Ok I have now gone threw 3 optima yellow top batterys in the last 6 months or so...It is has been relocated in the trunk and I have checked all my connections and even pulled my 2 gauge wires to check for shorts nothing...Every time it seems that it will die becuase i leave the lights on or something and I will go to jump it and after that it just will die, I'll take it in get it checked and they say its toast. My alternater is charging im showing 14.7 volts while the car is running and 12.8 while the car isoff when the battery is good. but now it just shows 8.8 volts but then again its dead... and if i charge it it will last a day and then go back to dead. There is no current draw when the car is off ether... I'm jumping it correctly as well following the instrutions that are givenwith the battery. I don't know but itspeanuting pissing me off....

Any ideas???

 

i used to have a yellow topped optima battery in my blue r/t....i always had tons of problems with it....
but then again, the yellow top is also a deep cycle battery and isnt exactly made to power a car.....next time try the red topped one

 

the yellow top is a duel puropose battery.

There are 3 types of carbatterys...

1) A starting battery, supplys alot of cca to start car and can be quickly charged by alternater but can not be drained to fast or past a certain voltage before alternater can not keep up...The optima Red Top falls into this catagory.

2) A marine battery / Deep Cycle battery, Ment to be drained slowly over a long period of time but does not hold the CCA that a starter battery does and takes a long time to charge, more for long use without an alternater type of battery. Charging a deep cycle batter with an alternater will hurt this type of battery over a amount of time..Optima Blue Top falls into this catagory.

3) A duel purpous deep cycle battery, best of both worlds[*] Can charge quicklyusing alternater[*] Holds enuf CCA to start a car[*] Has enuf reserve power to power powerful accesorys without dimming lights [*] Can be slowly and safly drained below limits that starting batterys can
The Optima yellow top falls into this catagory

However the optima's are agm batterys, Gel filled not liquid filled.
charging them is not like charging a normall battery...

how about more thoughts after reading this...

 

dont have any more thoughts...all i know is that i ran into way too many problems with my yellow top...now i have a $140 yellow brick that i believe is sitting in my mother-in-laws back yard

when i was using it in the blue r/t, the car would randomly die...over and over again....so i got a regular battery and had no problems.......i put the same optima in my old taurus SHO and the car didnt wanna start at all most of the time, and when it was running it would act like it had a really bad misfire....put another battery in, no problems....since then the optima has been sitting where it is now....and its been almost 4 years....biggest waste of money i ever spent

 

Thanks spud, I'm still under warrenty for the yellow top, should i just take it back and get the red top???

Another thing. I know that you have / had a major audio setup from pics in your album were you running the red top or yellow top and how did the red top perform???

 

As long as you keep the battery charged it should be good. The more times the battery is totaly discharged the less ability it has to store energy. Maybe something is wrong with the charging system







TIPS
http://europe.optimabatteries.com/pu...logy/tips.html

12.What is the difference between your deep cycle and starter battery?



The OPTIMA deep cycle battery combines a different chemistry for the active paste material on the plates, and a slightly stronger acid. This chemistry change allows for a much longer life in cycling applications, with only a slight reduction in power.





13.What does deep cycle mean?



Deep cycle means using the battery in an application that will typically discharge 60% to 70% or more of the battery capacity. An automotive battery is an SLI (starting, lighting, ignition) battery. It's plates are designed to deliver maximum power for a short duration. Starting a car typically discharges an SLI battery only 1% to 3%. When an SLI battery is used in a deep cycle application, or in a vehicle with heavy accessory loads, the battery life will be shortened proportionally to how deeply it is cycled on a regular basis.





14.When should I consider a deep cycle?



Any time you need the battery to supply all the operating power for a vehicle or other device. Additionally, deep cycle batteries should be used in vehicles that have heavy accessory loads where the alternator cannot maintain the battery in a fully charged condition


17.When should I use a Deep Cycle OPTIMA as a Starting battery?



