My Optima Redtop is Great

jeepinmatt

jeepinmatt

#1 WEBWHEELER
Moderator
Joined
Mar 24, 2005
Location
Stanley, NC
I've seen alot of threads bashing the Optima's, but that has been the opposite of my experience. Case in point:

My jeep has been sitting since December 2009. I messed up my fan, then messed up my radiator, and I've just been too busy to fix it. The battery has not been on a charger at all, but has remained connected to the vehicle the whole time. I finally got off my lazy butt yesterday (a.k.a. found a spare minute), and got my radiator and fan reinstalled. I went to turn the key, expecting a click, or even nothing, and instead it turned right over, no problem. I ended up having to crank at it for about 3 minutes before the fuel pump primed enough for ignition, and even after 3 minutes, it was still going strong. It had been sitting for over 7 months, radio still has presets even.

I've had this Optima since about 2001. It's a Red top with side terminals, I think it's 1050 cranking amps, whatever the big one was that they sold at Tarheel 4wd back then. It has had a rough life, winching and powering as many as 10 lights at a time, back when I thought that was cool.

Just wanted to share my positive experience, thanks for reading.
 
I think the red-tops for the most part have been fairly reliable. My beef has always been with the Yellow-tops, as I've had nothing but trouble. Good to hear yours is working well Matt, that's some good use out of any battery!
 
I've got a red top Optima that I think I bought back in 2002 to put in my Bronco. It then stayed with that rig as it morphed into a Ranger cab truck, and sat unused for long periods of time during that process. It has been in my Tahoe since probably 2007 and is still doing fine.
 
I think most of the older Red Tops are good. I've had good luck with my Red Tops but all are from at least 2002 or older. I'd never buy a newer one...
 
I had one in my 1966 Mustang that very often sat for a month or two at a time without being driven,sometimes longer in the winter.The car had probably the largest stereo I have ever had in a vehicle,with every single speaker in there being amped.I never had to charge it and never disconnected it from the car.I thought it worked very well over the 4 or 5 years I owned the car.
 
Had one in my old CJ. While out Wheeling One Day, the front tires came off the ground, and I smacked straight on into a tree pretty hard. Unknown to me, my Red Top came out of the battery tray and landed upside down on the header. I drove it from Kodak Rock to Arrowhead campground like that. It survived and continued to work for a couple more years. I'm not sure sure any other battery would have done so well.
 
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