Well, the AGM in my 02 vert was giving those signs again, little slow on the crank, radio losing stations, the HUD resetting randomly, all caused by low voltage dipping on starting. I've been nursing it along with a battery charger here and there, but it just wasn't keeping a full charge after an overnight and a couple of hours to settle. 4 years, I figure I got my money's worth.

Had a tough decision to make on what battery, wound up with a Red Top from Costco. Just couldn't bring myself to perch a flooded cell battery atop the computer. It was either the Optima or the Exide Orbital. Flip a coin I figure. Oddly enough, on Black Friday, Costco was actually not all that busy, so it was the Optima. And a rack of those baby back ribs.

Hope this one holds out.

 

4 years is not too bad. My Optimas have been good

Make sure you vote:

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/show...ry+performance

 

Ok now I have a question. My husband has a Die Hard Gold battery which is now giving us problems however we think the problem there could be that is sat for 2 years waiting for a new trans and we didn't start it. He is over the 36 month warranty but is still under the 100 month limited warranty. I have read your poll on batteries and my question is what is the difference between the red top and yellow top Optimas? We cannot decide on what to do at this point but figure we have time being it is now under winter storage---why go buy one now for it to sit---we can wait til spring..

So the choices are Optima red or yellow (if someone can tell us the difference between the two) or just get another Diehard Gold..

What do you think?

 

I've had my Optima in the car for over 5 years now and it is still going strong. Hope you get that kind of performance out of yours.

 

Optima batteries are high priced pieces of sh$t. While there are many who think they (Optima batteries) are the greatest thing since sex, there are many of us (myself included) who think Optima's stink. I had nothing but trouble w/ them and I wouldn't have another if ya' gave it to me for free. Go w/ the DieHard Gold---that's what I did and I couldn't be happier. Good luck....

 

I guess it is true ... everyone has an opinion

The Optima yellow top is a deep cycle battery, unless you have accessories that you will leave on when the car is not running you won't need a deep cycle battery.
The red top is a starting battery, that's what you want if the deep cycle is not what you are looking for.

Oh yeah and my Optima red top is still great after 3 years, with infrequent usage.

 

I don't want to get into this debate again....but so often batteries take the blame for other charging system issues. A battery is nothing more than a storage device for voltage.

For example, here's what happens in one cell of a car's lead-acid battery:

* The cell has one plate made of lead and another plate made of lead dioxide, with a strong sulfuric acid electrolyte in which the plates are immersed.

* Lead combines with SO4 to create PbSO4 plus one electron.

* Lead dioxide, hydrogen ions and SO4 ions, plus electrons from the lead plate, create PbSO4 and water on the lead dioxide plate.

* As the battery discharges, both plates build up PbSO4 (lead sulfate), and water builds up in the acid. The characteristic voltage is about 2 volts per cell, so by combining six cells you get a 12-volt battery.

A lead-acid battery has a nice feature -- the reaction is completely reversible. If you apply current to the battery at the right voltage, lead and lead dioxide form again on the plates so you can reuse the battery over and over. In a zinc-carbon battery, there is no easy way to reverse the reaction because there is no easy way to get hydrogen gas back into the electrolyte.

The Optima is a "Spiral Cell Battery" - but it is still a simple lead acid battery. It is not gel-filled as some believe. The same holds true for the Exide Orbital. Both of these batteries are sealed - so there is no need to ever top off the cells with distilled water - like you would in a Die Hard. Also - the cases of the batteries are said to withstand heat and impact better, than a standard battery.

These batteries don't leak, unless the case is somehow punctured. There are no openings at the top for the electrolyte to seep or leak out.

Can a battery be defective - sure why not? Are Optimas perfect...nope! Are Excide Orbitals perfect....nope. But I still maintain that I have enjoyed great success with the Optima 75/35 Red Top in my Vette. My Optima started to go south this summer (within the 3 year unconditional warranty period). I took it back to Costco - from where I had originally purchased it, told them that it is not holding a charge....they gave me a brand new one, no questions asked, no hassle.

I live in one of the harshest climates in the U.S. - the desert Southwest. Ambient temps in the summer routinely reach 110F+. Underhood temps for ANY battery are well above the 250F+ range....which is a known killer for batteries....ANY battery. Common thought here is that batteries last about 2 years tops. The Optima lasted 32 months. I have no complaints. When I lived in the Midwest (Chicago, where it gets pretty damn cold!) we usually got 5 years out of a battery.

