Optima battery
12-13-2011, 10:27 PM
#16
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Just completed the entire thread. Great stuff. Looking forward to doing my own. Too bad the diagram guy was giving you grief. I never saw where you were taking credit for it anyways.
12-22-2011, 10:38 AM
#17
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Hi Tim,
Great information already posted here. The fact that our batteries are sealed and won't leak or vent under normal operating conditions make them a great option for porsches. Whenever any battery is mounted in an enclosed space (trunk, interior, etc...) it should be properly-vented to the outside air, just in case of an overcharging situation. The only batteries we currently offer with external venting provisions are our Group 27, 51, 78, 34C, 31 & DS46B24R batteries. As far as charging a deeply-discharged Optima, yes, there are
on the proper way to charge in parallel or simply use a microprocessor-controlled charger with a AGM setting. That way you will not overcharge or improperly charge your battery.
Jump-starting our battery won't necessarily harm it, but if it is deeply-discharged to the point that it needs a jump, it should be fully-recharged with a battery charger as soon as possible. Most alternators are designed to maintain batteries and relying on one to recharge a deeply-discharged battery can lead to a cycle of dead batteries and jump-starts, until either the battery or alternator fails. Optima has just announced we are selling our own brand charger, look for them on the market in the spring. I have seen one in person, and it goes the extra mile in not only charging a battery but does its own diagnostic tests whenever you first hook it up to be sure everything is ok.
Hopefully, this gives you all the information you will need to buy a replacement battery, but if you have other questions about our products, just ask.
Thanks,
Bill Howell
eCare Manager, OPTIMA Batteries, Inc.
Great information already posted here. The fact that our batteries are sealed and won't leak or vent under normal operating conditions make them a great option for porsches. Whenever any battery is mounted in an enclosed space (trunk, interior, etc...) it should be properly-vented to the outside air, just in case of an overcharging situation. The only batteries we currently offer with external venting provisions are our Group 27, 51, 78, 34C, 31 & DS46B24R batteries. As far as charging a deeply-discharged Optima, yes, there are
Jump-starting our battery won't necessarily harm it, but if it is deeply-discharged to the point that it needs a jump, it should be fully-recharged with a battery charger as soon as possible. Most alternators are designed to maintain batteries and relying on one to recharge a deeply-discharged battery can lead to a cycle of dead batteries and jump-starts, until either the battery or alternator fails. Optima has just announced we are selling our own brand charger, look for them on the market in the spring. I have seen one in person, and it goes the extra mile in not only charging a battery but does its own diagnostic tests whenever you first hook it up to be sure everything is ok.
Hopefully, this gives you all the information you will need to buy a replacement battery, but if you have other questions about our products, just ask.
Thanks,
Bill Howell
eCare Manager, OPTIMA Batteries, Inc.
12-22-2011, 08:37 PM
#19
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Thanks Bill. Optima will be my battery of choice. BTW, I would guess you would recommend the yellow top? I will look for your battery charger in the spring. Is there any place we can read about them now? Thanks and Merry Christmas.
12-26-2011, 05:04 PM
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Bill,
I have a 75/35 OR in my 993 for the last five or six years. What would be the presently available replacement for that? Also, which Red Top fits best in an '81 911SC?
Thank you.
I have a 75/35 OR in my 993 for the last five or six years. What would be the presently available replacement for that? Also, which Red Top fits best in an '81 911SC?
Thank you.
12-26-2011, 06:02 PM
#21
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The first thing that needs to be done in choosing a charger is finding out what your battery's requirements are.
The trouble is, few battery manufacturers provide a lot of details and since the topic is Optima batteries, they don't get into specifics like East Penn does. See the charts below to get an idea of the differences between an AGM and GEL and also how temperature affects the required charge voltage.
Your charger's charging algorithm should be taking into account the type of battery (AGM, GEL, FLA) and the battery temperature.
If you have the coin and want a charger that you can call a charger, the Xantrex Truecharge 2 has to be one of the best (*). The 10A model can be had for about $135 on-line. They have 20A , 40A and 60A models as well.
That may sound expensive, but once you check out its capabilities you won't think so.
(*) I tested quite a few brand name chargers in the lab I work in, the ones you'd see at many auto supply stores as well as chargers for industrial use. You don't want to know how poorly they performed. That is not to say they won't charge a battery...hell a DC power supply will do that. The difference is how well they do so affects the life of the battery. An adjustable wrench will loosen a tight nut...but not as well as a 6-point socket.
