A 12-volt battery will measure at about 12.9 volts when it’s fully charged and about 11.4 volts when it is fully discharged.

I use a battery tender on my Optima Redtop when the car sits for 3 or more days.

 

I have a Optima Red Top, and it's been a fine battery for me. But when I park it back in the garage, and things are piling up, I hook up a battery tender, a special one made specifically for Optima Red Tops, it's a VDC electronics and it's #12118 called 'BatteryMinder" and it is a float charger and also when the battery hit full charge the tender starts what is called "Desulphation" which is the plaque that starts to coat the lead plates inside the battery which extends the batteries life. But I think if your battery is dying why not go to www.optimabatteries.com or www.batteryminders.com

I know a lot of you have had a problem with a Optima battery, But if you watch the Video's and the proper way to recharge a Red Top, there is a special way to restore it. Look, I don't know, but I've got a Red Top and it's never been a trouble in the last four years, but like I said, I hook up a float charger anytime it's gonna sit for awhile. I know it's a PITA but you can't really lose if you treat one of these Mexican made batteries. But maybe I'm just got a good one! Works for me ?

 

I've have had good luck with my Red Top and I do look after it often. The charger I use, www,batteryminder.com is a special float charger and it's #12118 which is again, a special made float charger made specifically for a Optima or a Odyssey batteries. I have seen cars in the Restoration shop, County Corvette Inc, one of our sponsors, they have been assaulted with after-market Radios and things like that using the wrong wire and hooking it up wrong. But I was concerned about my AC Delco and they put the current Optima Red Top battery in my 2003 years ago and it's worked fine. About recharging a dead Red Top, you need another fully charged battery and hook the up the good battery in parallel and the charger is on the fully charged battery, the dead Red Top will slowly bring itself back to life. A Corvette has a constant draw of 20 ma I believe, and I have read here at this forum that some guys left their tom tom GPS unit plug-ed into the cigarette lighter outlet which put's an additional heavy draw on the battery So !

But I realize that none of you care about the hassle of recharging a Red Top, and I understand that. If you go to www.optimabatteries.com you can watch a Video of how to take care of a Optima Battery. Or just get a $125.00 Die hard or AC delco or whatever floats your boat, but the Red top is a good battery. Now if down in Mexico, if they don't assemble them correctly, that's another story. So well since the company makes and sells a hell of a lot of Optima's, something must be working OK ? or whatever !

 

"fully discharged" would be zero

 

yea, a few hours too late. I bought a Red Top today too. After my second Advance Silver 700 CCA in the past year, I trashed the Advance stuff and paid $185.00 for an Optima Red Top just 10 hours ago........wonderful

 

I just got my second Red Top last week during the Advance Auto 20% off if ordered on-line deal right after Christmas. My first Red Top lasted seven years. I'm hoping this one does as well.

 

Hey Barry, Don't let the Anti Red Top guys scare you, There is nothing wrong with it, It will last you years, Just get yourself a Ctek if the car is going to sit for awhile. Most with a Delco and Autozone battery that sit use a battery tender also.
Going on 3 years with my red top no issues.

 

Or, it could die in a matter of days... Mine died unconnected.. Can't blame the C5 battery hog on that. Strange thing, the Yellow Top can go weeks and no need for a battery tender.. I mean battery babysitter..
When this one dies, Im going back to the AC Delco

 

w Mr. Bill, all batteries on the market have their fair share of failures.... nothing new under the sun.
Some like Optima, some don't...C5's are a tad hungry on batteries when left in the garage for extended periods of time, thanks goodness for the battery tenders

 

Maybe your car doesnt like you........

 

It seems that every so often the Optima battery discussion once again is brought up. Well here’s my experience with batteries in my 1999 FRC.

Back in December of 2001 I became aware of a leak problem in early C5 batteries and decided not to risk my PCM and I purchased my first Red Top.

I took the original Delco battery out and since I had no reason to think it was bad or leaking, I placed the battery on a metal shelf in a storage area. I looked at the battery in the spring about three months later and saw a hole was eaten on the metal shelf almost as large as the battery itself. I see in an earlier post someone suggested placing a pie plate under the battery (post # 10). Unless that pie plate is made of glass, the acid will ruin the PCM as acid will eat through a pie plate in a short amount of time.