Get whatever battery makes you happy - but personally I am happy with the performance of the Optima, so much so that I bought one for the daily driver, too.

 

I think the AGM batteries get a bad rap, whether they are Delco, Optima or Exides.

It's one of the strengths of AGM batteries that actually turn people against it - the extremely low internal resistance.

What that translates to is that even a pretty well depleted AGM battery still can produce enough current to turn the starter, at least for a few cranks. Our modern engines tend fire up very easily on just a bump of the starter. This is all great.

The downside is there's no warning of impending battery doom to alert you a month or so ahead of time that the battery is getting weak. Everything seems to go merrily along until poof, it's like the battery just flat out quit.

Extremes of climate are hard on batteries of course. But I suspect that many of the Corvette battery ills are from low utilization. I don't drive my 'vette in the rain. So it sits in the garage a fair bit, especially in the winter. We get like 6 months of sunshine here and 6 months of intermittant rain, especially in the late winter to early spring.

Corvettes are full of little vampires in the electrical system that draw a little current. Over the course of a couple of weeks, they can draw down the battery. A lead acid battery that is deeply-discharged or left discharged will develop irreversable sulphation of the plates. This eats away at the capacity of the battery until it won't crank or the reserve capacity is greatly reduced and you notice something wrong.

I was torn between the yellow and red-top Optima. The red-top is a starting battery, meaning it is designed to produce a large peak cranking power and be replenished without a deep discharge. The yellow top is designed as a dual purpose starting/deep-cycle battery. It sacrifices a little cranking power, but it is designed to cope with being discharged and recharged. For a vehicle that sits for periods of time, this can be a good thing. I figure the starting battery though should work fine. Might need to top it off with a light charge in the rainy season now and then, but I got a solid 4 years out of the factory battery.

 

My Delco leaked. I bought a redtop and start my car maybe once a week. So far so good with Optima...

 

I think I better go check my battery next while I'm getting all this great info..


Randy---you are a total wealth of knowledge---is there anything you do not have great inforamtion on??

 

Nice write up! Only thing I will add to this is that I have never had any problem out of my AC Delco battery.. I will agree they are not perfect but I'm going to stick with them.

If your car is going to set for winter or long periods of time I would get a battery tender. NO matter what brand battery you buy, Corvettes have a small draw on the battery keeping electrical devices hot and if the car sits without starting it's going to drain and do damage to the battery. Here is the one that I use and had real good luck with. I has a auto shut off once the battery is fully charged, Nice little float charger.
http://www.lectriclimited.com/batter...loat%20Charger

 

Yep, whatever you do it is a good idea to use a tender. I always do if the car sits for more than a few days.

 

My Red Top is 2 years old in a car that isn't a dailey driver and I've had no problem.

 

My Altima redtop is working perfectly. my Delco leaked acid into my battery box and turned the cables/wire bundles yellow- bad deal. had the red top for a year and keep a tender on it when we leave for the winter--working exactly like I hoped

 

Thanks!:o I have no knowledge on how to make millions of dollars while sitting and playing on the Forum and with Corvettes all day!!!

 

Batteries are like anything else - they need a good preventative maintenance program. In order to get the most out of any battery - always make sure the connections are clean and tight (but not overtightened! Many feel that overtightening of the cables led to the leakage of the OEM side terminal batteries on the '97-'00 cars), a good battery charging device that gives the batterry a maintenance charge (not a trickle charge) like a Battery Tender of the others that perform in a similar manner will give you the longest life.

As larrysb correctly pointed out - there are a lot of small parasitic drains that occur in a Corvette. This is not an issue usually for a car that is driven regularly. But for cars that sit for a while, and especially for those that will be stored over the winter - a Battery Tender or similar device is the best bet.

 

I bought the redtop Optima. But when I unbolted the OEM Battery it began to leak - so just because youyu've had no problemes to date doesn't matter. I recommend any of the technologies that are not liguid - get gel. Too risky to do otherwise. JMHO.

 

Well if there is a way I'm sure you will figure it out then you can pass it on to me..