Battery ?????
 

:looking to buy new batteries for my 25' Cat w/ 565 blower mtr. Are the Optima blue top batteries worth the money or just go with some new deep cycle Interstate batteries ??

I would get one Interstate Marine regular starting battery and one starting/deep cycle battery.

fixx
 

optima,,junk stick with interstate..i have 2 27 series and they lasted over 10 yrs..they wing my engine over with ease..

Agreed. Never had any luck with optimas. Only lasted a year and half on each set I've ever had!

I have Optimas and would recommend going to the Interstates.

Interstates in my boat are going on their 8th season as long as they load test OK.

Interstate deep cycle and an onboard charger plugged in each night.

Its better to have more battery capacity and not run them down as far.
Don't run them down past mid 11v, keep them charged all winter, battery will last a long time.

Odyssey http://www.odysseybattery.com/

If you do the math, it's really hard to justify the cost of an Optima even if you are replacing a couple normal deep cycles. Get a good deep cycle with a warranty and you should be good to go!

You can't beat the AGM (absorbed glass matt) batteries, whatever the brand. I switched after breaking two separate Exide 1000CCA cranking batteries from wake hopping.

The AGM's are tough as a brick, don't self discharge and work in any position. I've had the same two Seavolt AGM's from West Marine for 5 years now.

Thanks for all the responses !!! Looks like Optima is OUT !!! Thanks again !!

Optima=boat anchor

I have the same one installed in my race car since 1997. Ive totally discharged it 4-5 times and every time it comes right back and works perfectly (til I do it again)

Sears Diehard Platinum
 

Forget Optimuck. They hold less plate surface area because of their spiral design. The gel interior is not a favorable medium for effective recovery charge. They basically fry themselves during recharge, damaging the cells. One bad cell bank drags down the rest of the battery...and any other batteries connected. Any hopes of safely recharging a dead Optima must be done on the lowest charger setting. The only advantage to spiral gel Optima batteries is they can be mounted directly upside down.

Sears dumped the Optima line of batteries after too many defective claims. Sears contracted with Odyssey a division of Johnson Controls. Odyssey, (formerly Hawker battery, military contract) provides Sears with their Platinum Series...same exact AGM battery in a grey case instead of red....go ahead, compare the specifications. AGM batteries can be mounted in any position, EXCEPT DIRECTLY UPSIDE DOWN.

Now, your better off buying the regular grey Platinum battery for the one extra year of pro-rated warranty. The Marine series offers one less year of warranty because they know the battery sits without a charge for extended periods of time.
And try to buy your batteries on the one Sunday of the month called "friends & family day" for an additional discount.

Odyssey Batteries offer comparable warranty, shipping included, and are warrantied over the phone...because Odyssey has limited distributors throughout the country. I'd rather just drive to the local Sears if I have any problems.

I have no experience with Interstate Batteries, but I wouldn't consider any battery that wasn't an AGM technology battery. The increased reserve power alone is the reason...especially when your out in the middle of nowhere and you realize you left something on......click...click, click.

group 34/78 side terminal problems
 

...forgot to mention, and this really only applies to automotive GM side terminals like the ones found in Yukon's and Denali's. I thought it would be worth mentioning since many of us tow with these vehicles.

For a time, there was an issue of side terminal connection failure leading to the vehicle not starting...meanwhile the battery would test adequately under load test using the top posts. (Dual terminal 34/78)

The problem was two fold.
Installation technicians had over torqued the side terminals, stressing the connection inside the battery.
Driving vibration also exacerbated this condition when battery terminal leads did not provide proper slack.

Remedy: install and torque batteries yourself, slack the wire leads, install non-combustible padding and rubber straps to reduce vibration.

I'll admit I'm extremely rough on my batteries and I now use Kinetik powercells. With all the different batteries I've tried, nothing else has come close. No onboard charger or generator but I can push 90+db out of my stereo for 6 hours in the cove with zero performance loss and still spin the engine over at the end of the day with ease. A battery tender goes on after each day. I have an Interstate deep cycle backup battery that I can switch to in an emergency but I've never needed to.

interstate
 

:party-smiley-048:Amazing....I've never had any luck with interstate, 2 years at most with an onboard charger. Locally, I buy my batteries at Academy, just had a sale 1000 cca starting/deepcycle for 49.99, you can't beat that.

I’m going on my 6th season with 2 Vita-Plate starting batteries and 1 Deca deep cycle “house battery” I believe these are made by East Penn which suppose to be good. Sounds like by some Interstate is a great way to go.

