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#@!%*&^ optima! **Update**

br0nc0xrapt0r

Loves pickles
Joined
Sep 28, 2007
Messages
5,437
this battery was no more than a year and a half old and it wont hold a charge! it sat unhooked in the bronco for 2 weeks now its dead! what gives? does anyone else have this problem?
 
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malonejy

Bronco Guru
Joined
Jul 21, 2001
Messages
1,032
I've still had good luck with Optima but I don't think you're alone. I'm sure many will chime in with complaints about the newer Optima's.
 
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br0nc0xrapt0r

br0nc0xrapt0r

Loves pickles
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Messages
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I've still had good luck with Optima but I don't think you're alone. I'm sure many will chime in with complaints about the newer Optima's.

I had a similar problem with the last optima but I chocked it up to it falling out of the tray and hitting the alternator. However they still replaced it, this one though is in perfect shape... I think I will opt for a interstate battery next I have had good luck with those.
 

NY-Bronco

Resident Dipstick
Joined
Aug 4, 2010
Messages
2,336
Loc.
Weehawken, NJ
Being that they do have a three year warranty just file a claim and get a new one. I have heard from others having a similar issue.
 
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br0nc0xrapt0r

br0nc0xrapt0r

Loves pickles
Joined
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Messages
5,437
Being that they do have a three year warranty just file a claim and get a new one. I have heard from others having a similar issue.

with who though I got the battery in SoCal now I am in Hawaii, I got it at pep boys and too the best of my knowledge there isn't one close to me.
 

carter2772

Contributor
Bronco Guru
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Oct 21, 2008
Messages
1,560
Loc.
Camano Island, Wa
Have you tried charging it in parallel? I recently learned that a lot of the new chargers WILL NOT even start to charge a battery if its charge has dropped down to far. If you charge it in parallel with another battery that is charged, it tricks the charger into thinking it is above that point of no return.
 

blubuckaroo

Grease Monkey
Joined
Jun 11, 2007
Messages
11,795
Loc.
Ridgefield WA
With over 8 years on my Pep Boys battery, I can't see the point for an Optima battery unless you have changed the mounting position to vertical.
 

lil red

Full Member
Joined
Nov 29, 2009
Messages
296
Loc.
San Antonio, TX
Very interesting! My son threw one in his Heep a few weeks ago. I went out to start it and it's dead. Tried to charge it and nothing. Its going back. Hell, might as well save a few bucks and buy a battery at Wally mart.
 

68rockcrawler

Bronco Guru
Joined
Sep 18, 2006
Messages
1,417
There is a long discussion on this site about Optimas and the Optima rep even got on here and was talking about there batteries. You might find some more good info if you can find that thread.
 

70EB

Bronco Guru
Joined
Aug 31, 2003
Messages
1,621
Loc.
Gig Harbor
Had a Red Top die on me also. It would charge and I could put a meter on it and watch it draw down with nothing hooked to it.

Got a Sears Diehard Platinum. Tough to find a place in the US that does not have a Sears.
 

pcf_mark

Bronco Guru
Joined
Jun 11, 2010
Messages
3,574
http://powersource.optimabatteries.com/uncategorized/hot-rod-magazine-parallel-charging/

Link to the info on parallel charging. They do not like going dead - I battled with our local speed shop on two bad ones in a row. Then we did a little experiment and bought the first "dead" one back that had been sitting on the cold concrete a few weeks.

I got Wally World anyway. I have a 10 year old one in my other car that get dead all the time because it sits a lot. Hit with the charger and away it goes w/o the drama.
 

DirtDonk

Contributor
Bronco Guru
Joined
Nov 3, 2003
Messages
47,355
Hey Raptor. I would PM Optima Jim. I don't think you should necessarily get penalized because you got deployed to Hawaii after buying your battery. I don't think it always matters anyway, but in your case there are certain "extanuating" circumstances that they might take into account.
Worth a shot anyway. Even if you don't like Optima any more, you still paid a bundle for it, and should get some use out of it.

As I've said before, all of my personal and professional (as a seller of Optimas) experience has been nothing but positive. I recently recharged my Blue-Top from dead-nuts to full power with only my trusty Sears semi-smart charger left on for a week. I started the first day of charging using some speaker wire in between the charger and the positive terminal, then went direct for the rest of the week.
That same battery had sat (on the proverbial concrete floor no less) for 3 years before I even used it the first time and it started the car without even an initial recharge. Yes, I know it's not supposed to do hat, but it did. And so did my second one just recently, and 2 Yellow Tops that I put in a friend's re-wired Bronco. They've since sat in his Bronco for over a year without a single start, and fired right up with no re-charge.
The body shop that let the one go dead for a month with the lights on had figured it was a total loss, but I got it charged back up and it's been fine since.
It does (very) slowly go down on a meter, just like any battery does (including non-Optimas), but not fast enough to cause trouble. I just put it back in after sitting on the floor again for a month, and it's perfectly capable of starting the car.
Still.