By the way, I got 16 years out of an everyday flooded lead acid battery (the last I head after I sold the car, it was still going 2 years later with the new owner) and my present battery is in its 13th year. Both batteries as they came fitted were OEM Panasonic and in both cases, the charging system in the cars was spot on.
The trouble is, few battery manufacturers provide a lot of details and since the topic is Optima batteries, they don't get into specifics like East Penn does. See the charts below to get an idea of the differences between an AGM and GEL and also how temperature affects the required charge voltage.
Your charger's charging algorithm should be taking into account the type of battery (AGM, GEL, FLA) and the battery temperature.
If you have the coin and want a charger that you can call a charger, the Xantrex Truecharge 2 has to be one of the best (*). The 10A model can be had for about $135 on-line. They have 20A , 40A and 60A models as well.
That may sound expensive, but once you check out its capabilities you won't think so.
(*) I tested quite a few brand name chargers in the lab I work in, the ones you'd see at many auto supply stores as well as chargers for industrial use. You don't want to know how poorly they performed. That is not to say they won't charge a battery...hell a DC power supply will do that. The difference is how well they do so affects the life of the battery. An adjustable wrench will loosen a tight nut...but not as well as a 6-point socket.
By the way, I got 16 years out of an everyday flooded lead acid battery (the last I head after I sold the car, it was still going 2 years later with the new owner) and my present battery is in its 13th year. Both batteries as they came fitted were OEM Panasonic and in both cases, the charging system in the cars was spot on.
12-27-2011, 02:48 PM
#23
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Optima with a maintainer is the way to go, I took a half hour to build(cut and drill) a plate and have never had an issue with fit. I did have an optima that I had to replace for a bad cell but they were great about it. I will not go back to a regular battery for the '87.
Rod,
Rod,
01-08-2012, 05:18 PM
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Tim & Richard,
Unfortunately, I cannot recommend a specific battery for your cars, because we do not offer what we consider a “direct-fit” replacement for them. However, many Porsche owners have obviously found a way to make our batteries work in what we consider “custom fitments.” Most of our batteries with external venting provisions are YellowTops, but our Group 78 RedTop also has these provisions. You can see all the specifications of our RedTops here and our YellowTops here for fitment specs.
I hope this is enough information for you when you need to replace you battery.
On the new charger, here is a great write up on it.
I did see one and saw a demonstration on it at SEMA and was very impressed with the new charger. Once you hook it up, it runs the tests, and tells you the status of your battery, what it needs, if it is chargeable and what you should do next. It appears dummy proof, even for me..haha.
IXLR8, you make a very good point about making sure charger profiles will sufficiently charge a battery. Gel batteries have very specific charging parameters that will often undercharge non-gel batteries and could damage them over time. For that reason, we recommend avoiding any “gel” or even “gel/AGM” charger settings.
We try to keep things as simple as we can for our customers, so rather than presenting a chart ten different temperature ranges, we just tell folks for regular charging, we recommend a maximum of 10 amps, 13.8-15 volts. For float charging, we recommend a 1 amp maximum at 13.2-13.8 volts.
Thanks
Bill Howell
eCare Manager, OPTIMA Batteries, Inc.
Unfortunately, I cannot recommend a specific battery for your cars, because we do not offer what we consider a “direct-fit” replacement for them. However, many Porsche owners have obviously found a way to make our batteries work in what we consider “custom fitments.” Most of our batteries with external venting provisions are YellowTops, but our Group 78 RedTop also has these provisions. You can see all the specifications of our RedTops here and our YellowTops here for fitment specs.
I hope this is enough information for you when you need to replace you battery.
On the new charger, here is a great write up on it.
I did see one and saw a demonstration on it at SEMA and was very impressed with the new charger. Once you hook it up, it runs the tests, and tells you the status of your battery, what it needs, if it is chargeable and what you should do next. It appears dummy proof, even for me..haha.
IXLR8, you make a very good point about making sure charger profiles will sufficiently charge a battery. Gel batteries have very specific charging parameters that will often undercharge non-gel batteries and could damage them over time. For that reason, we recommend avoiding any “gel” or even “gel/AGM” charger settings.
We try to keep things as simple as we can for our customers, so rather than presenting a chart ten different temperature ranges, we just tell folks for regular charging, we recommend a maximum of 10 amps, 13.8-15 volts. For float charging, we recommend a 1 amp maximum at 13.2-13.8 volts.
Thanks
Bill Howell
eCare Manager, OPTIMA Batteries, Inc.