"Deep Cycle" batteries are designed for applications that require deep, repetitive amperage drain, like trolling motors, ICE installs, golf carts, electric wheelchairs or RV / Marine house power sources. However, there are other applications, called "Heavy Cycling" or "High Cycling", when a Deep Cycle OPTIMA can successfully replace a starting battery to provide longer life and better performance.
In heavy cycling or high cycling applications, a vehicle will pull unusually high amperage levels from the starting battery due to extra accessories or limited alternator capacity. Utilities, including police, fire and ambulance fleet managers often find that traditional starting batteries cannot provide adequate life and performance due to heavy cycling. This is an excellent example to provide a solution with longer life and better performance by using an OPTIMA Deep Cycle battery in this type of application.

In any vehicle or equipment that will use the battery only for Starting, Lighting, & Ignition requirements and has a properly working alternator, the OPTIMA Red Top Starting Battery will perform extremely well, often providing up to two to three times longer life than conventional batteries. If the vehicle has few or no after-market accessories and uses a stock or upgraded alternator, the OPTIMA Red Top Starting Battery is the appropriate choice.

Remember, it is possible for the customer to have a completely discharged Yellow Top OPTIMA that will not start their engine; so it is important to monitor current drain using a volt and amps gauge to know when the YellowTop Optima is discharged and requires recharging. Advantages of the Yellow Top OPTIMA are that it can accept a rapid recharge and will thus recover from discharge faster than traditional batteries.

To provide you with the best OPTIMA solution, it is, necessary to consider both the application and the charging system before recommending the correct OPTIMA. For example, if drive a Land Rover Discovery with an after-market alarm system, which OPTIMA would you recommend? If you drive the car every day, the Red Top would be the correct choice, since the amperage drain will be nominal and the battery would be recharged on a daily basis. However, if the vehicle is used infrequently and left without uses for long periods of time with the alarm system engaged, the OPTIMA Yellow Top would be recommended, since the amperage drain over several weeks would damage a Red Top and reduce its life.

 

its HAD....i got tired of big stereos...especially since it really sux being 22 years old only having about 45% of my hearing[&:]

i used the yellow top with myHUGE stereo...workedgreat for about 1 year, then i started with the problems i listed above....
a buddy of mine had a mustang with 6 alpine type R 10's and 6 lanzar 1200watt amps....loudest stereo i ever heard.....he used the red topped optima, and 5 years later, is still using the same one

 

ok so i went to the optima website that 12volt posted and it says...

Connect high amperage accessories such as a winch to the top terminals only. Do NOT use the side terminals.

ok so this may be my problem....I will provide a pic below showing how I have everything connected and showing what is hooked up where. I feel a dumbass coming on....grrrr..I know this is probally why...

We will start on top posts...

Neg. post with scosche adapter has two wires coming off of it both are grounds to the body.

pos. post with scosche adapter has a 4g wire leading to a duel fuse block and split into 2 4g wires one leading to each amp. The smaller 8g wire leads to under arm rest console to a terminal block and all my accesorys are connected to this wire. ie...3 million color led set, tach, aftermarket gauges, xm radio, a few led's my neon tube power box, and a few other 12' neon tubes. but is in no way is to much for this size of wire.

Ok now the side posts simply are from my battery relocation. I put screw type post terminals in the side holes so i could run normal post connections...running 2g wire up to the front both positive and negitive run all the way to the front. to my starter.

now seeing that the starter draws more amps then anything in the car and the optima website says very clearly...[*]Connect high amperage accessories such as a winch to the top terminals only. Do NOT use the side terminals.

do you think this is why i keep frying the battery???




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I have had 2 optima yellow top batteries in my trunk for six years and running a powerful stereo system. I have not had a problem them yet. Besides if you are driving your car every day and your battery keeps dying it is more than likely your alt. Because after you have started the motor the car is running off of the alt not the batteries. If the alt is not keeping up get a bigger better alt

 

its not the alternator, when the car is running and the battery is gooda multi meter will show about 14.7 volts and 12.8 when the car is off both are compleatly exeptable numbers and I really dont turn up my system to much at all anymore...