My Optima Redtop is Great

jeepinmatt

jeepinmatt

Old, fat, and grumpy.
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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