Looking for a little advice in purchasing a new battery for my 98 vette. I know I am opening up a can of worms with looking at the Optima batteries. I purchased a red top and after having it slightly less than four years it now needs to be replaced. To be honest I had a battery tender for winter use but chose to start the car every other day. Well you know how that goes; evey other day turns into once a week. I know thats my fault. My question is I was told to look into the yellow top being that it is a deep cell. I can pick one of these up for $180.00. I started looking at other batteries and if I am going to pay $120-$150 for another type of deep cell battery I might as well get the yellow top. Am I just punishing myself for sticking with optima?????

 

I get the one from advance. 100 bucks, 3 year no questions asked replacement warranty and has dual hook up points for adding accessories.

 

I've had great service from my Optima Red Top, but then again I know how to take care of them and I have a special float charger by a company who makes "BatteryMinder and the model is model # 12118. It is designed for Optima and Odyssey batteries which when it has charged your battery to it's 12.5 volts it switches over to a 'Desulphator' function that strips the plaque off the lead sprial or flat lead walls.

But very shortly I will be debunked and the majority of the forum member go with a Walmart battery of a AC Delco lead plate battery. I picked the Red Top because it was a AGM battery and there are a lot of AMG batteries, but the Red Top has been good to me., but I'm putting my flame suit on anyway.

 

So you had an Optima Red Top for slightly less than four years, and by your own admission you didn't keep the battery on a tender religiously over the winter.....and somehow you feel like you're "punishing" yourself by considering another?

That battery owed you nothing.

I just replaced my Red Top after three years - in Arizona that's more than you get from other batteries. I generally keep my tender on the battery if I'm not going to drive the car for a week. The battery was within the three year free replacement period, so I got a brand new one for free.

A yellow top Optima is a deep cycle battery intended for heavy electrical loads like big stereo equipment. The Optima starting battery is the Red Top. Consider an SC34U which has 800 cold cranking amps and a reserve capacity of 100. It is slightly bigger than the SC75U that the application guide calls for, but it fits just fine.

Commit to keeping the battery on a smart charger like a Battery Tender if you aren't going to be driving the car every day - and you'll get another 4 years+ out of your battery unless you live in a hot climate, then you'll get probably about 3 years.

 

My first Red Top lasted better than seven years and was still performing when I sold the car. My second one lasted three years. I replaced it with a Sears DieHard Platinum and so far (nearly two years later), it has had no problems. Cost about the same as the Red Top.

 

I have an Autocraft Gold 34/78-4, 1000 CA, 800 CCA, 115 RM from Advance Auto Parts. Only $66.99 with a ($40 off) online coupon last spring. Their batteries are made by Johnson Controls who makes the batteries for Sears, Auto Zone, Walmart, Interstate, Kirkland, Optima, Varta and others. The amount of reserve minutes (RM) is very important when choosing a battery for the C5 Corvette. 120 RM is recommended but try finding one with 120. 115 RM was the best I could find. The Optima Red Top 34/78 has only 100 RM and the 75/25 Red Top that most use has only 90 RM.

Advance is running a 20% coupon right now but if you search for online coupons you might find something better.

I use a Deltran Battery Tender Plus when my car is not in use for extended periods of time.

 

Sears Die-Hard Platinum batteries are not "made by" Johnson Controls.

Made in Missouri by Enersys Corp. Same company that makes the Odyssey. All Sears Die-Hard Platinums are made by them.

Sears Die-Hard Platinum #P4 (Group 34/78 dual-terminal) RC: 135 mins., CCA: 850. The Odyssey PT-1500 DT is the same battery.


HTH

 

I went with a Die Hard Platinum 135 reserve capacity.850 CCA 4yr. free replacement, 100 mo. Pro Rated Replacement. 78 series

 

 

red top

 

I've had two Red Tops and thought that they were great. I'd buy another.

 

I went with a locally produced battery same as odessey but with a little more bite been in the car 6 years lives on battery fighter charger.

 

With flame-suit on, I purchased my replacement at Wal-Mart

I have many, many vehicles. Batterys (especially the ones not on trickle-chargers) are just part of the experience.