Our warranty percentage was very low too, but then that was a few years ago too, so I accept the possibility of change. However, all four of mine (3 Blue, 1 Red) are within the time frame of when everybody's problems started. So I don't know what to say. I'm just a punk that's feeling lucky I guess.

Just a long way of suggesting you contact Optima and see if there are any KO's (Kaneohe Options) .

Paul
 

Apogee

Contributor
Bronco Guru
Joined
Nov 26, 2005
Messages
6,033
... I think I will opt for a interstate battery next I have had good luck with those.

FWIW, most of the Interstate batteries I've seen (on the West Coast) are manufactured by Johnson Controls Inc (JCI).

The only batteries I would avoid aside from Optimas would be those made by Exide. I worked too many years in the lead-acid battery industry to ignore their return rates and the damage that they did the industry as a whole. Their CEO went to prison, and that's just for the stuff they could prosecute him for.

Tobin
 

DirtDonk

Contributor
Bronco Guru
Joined
Nov 3, 2003
Messages
47,355
Cool videos. Did you see the one where the guy took his apart?
One time, way back when, the Optimal sales rep took a 12 volt chain saw, hooked it to an Optima Red Top and proceeded to saw the battery in to little pieces. At some point it finally gave up trying to power the saw, but it was pretty eye-opening while it lasted.

Paul
 

DirtDonk

Contributor
Bronco Guru
Joined
Nov 3, 2003
Messages
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Their CEO went to prison, and that's just for the stuff they could prosecute him for.

Nice... That's the Exide CEO? Do you remember just what they got him for?
Big company. And he was probably making a boatload of money. Shame to see it all slip through his fingers for being stupid, greedy and dishonest.

Paul
 
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br0nc0xrapt0r

br0nc0xrapt0r

Loves pickles
Joined
Sep 28, 2007
Messages
5,437
Hey Raptor. I would PM Optima Jim. I don't think you should necessarily get penalized because you got deployed to Hawaii after buying your battery. I don't think it always matters anyway, but in your case there are certain "extanuating" circumstances that they might take into account.
Worth a shot anyway. Even if you don't like Optima any more, you still paid a bundle for it, and should get some use out of it.

As I've said before, all of my personal and professional (as a seller of Optimas) experience has been nothing but positive. I recently recharged my Blue-Top from dead-nuts to full power with only my trusty Sears semi-smart charger left on for a week. I started the first day of charging using some speaker wire in between the charger and the positive terminal, then went direct for the rest of the week.
That same battery had sat (on the proverbial concrete floor no less) for 3 years before I even used it the first time and it started the car without even an initial recharge. Yes, I know it's not supposed to do hat, but it did. And so did my second one just recently, and 2 Yellow Tops that I put in a friend's re-wired Bronco. They've since sat in his Bronco for over a year without a single start, and fired right up with no re-charge.
The body shop that let the one go dead for a month with the lights on had figured it was a total loss, but I got it charged back up and it's been fine since.
It does (very) slowly go down on a meter, just like any battery does (including non-Optimas), but not fast enough to cause trouble. I just put it back in after sitting on the floor again for a month, and it's perfectly capable of starting the car.
Still.

Our warranty percentage was very low too, but then that was a few years ago too, so I accept the possibility of change. However, all four of mine (3 Blue, 1 Red) are within the time frame of when everybody's problems started. So I don't know what to say. I'm just a punk that's feeling lucky I guess.

Just a long way of suggesting you contact Optima and see if there are any KO's (Kaneohe Options) .

Paul

well thanks for the advice but regardless it's going to have to wait since I'm gonna leave in a few days and won't be back till feb 26th
 
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br0nc0xrapt0r

br0nc0xrapt0r

Loves pickles
Joined
Sep 28, 2007
Messages
5,437
Ok so I went away again for about 7 weeks and I had the wife hook the smart charger up to it on trickle for the last two weeks. It started up just fine then I took the charger off and it died 3 days later, completely dead... So the next test is to do the same and leave it disconnected from the bronco. If it is fine then I know I have a gremlin in there.
 
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