All my batteries all started failing on the 3rd season. Decided to installed Lifeline batteries March 2011 and hope they will last longer do to write ups. Put an Odyssey in the watercraft at the same time. Hope this season works out better.

Die-hard/Interstate..i have a 1999 still using, a 2001 that had to replace last summer, a 2004 still using, a 1990 that made it until 1999. So i am repeatedly get over 10 years from these batteries. I keep buying them, they last.

AGM for the house battery and for the starting battery just go with a maintenance free quality from Penn, Deka, Sears or West Marines Sea Volt. Many like Interstate and Walmart's batteries.

AGM batteries are HEAVY.

What kind of amps are you running and what size Kinetik battery did you install ?

Thanks
Joby

I'd have to double check my invoice from Waves & Wheels but I believe Arc amps & a 2000 Powercell.

Thanks , Looking at new batterys now !!!

Joby

Hello, I noticed your conversation involving our batteries and wanted to provide some clarification for some of the misinformation that has been posted. Contrary to popular belief, our batteries are AGM lead-acid batteries and not gel batteries. As such, they should not be charged on “gel” or even “AGM/gel” settings, because gel batteries have very narrow charging parameters that may not fully-charge non-gel batteries and could damage them over time.

GEORGE MAZ, our engineers would be interested in hearing more about your theory on how our batteries “fry themselves during recharge.” Our batteries can be charged just fine at rates up to 10 amps. I'm not sure why you would suggest otherwise, but again, we'd like to hear your theory. I'm not sure why someone would need to mount a battery upside down, but I cannot recommend they do that with our batteries, although they can be mounted in a variety of other orientations. The information you posted about Sears, Odyssey and Johnson Controls is absolutely false. If anyone has any questions about our batteries, I'll do my best to answer them.

Jim McIlvaine
eCare Manager, OPTIMA Batteries, Inc.
www.pinterest.com/optimabatteries

Do the deep cycle Interstate batteries ,going on 5th season .

Ok , i'll chime in . I have been using the same Blue Optima in my cat for going on THIRTEEN seasons with absolutely zero problems . I have no reason to lie about this . There was a small period of time that like any other manufacturer they had a few problems but have worked them out . I am more than satisfied , twelve trouble free seasons speaks volumes .

Congrats, that is as good as my die hards, 10,12,13 seasons over and over. Many times have i exceeded 10 seasons with my silly die hards. I have never gotten less than 10 seasons. I'll never buy anything else.

Optima problems
 

Odyssey and Diehard Platinum are made by Enersys...it's been a few years since I've done the research...that's how long my Platinum's have been going strong.

Many forums and countless members can't be wrong about the lack of reliability of the Optima brand. You should know, being that you've had to respond to numerous negative criticisms. I do applaud your efforts to address customers concerns...and I hope you've brought some jumper cables too.

I have a dozen similar topics bookmarked so far, that I can post along the same idea. The battery sucks, quality control has fallen off a cliff in Mexico. I still have my second replacement Optima battery sitting on a shelf in the garage in hopes of it taking a charge one day. Didn't have the heart to just throw it away after the money I spent on it. I will take a look at your YouTube video on how to recharge it...then maybe smash it open to see if its filled with gel or little shareholders laughing there asses off.

Maybe if Optima put more money into solving their sulfation problems that lead to premature failure, instead of product promotion hype...you might have a more consistent product to represent. I've been late to work too many times, spending lost time on the side of the road to be convinced otherwise. Who wants to wonder if they've got the good batch or bad batch of Optima batteries...when your miles away out in the ocean?

personal watercraft-jetski-waverunner
 

Smart choice. A few of us wave jumpers have been replacing our YUSA batteries on average every other year...and not the batteries fault actually, because they do last a long time under normal usage. But if the ski spends any time vertical (ocean wave jumping), tilted on the trailer while rinsing the saltwater from inside the hull, or rolled upside down temporarily during a fun rollover...this will cause the sulfuric acid to seep outside the battery and work its way up and out of the vent hose. It doesn't take much acid loss to create a partially exposed to air condition of the lead plates. They begin to deform and corrode and that cell goes bad.

Kinda hard to monitor the acid levels while the battery is inside the ski, so this season I'm ordering the Odyssey as well.

I have a Yamaha waverunner with 549 original hours on it... I beat the piss out of it and it still runs like a champ!

seems like any quality brand of battery that is taken care of kept on a charger ect, agm or wet, will last a long time. I have some Cabelas AGM batteries group 24 that I bought in 2005 and are still going strong but they have always been on a charger. the boat I have now came with 4 interstates, two 24's house, and two 27's starting, the 27's are still going strong from 2009, the house 24's i just replaced at the beginning of this year, but to be fair I did discharge them way down a lot last summer.

