Well, the battery in my 01 Ram 1500 went bad today. I believe it was the original battery. Anyway Advance tested it and said it was bad and it cranked over slow this afternoon when I tried to start it. Well, I planned to just get a Optima yellow top but the guy at Advance said they didn't list one that would fit but they had a red top that would fit. When I started asking about them he said the yellow tops were more of a marine battery and only seemed to last about 2 years but were popular for jeeps with winches and stuff. I don't want this as I don't want to spend $160 then have to do it every 2 years. He said the red tops had a warranty for 7 years so should last about that. I was thinking of a Optima as I have a fair bit of stereo stuff in the truck and they seem to be popular for guys with big stereo's. Anyway he told me he thought I would be better off running a second battery for the stereo but even if I didn't do that for cranking the motor over he thought I would be better with just a normal battery. Is this true or should I go with a Optima? Which one should I go with if I want it to last?

 

go with the Optima Red top.

The optima batteries are sealed, meaning they are never meant to be seviced. Also, they are cell isolated, each cell has its own compartment with a rod and H2SO4 and are epoxy sealed to resist road vibration that normally breaks up the plates on a typical battery. The red tops are 750 CCA, which should be more than enough for a truck with a stereo. You'd really only need a deep cycle battery if you were running a competition level system, or winches and on site repair tools like the wheelers do.

 

Check a sams club or costco near you for the price of the red top. typically they have the best prices.

 

I have bought my Red top 5years ago and it work like new and i have put it thrue hell and back. The only thing they don't like is short trips consintly but if you get out and take a 20 min drive every so often then thier great. Short trips will make it seem like is bad when it an't and just needs charged. No big deal hear just common sence. If mine ever went bad I would buy another on agin as far as i'm conserned you can't beat them with any other battery.

 

If that was the original battery I would try to find one just like it.8 years on one is a long time

 

I ended up just going to the dealer and getting one. No where else seemed to have a battery the same size as mine either smaller or slightly bigger. Advance had one of theirs the same size and that's all I found. Most of the slightly and I mean slighter bigger ones were a lot more than the OEM one and the one from Advance only saved $10. I ended up getting the OEM one from the dealer for $95 and the others at parts stores seemed to be $85 and most weren't quite as big. Advance had one the same size for $85 though. I figured I had good luck with the OEM one so I'd try another.

The Optima's just have too many people saying they had to replace them 5 or 6 times to get a good one for me.

 

That is the thing 97% of them that are supposidly bad are in fact just are not charged due to short trips. So when the battery gets low they claim the battery is bad. Most people don't know that you CAN NOT TEST A OPTIMA WITH A STANDERD BATTERY TESTER AND YOU CAN'T CHARGE THEM ON HIGH (over 12 amp)

 

I have a dual battery setup with redtop for starting and yellowtop for my stereo because its a deepcycle battery for powerful systems, its nice because I dont get any kind of headlight flickering when I have the stereo pounding.