Motorcraft HD alternator was about $300... The alternator was not installed by a dealer... I had a Pacific Northwest company, Les Schwab do the installation... They sell more than tires and are an extremely reliable business... More information on the Red Top, 800CCA at 0 degrees, 1000CCA at 32 degrees. 50 AH and 100 minute reserve, 38 pounds...

 

i've had both red tops and now a yellow top, red top has more cca's but the yellow top seem's to be a stronger battery.

 

In case you may not have QUITE understood, what jdruzik told you, if you get an Optima, you want the RED top! It's designed for the large intermittent current draw that happens when we start our trucks, followed by a recharge by the alternator, with not much time between driving cycles. The battery is almost always fully charged.

The yellow top is designed for trailers or RVs. Applications where there is a steady current drain (due to interior lights, water pumps, fans, etc) that pull the battery down before it can be recharged with a generator. The battery is not kept at a near full charge state. It is not designed to deliver the high amperage needed for starting an engine.

The blue top has to be a bit of both. It has to start the boat's engine, but then it might just sit and not be charging while it's powering the boat's lights and other accessories. It's kind of a deep discharge, high crank power device and is a compromise. Like most compromises, I suspect it is not really great at either task, but it CAN do them.

But wow! The red top matches jdruzik's truck! Is that cool, or what?

- Jack

 

where did you hear or read that about the yellow top?

i have an optima yellow top in my truck now. starts up just fine everytime. my last battery didnt die really. it still read that it had charge that would start most vehicles yet when it tried to start my truck i wouldnt go. the test machine used to test it read good even when the truck wouldnt start.

i got the yellow top since i know i work on the truck and do other things at night and need the ability to drain it alittle without messing with the battery life. plus it has something like 880 CCA to start the truck up and run my accessories, none of which are really major

 

Jake- What Jack told you is true. Doesn't mean a true deep cycle won't start your vehicle fine- just means exactly what Jack said, that a deep cycle is not designed to produce the large amp draw that a large engine requires for starting. With deep cycle you have the ability to run it down farther without damaging it. Starting battery has more and thinner plates which is what you need to produce large amount of amps for starting. The blue top is a crossbreed for RV and boat. I have had experience with the very heaviest battery Optima makes in the blue top (they have 2 blues) and was not impressed at all for a battery that cost an arm and a leg. Would not personally ever use them again.

 

very good info all...thanks...heldped me alot.jdruzik- when all your electronics are on in the truck, do you have any problems with your lights dimming? im having that problem now with my stock battery which is 2 yrs old and when the truck is just idling and barely anything on..and earlier in the thread, it was mentioned that optima was taken over by a different company and aint what they use to be. are they still reliable or what not?

 

yellow top all the way! cheaper than odyssey and IMO better! check autozone! Run a yellow top directly to my audio system in my 300

 

I to had problems with my stock battery when my truck 1-1/2 years old... Not starting on cold mornings... I've had the Red Top in for about a year and there are no problems... When idling and all of my mobile office equipment and sounds are on it just works... NO DIMMING... Remember this, just because a parent company buys another company does not mean there will be a change in the trenches... Optima batteries will not leak, they can be mounted in any direction on any angle, and they will not corrode... No loss of power because of dirty terminals... Plus they will last 2 to 2-1/2 times longer than conventional batteries...

 

Sears platinum > optima....

I have been there that.

Sears Platinum is exact same as odyssey. $208 out the door with no core.

My 04 went through 4 red top Optima's. Ill never buy another optima POS again.

 

Jake, code58 really said exactly what I was thinking when I wrote what I did. Please understand though, I was not saying you were wrong in using a yellow top battery in your truck.

I just went to Optima's website and compared the three types of batteries. What I found was that the Yellow top and Blue top are somewhat different than the normal definition of "Deep Cycle" and "Marine" batteries. If you have a heavy accessory draw that is not compensated for by the alternator, then by all means, you want the Yellow top battery. Comparing the Yellow and Red top batteries though, using the 34/78 model (which I think you may have), the Yellow top delivers 750 CCA and 870 CA, while the Red top delivers 800 CCA and 1000 CA. So, for starting, the Red top is superior. However, the Yellow top DOES have better reserve capacity: 120 minutes at 55 Ah as opposed to 100 minutes at 50 Ah for the Red top. If you powered your accessories using the battery only, they'd run longer on the Yellow top. The Yellow top has a somewhat "fussy" charge spec: It wants a 2 Amp final charge for one hour after the charging current falls below one Amp. The Red top is considered fully charged when charging current reaches one Amp.

I can't really figure why the Blue top even exists! *shrug*. In specs, it is identical to the Red top, except the dimensions are slightly different and it weighs 0.4 pounds less. It doesn't seem to have any deep cycle features at all. The weight of the Yellow top is a whopping 4.7 pounds more than the Red top, even though the dimensions are the same. I'm sure this is because of heavier, thicker plates.

So anyway, peace, brother! I'm glad the Yellow top is working well for you.

- Jack