So I have 6 batteries in the boat now, the two interstate 27's one to start each motor. Two new 24 deep cycle wet batteries from autozone for one house bank, and the two 24 Cabelas AGM on the other house bank. I had considered buying two of the Odyssey 2150 AGM and I have no doubt they are superior but at nearly 4 times the cost of the auto zone ones its hard to justify. The way I have the batteries wired and switched there is no way I will ever have all 4 banks dead.

Many factors go into battery life, probably the least of which is the actual brand. More important is the actual technology/type and how it's used, stored and charged.

IMO a boat is no place to cut corners on battery cost, a pretty small expense in the grand scheme of things but a huge PIA when they fail.

Big question is how many people are running them down with a stereo with amps and how often? I have been running optimas for years now and they only last about 2-3 years each. I have 3 in the boat. I have 2 pretty good size amps and run mine down in "coves" Will a interstate or other last longer after being run down till its dead and recharged? I can see some people's battery lasting 8-10 years when its used to start and maybe listen to the stock stereo for an hour at a cove. Can't say im a Optima fan, im thinking of switcing back over.

sears agm 4 year warranty and 100mt pro rated 219.00

3-6 times a month I do but I've never been able to run the Kinetiks anywhere close to dead.

So based on your responses GEORGE MAZ, you won't be expounding on your theory of how batteries can fry themselves during charging? If the “many forums and countless members” are sharing the same misinformation you are, then the definitely can be wrong. I read hundreds of forums and I can't say I agree with any of the people who suggest batteries can't be placed on concrete or should be dropped from any height to help improve performance, yet I still see both comments on a regular basis.

What exactly are you referring to as “sulfation problems?” When any lead-acid battery from any manufacturer is discharged below 12.4 volts and left sitting in that state, sulfation begins to form. We spend a tremendous amount of resources to make both our retailers and customers aware of the same information both pstorti and NightHawk posted- proper voltage maintenance is the key to long battery life, regardless of brand. Some other manufacturers simply add an exclusion to their warranty for deeply-discharged or over-discharged batteries. If that has been a problem for anyone, they should check the warranty terms and conditions of any battery they are considering, before making a purchase.

whoya, when you deeply-discharge your batteries, do you ever measure the voltage after you come off the water and what type of battery charger and settings are you using during non-use?

Jim McIlvaine
eCare Manager, OPTIMA Batteries, Inc.
www.pinterest.com/optimabatteries

Jim, I took some time to watch your video, actually I watched the entire series. The videos are well done, informative, and easy to understand...my compliments.

I'm going to give your instructions a try to hopefully revive my old Optima red top. I know it has some life in it, because I use it to check my test light and other stuff on my workbench...about all its been good for since I pulled it out of my daily driver. My other Optima batteries have been traded in as cores long ago. My comments about the brand are rooted in personal experience...at one time, all my vehicles were eagerly fitted with Optima batteries.

Would you be interested in having my Optima battery warranteed if I am unsuccessful in recharging it?

I would be willing to bring it to one of your recommended battery experts for reconditioning if necessary. My zip code is 11501.

Optimajim
Have not checked in a while but I think my amps start cutting off/out at around 10-11 volts then I switch batteries. When I leave the cove I start with a good battery then flip my switch over to have the Alternator start charging a discharged one. At home I have a onboard Promariner(Pro Sport) 3 bank charger. My Promariner has 3 different charging choices. I have the gray cap in that (per manual) for gel cell 14.1vdc Absorption, 13.8v float should I change charging cap to red: AGM 14.7 absorption, 13.6v float? In case you want to know there red cap for lead acid batteries is 14.6vdc absorption, 13.4 float

Where are the videos? Thanks

YouTube has the videos regarding Optima battery charging, care, selection, etc.
Jim and another guy put together an information series, I think I watched about ten videos. Although I was always under the assumption not to mix unmatched batteries when charging, I'm going to follow his direction and hopefully bring this battery back to life.

I've always maintained my batteries with Deltran tenders for long term storage, and put the tender on once in a while to top off the cells in my vehicle. I now realize why I was replacing my alternators (three total in 2 vehicles). I just don't understand why I had such crappy luck with the Optima's. I haven't had to do any electrical work, nor alternator replacement since switching to DieHard Platinums...and I maintain them the same way.