My first Optima battery was working perfectly six and one half years later, when I again purchased a new Red Top only because I was uninterested in being in the Guinness Book of World Records for “longest battery life” as I did not care to risk getting stuck someplace. My present Red Top, purchased in June 2008 is now two and one half years old and I have never had an issue with it. I put it on a Sears Diehard battery tender whenever I will not be driving the car for a few days.

Above there are posts pro and con for Optima batteries. Obviously, I have no control or knowledge how others have treated their batteries. I can only speak from my own experience. I have heard that no automobile battery leaks acid anymore. If a standard battery isn’t using acid, what material does it use?

One thing I now do with any battery that gets sporadic use is to keep it charged. Since I live in a part of the country that is subject to snow, the battery will spend weeks at a time connected to my battery tender. In the warmer weather, I only connect it to the tender if it will sit for about a week. I learned to do that because I have had a few rechargeable battery tools die because I let the battery run down beyond their ability to recharge. Before I realized that allowing a battery to discharge, I had to throw out rechargeable (cordless) drills, air pumps and screw drivers.

In summary, my experience with the Red Top battery has been a good one. Optima customer service has always been helpful in answering my questions. I don’t think the battery is expensive considering the use it gets in my Corvette. I’m not very knowledgeable in the engineering of a battery, nor the electrical system in a car, but I know that I will purchase another Red Top in a few years to replace the one I now have, hopefully before it fails, as I did in 2008.

 

I have had an optima red top on my 02 for 9 years and not one problem , now I have one on my 04. They seem to work well for me .
I do use a battery tender if the car sits for more than two weeks .
My 9 year old red top still fires up the car like new .

 

Wow, 9 years!

I've only had mine a year and will continue to put it on a tender if it sits for over a week.

My uncle has an 01 and his AGM battery is dead about every 30 days if he doesn't start it. His car is garage kept and only has about 25,000 miles. So even other batteries need the tender too.

 

I have no reason to believe my first Red Top wouldn't have lasted longer, maybe nine years, but I bought a new one for the same reason I got rid of my non-run flats; too old to get stuck somewhere.

 

You beat my record. The longest an OPTIMA red top lasted for me was a measly 7 years. Then I sold the car. The buyer was still using the same battery 2 years later. He had also been using the same BATTERY TENDER PLUS that I gave him with the car.

I've been using OPTIMA red tops prior to them even being available to the general public. My employers was given the batteries to test in our large fleet during AZ summer temperatures. The cars were heavily laden with lots of electronic devices. To my knowledge (I followed the testing), not one OPTIMA ever failed. OPTIMA asked another employer in CO to perform similar tests on their fleet, testing during winter cold.

The OPTIMA in my Z16 was purchased June '06 when I got the car even though the oem battery was only two years old. The red top is on a BATTERY TENDER PLUS (@ 1.25amp) during winter hibernation of six months or anytime it's not being driven. When the oem GM batteries fail in our daily driver GM vehicles, I'll replace them with OPTIMA batteries as well.

 

The oem GM battery in my 02 was dead after a few months of purchasing the car . The battery was bulging out on the sides but no leaks thank god .
I couldn't believe how cheap that GM battery was . They have improved them since then .

 

Your uncle's AC Delco AGM battery is now 9+ years old and if it can go 30 days without being charged, it is still in good shape. Still, I'd recommend that he swap in a $60 Costco Kirkland battery and have a maintainer hooked up when the car is not going to be used for three weeks or more.

That battery is very robust and at 1/3rd the cost of an Optima, represents the best bang for the buck, bar none. You don't need an AGM anymore than you need runflats or a spare alternator.

 

Sorry, I forgot to mention that it had been replaced already at least 1x in the 2 years he's had the car.

 

I have a one year old Red Top that has been invarious cars. Started off in a Go-kart, then moved to my H/C Camaro and now the vette. The battery will go three weeks without being touched and fire up any car with no problems. Another one I have is around 8 years old that I use for a spare (It is now a pink/white top). It sat for about a year and was still able to fire up a 95 corolla. I get mine from Sams Club. It is a 1000 CA, 700 CCA (I think) and a 110 min reserve. $150.

Red Tops or Interstate Megatrons are the only 2 batteries I've ever used. Other than a "N"Everstart......

 

Hi There,
Last month I changed out my ac delco pro.I bought a cheapie( 81.00) a Maxx. I installed that day.It was really cold around here. My Car stays in the un heated garage.Any way I was really sick for 16 days. On the 17 day I read the batt. volts read 12.20. The car started right up. Checked for any codes. There were none.
robsc501