I just had my second yellow top die in less than 3 years (this one lasted less than 6 months).

When my first one died, my local hi-per shop suggested I only go with the red tops because in all the years of selling them, he said he has less than a handful returned. he says the yellows get returned all the time. I told him I was going to give them one more shot and this was it.

He asked if I had a drain on my car and I told him I checked and found nothing. My yellow top died after just sitting for a couple of weeks. As a test afterwards, I put a 6 year old A/C Delco in the same car and let it sit for almost a month and the car still fired right up. That battery sits outside all year round in my '69 Camaro (Optima is always indoors), including New England winters. NEVER on a tender and always fires up the Camaro even if it sits all winter.

I will not go back to Optima. I understand that they are supposed to be a great battery, but how great can it be when it always has to be put on a tender, when other batteries, at half the price, don't need the same overly gentle care?

Hello, Chris gave me a heads-up on your conversation and I was hoping I could offer some assistance. As James indicated, the quality of our products has improved under JCI's ownership, which goes back more than a decade. Many of the “bad” batteries returned to us now are just deeply-discharged and work fine, when properly-recharged.

TheJDMan, I cannot speak for other manufacturers, but our batteries can be charged and maintained just like flooded lead-acid batteries, although “gel” and “gel/AGM” charger settings should be avoided, as they may not fully-charge our batteries and could damage them over time.

suark, the information given to you by the guy behind the counter at Blain's was simply not accurate. Our batteries are still being sold at their stores and our manufacturing defect rate has continually declined under JCI's ownership.

Boss 5.0, I'm glad to hear your RedTop has been peforming so well for you. We are always collecting stories like your's for our Wall of Power. In fact, we have sent at least three Wall of Power inductees out to SEMA on our nickel. If you'd like to submit your story for consideration, you can do so here.

sniper, many of our deeply-discharged batteries can also be recovered. However, many older chargers will not recognize or charge any battery that has been discharged below a minimum voltage threshold (typically around 10.5 volts). This is not unique to Optima and has been problematic enough for other battery companies, that some will void the warranty on their batteries, if they are found to have been discharged below a minimum voltage level. We didn't do that with our warranty, but we did create this YouTube video, which explains how to recover deeply-discharged batteries.

TJ, when you measured the parasitic draw on your vehicle, what did it measure and what was the voltage of your YellowTops when you returned them under warranty?

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

Would be interesting to see some statistics rather than "many". Thanks for coming online to provide input. -Bob

Bob, there are days when I would love to share that information. However, no battery manufacturer shares that data and even if we did, I don't think some folks would believe the numbers anyway, based on of their personal experiences. The number of good batteries returned under warranty is significant enough that Optima felt it warranted investing their resources in producing that YouTube video and having me share the information with the online community. The numbers are also high enough for other manufacturers, that some have now added language to their warranties that excludes batteries discharged below a specific voltage level. The numbers are also high enough that my truck and many other vehicles owned by Optima employees start every day on “dead” batteries people mistakenly returned under warranty.

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

Interesting. The Batteries Plus dealer I purchased through tested the battery prior to proclaiming it warrantable. Are all dealers required to perform a test?

Given what you're saying, it seems like the dealer network needs either better training or equipment to identify bad batteries vs. undercharged batteries. This would help Optima's warranty expense significantly...

The problem is Autozone's, Oriley's, and many other retailers that have a huge employee turn over. Why train an employee if your only going to keep him or her for 3 months?

I come across good Optima batteries more often than you would think in my core piles.... some take a couple of days to bring back though.

Jeff, ideally all retailers are supposed to attempt to charge and test any battery before making warranty exchanges, although that doesn't always happen. As Chris mentioned, some retailers do have higher turnover rates with their employees, which by itself makes it challenging to keep everyone trained, but that is an issue all battery manufacturers face.

On our retail side, we do have an Optima University training program that tours the country throughout the year. We also host an online training program for our retail partners that offers discounts of up to 20% off, upon completion.

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

Speaking of You Tube videos, here is a video of how the Odyssey batteries are made.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3P-wq...eature=related

Here is a better video of how to recharge a deeply discharged Optima. I suspect this proceedure would work with any deeply discharged AGM battery.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Slqd7...eature=related

My $.02

I have been buying red top optima's since 2000. First and second one lasted me about 5 years each. Last year I bought another red top from Oreilly's. Went bad in a month. In a 6 or 7 month period I returned 5 batteries. All had a dead cell when returned. After the 5th battery they told me this is the last time. I went to Tagnotti's and picked up a red top there. All is good with this one and its been in my car for about 8 months now.

Something must have gone wrong somewhere with Optima maybe for a short period of time is what I'm guessing.