01-08-2012, 05:37 PM
#25
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On the new charger, here is a great write up on it.
Thanks
Bill Howell
eCare Manager, OPTIMA Batteries, Inc.
Thanks
Bill Howell
eCare Manager, OPTIMA Batteries, Inc.
There is no way I'd want to charge one of your batteries to 15V in absorption mode in the middle of an AZ summer...I'd be killing it, unless you guys have some magical battery. In that situation, the worst part of any VRLA battery is that it is sealed.
01-09-2012, 09:41 PM
#28
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Tim & Richard,
Unfortunately, I cannot recommend a specific battery for your cars, because we do not offer what we consider a “direct-fit” replacement for them. However, many Porsche owners have obviously found a way to make our batteries work in what we consider “custom fitments.” Most of our batteries with external venting provisions are YellowTops, but our Group 78 RedTop also has these provisions. You can see all the specifications of our RedTops here and our YellowTops here for fitment specs.
I hope this is enough information for you when you need to replace you battery.
On the new charger, here is a great write up on it.
I did see one and saw a demonstration on it at SEMA and was very impressed with the new charger. Once you hook it up, it runs the tests, and tells you the status of your battery, what it needs, if it is chargeable and what you should do next. It appears dummy proof, even for me..haha.
IXLR8, you make a very good point about making sure charger profiles will sufficiently charge a battery. Gel batteries have very specific charging parameters that will often undercharge non-gel batteries and could damage them over time. For that reason, we recommend avoiding any “gel” or even “gel/AGM” charger settings.
We try to keep things as simple as we can for our customers, so rather than presenting a chart ten different temperature ranges, we just tell folks for regular charging, we recommend a maximum of 10 amps, 13.8-15 volts. For float charging, we recommend a 1 amp maximum at 13.2-13.8 volts.
Thanks
Bill Howell
eCare Manager, OPTIMA Batteries, Inc.
Unfortunately, I cannot recommend a specific battery for your cars, because we do not offer what we consider a “direct-fit” replacement for them. However, many Porsche owners have obviously found a way to make our batteries work in what we consider “custom fitments.” Most of our batteries with external venting provisions are YellowTops, but our Group 78 RedTop also has these provisions. You can see all the specifications of our RedTops here and our YellowTops here for fitment specs.
I hope this is enough information for you when you need to replace you battery.
On the new charger, here is a great write up on it.
I did see one and saw a demonstration on it at SEMA and was very impressed with the new charger. Once you hook it up, it runs the tests, and tells you the status of your battery, what it needs, if it is chargeable and what you should do next. It appears dummy proof, even for me..haha.
IXLR8, you make a very good point about making sure charger profiles will sufficiently charge a battery. Gel batteries have very specific charging parameters that will often undercharge non-gel batteries and could damage them over time. For that reason, we recommend avoiding any “gel” or even “gel/AGM” charger settings.
We try to keep things as simple as we can for our customers, so rather than presenting a chart ten different temperature ranges, we just tell folks for regular charging, we recommend a maximum of 10 amps, 13.8-15 volts. For float charging, we recommend a 1 amp maximum at 13.2-13.8 volts.
Thanks
Bill Howell
eCare Manager, OPTIMA Batteries, Inc.
Bill, When will the charger be available? Thanks.
01-10-2012, 04:35 PM
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Alex, I apologize for the delay in responding, but it took a few days to get an answer for your questions. Unfortunately, the information you are requesting about the charger is proprietary. Care has been taken throughout the development process to ensure our charger will increase customer satisfaction, battery performance and battery service life. Our charger is temperature-compensated and will monitor the temperature and vary both voltage and amperage as needed, so there is little risk of overcharging.
Tim, we anticipate the chargers being available by Spring. They are in production and bar any issues, that is still the target.
Thanks guys,
Bill Howell
eCare Manager, OPTIMA Batteries, Inc.
Tim, we anticipate the chargers being available by Spring. They are in production and bar any issues, that is still the target.
Thanks guys,
Bill Howell
eCare Manager, OPTIMA Batteries, Inc.
01-10-2012, 07:25 PM
#30
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Care has been taken throughout the development process to ensure our charger will increase customer satisfaction, battery performance and battery service life. Our charger is temperature-compensated and will monitor the temperature and vary both voltage and amperage as needed, so there is little risk of overcharging.
So I'll have to say, no thanks. Any company that does not provide specs (just as Battery Tender didn't...probably afraid that I might notice something), I do not take too seriously.
Why not send one to my place of work at Defense for testing. I'll let you know how it performs.