Dex and I "got a deal" on buying two Optima yellow tops about a month ago. We put his in a couple of weeks ago - mine is still in the garage (ran out of time) and I'm hoping to get a chance to drop it in this weekend.

When we did his, we ran into a couple of issues:

1) the stock plastic battery box is much larger than the Optima and doesn't fit over it well. This piece, however, appears to be the primary method of strapping the battery down.

2) the lowered profile of the Optima made it very difficult to mate up with the stiff battery connectors.

We ended up cutting a rectangle of 1/2 plywood to place under his battery to make it sit a bit higher and reach the connectors.

Question for Mean Gean, Sasha, others who have the Optima:

Did you do anything to make yours fit better? Did you use the factory box to secure the battery or buy a battery strap?

 

I run one of those. I ran custom 4 gauge wires straight from the alternator to the battery on each end there is a "Stinger" piece to tie arounf battery poles.

What you can do is to take a short 4ga wire and attach it to your stock wires (you don't even have to modify them) and attach the same way I did to the poles.

 

I see Optimas advertised and displayed in stores, but have never heard from an owner- what is the advantage of them?

My battery is 5 years old and should fail soon- are Optimas a good buy? How much do they cost and are they supposed to last longer then conventional batteries?

Thanks in advance for any comments anyone can provide.

 

Optimas are supposed to be the best for the price. First of all, it is deep cycle so you can recharge it all you want and it won't die (I killed one...so proud). Highly recommend! I am not too knowledgeable about technical details of that battery but as far as I know everyone who owns one is happy.

P.S. If you use it for sound system, get Yellow. If you use it just to start your car, use Red. Maybe someone can go into more detail about all that.

 

I'm totally ****faced right now so I'm probably missing your question, but have you tried running the batt in the trunk near the amps? Should save you both some $ as well as less voltage drop as you have overall less wiringg going to the back of the vehicle hence less resistance reaching the amps yum.

 

Here's a decent place to start.

LINK to Optima Web Site - Yellow Top

I needed a new one, so it was good timing to upgrade.

 

Optima Yellow Top Batteries are not meant to be used for starting. That is what the Red Top ones are for. Yellow tops are meant for high current or deep cycle applications or to be used as a second battery to power audio, winches, etc


Ryan

 

Thanks all for your replies.

Ryan,

I'd agree they probably aren't "the best" if you were to buy it just for starting the car, but it sounds like a lot of folks are using it for dual duty very successfully. FYI - did you see the link in meets about the mini-meet in CLT in a couple of weeks?


Retro (and others): How did you secure your battery once you removed the factory box? I've heard/read over the years several times that you should always have the battery strapped down or secured, even though it seems so heavy it would never move on it's own. Did you make the factory box fit over it?

 

Ryan - Both the Red Top & Yellow Top have the same cold cranking amps so the Yellow is just as good as the Red in terms of starting. The Red's cheaper because it's not of the deep cycling design & therefore NOT a good choice for stereo systems. I have a Yellow under the hood for the car's electronic demands & another in the trunk dedicated to just the system ( over 2 years & no problems ).
Dave - I used a strap to secure the underhood YT down & didn't use the stock battery cover.

 

I used an aftermarket strap also. Actually it was for Acuras but you can't tell. Just a nice chrome brace.

 

If you have the room and need a distribution block on top of the yellow top, here is a little known product which "I" would purchase if I own a yellow top (which I dont, because I want lexus to keep replacing my dead batteries for free when they die <grin>)

Here is the link

http://store.autotoys.com/cgi-bin/wf...ct/PP2001&2DPT

 

Holy shiznut batman! Thx for the link, I'll take one!

 

good info fellas - but
well, my car would not start a few weeks ago. i didn't like to start when I bought it but I new it can be fixed. so i pulled the starter and found worn contacts. replaced them and the car started. yay

well, it didn't start right away. i just figured the battery had low charge because I was trying to start it a few times back. battery went dead - I jumped it. still doesn't seem to hold a charge though no matter how much i drive.

Well, the alternator is new and there is plenty of juice while I'm driving so I figure it is the battery. It is one of these yellow tops that came with it when I bought it. Can I fill the cells with that charge juice? Or should I just buy a battery? I'm leaning towards picking up another battery.

 

Man, I ordered this thing on 16th and it is still not shipped!

 

That's an awesome piece ! !

Gotta have it but . . .

Will it clear the hood on a GS?

Please let us know the dimensions when you receive it.

I've ordered from Autotoys several times and always had prompt service. Maybe they're on backorder.