Anyone have any experience with Optima Red Top or Yellow Top batteries?

I have a full car stereo and am looking for a bit more than a standard battery can provide as my car keeps killing cells in regular batteries every couple of years

 

You double-thread'in post *****.

Get a better alternator. Never used Optima, but had good luck with interstate.

 

Use a Optima Blue Top Marine version in my Volvo as i have a LOT of electronics in it !
No problems in it 3 years so far.

 

I dunno wtf my computer was doing earlier, my bad. If I knew how to delete it I would have.

I had thought about the alternator but would that require me to upgrade some wiring as there will be extra current?


I assume thats a deep cycle? Is it cold where you live? I know that affects the cranking amps. Right now its 35 mid day and dropping as the season goes.

 

Ya you could say it gets real cold here sometimes -9 F in late January.
It's deep cycle all right because I run some gear with the motor off a
lot of the time (inverters & other stuff)...... and it can sustain that kind
of discharge rate fairly regularly.

imo I wouldn't bother messing with the alternator

 

Yellow Top in my Blazer has been awesome, and this truck has tended to eat batteries in the past.

 

Run a second battery.....

I had 2 hifonics amps(one for subs and one for mids/highs) with all 0 gauge and 4 gauge wiring, 4 kicker 15's, and 2 batteries. Thats with a 130 amp alt and no problems. Buddy has the same set up but a rockford 3000w power hungry amp for the subs wit 2 batteries and his 105 amp has been runnin no problem for 2 years. 2nd battery is the first step.....Caps are junk.....

I had a yellow for the audio and red for the car. Great a++++ batteries but there are alternative routes for 2nd batteries......Optima's are expensive...

 

I have had a couple of battery dealers tell me that newer Optimas don't seem to be as good as they once were, and these are dealers that sell Optimas.

regardless - yeah they aren't cheap. Before this Yellow top - I had a sealed spiral cell Exide that I had bought @ Sams Club - it went 5 years before it started giving me problems. Somewhere in there I had an alternator regulator going bad on me, which might have been my battery issues all along.