I depend on Consumer Reports to help me in many of my decisions. So far, all have been good ones. They rate many batteries, in different sizes and applications. They rate the Maxx Start line highly, so I pulled the trigger after almost TEN years on the OE AGM unit. I choose Wal-Mart also due to the vast number of locations to get it replaced if it does go bad prematurely. My boat and motorhome have taught me this valuable lesson.

I show my car, so I pulled all the stickers and labels off the battery and re-positioned them where they cannot be seen while installed.

There's my opinion, let the flame-job begin. LOL

 

Thanks to all who commented. I went with the optima yellow top. Got it from AA with 15% off online and $25.00 mfg. rebate it came out to $155.00. I also hooked it up to my battery tender plus.

 

On a C5 I would go with a Optima red top for car starting duties for the most important reason there could be, it is Completely spill-proof. I would not even consider using any battery that is not 100% spill-proof.

On a C5 because of what lies beneath where it sits a lead acid battery that leaks acid because of a crack in the case or leaking at the battery terminals could take out a large amount of electronics. wiring and other expensive items that are located below the battery. That is not even considering the severe frame damage that can occur from the horror stories and pictures I have seen when a battery leaked acid. A leaking battery could cause thousands of dollars of damage to a C5.

A direct quote from the following forum posting link:

"Common Problems

Leaking Battery
Many C5's came with AC Delco Freedom batteries that tend to have the case crack near the battery posts. The leaking battery acid would drip down the side of the battery, down the funnel-like battery support, straight down onto the PCM and the wiring loom. It can also get onto the A/C lines. I believe they are the vacuum lines that control the movement of the interior vents, and usually the system will default to blowing out the defroster vent. Sometimes car crippling damage would occur, sometimes not. It worst it would mean replacing the battery, the PCM, the wiring harness, grinding the rust off the frame to repaint it, changing the A/C lines and possibly swapping out another computer as well. This mostly happened on early C5’s because later C5’s used a gel-type battery that cannot leak, but I believe the problem resurfaced on ’04 or ’05 models again.

Check this out before buying a C5. Use a 8 mm monkey wrench, preferably a ratcheting closed-end version, to removed the battery cables. You also remove a holding block on the front side of the battery. You will need a long extension to reach it. The battery lifts out, then remove the black plastic battery tray. Look under the tray for rust or white powder--signs of evidence of battery acid damage. It would probably be best to move to the next Vette unless you don't mind possibly tackling this repair in the future. It's possible that the car will throw codes for no apparent reason.

No matter what Vette you buy, replace the battery with a gel-type battery, like the Optima Redtop, sold at CostCo for $100."

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c5-g...ngths-etc.html

 

Same here.

 

P4 34/78DT CCA 880 RC 135
Make sure you get the P4 size, the computer at Sears says P3 but that one is too small for the tray.

You shouldn't be looking to get flamed. Theres nothing wrong with most batteries, some are better than others but that doesnt mean its like a pass/fail thing. Lota guys use regular Walmart specials and change them a bit sooner.



Nothing wrong with your practice, its your car and if it makes you feel better you're certainly not hurting anything.

Just be aware that you would be hard pressed to find a top tier battery in the class most people recommend here (Yellow Top, Delco, Die Hard....whatever) thats going to leak.....ever..... That happened with older designs and the specific one they originally put in the C5 but its a dead issue.

Even with the older faulty design, they made about a half a million C5's how many have you seen with battery acid damage ?

No one can argue with you, what you're doing certainly wont hurt anything but you also cant argue with guys that still change thier oil (even if they use Mobil 1 Synthetic) every 3000 miles. They're not hurting anything but most of us dont do that either.

You know the Optima Redt Top wasnt designed for the C5 and the one most people use has an RC of 90 (not 100). The original battery spec was found to be wrong after production, its pretty much accepted that 100+ is a better way to go. The only reason you see so many people using Red Tops is that someone got the idea that due to their leak proof design and the PCM location they were the right choice for this car. Two out of three isnt bad I guess.

Believe me, if it performed like the Die Hard or Delco Professional Series Id have one in my car again.