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The Optima finally died

NDMstang65 said:
Gotcha.

I've worked in the industry for 10 years now...it used to be fun. Hoping I'll have my toy truck finished here soon :)

262650_774088673243_31207891_38760950_5573922_n.jpg


Got a couple batteries with a couple watts and a speaker or two in it :)
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Cool, I got out of it a couple years back. I never had a build near that tho. I ran one Memphis MOJO M3 and one Memphis MOJO 2000D. Highest I scored was 155.5db. I left it all in my Ranger when I sold it to some highschool kid.

What brand equipment are you running?
 
xjtrailrider said:
So who makes a good battery that can be mounted on its side like the Optima could? I need one for my dual battery set-up when I get around to it.
Click to expand...

Any of the sealed batteries can be. Odyssey batteries are solid and not insanely expensive, there is a company called http://www.shurikenonline.com/shuriken_products.html that are solid batteries and can be mounted any way you see fit.

Kinetik is also an option. If you've got a little extra coin to spend the XSPower batteries are definitely worth it, but they are not cheap.
 
Lowrange2 said:
Cool, I got out of it a couple years back. I never had a build near that tho. I ran one Memphis MOJO M3 and one Memphis MOJO 2000D. Highest I scored was 155.5db. I left it all in my Ranger when I sold it to some highschool kid.

What brand equipment are you running?
Click to expand...

Ascendant Audio

It has holes for 16 12's in it in the wall and I've got doors/dash built that holds 12 mids and 16 tweeters and a couple kicker amps.

301219_816013435683_31207891_39217176_5514334_n.jpg


It's been a looooong time building, but I should have it complete here soon. It should do mid 50's on the headrest on music all day long...and the next day..and the day after that :)
 
My Optimas have always done well for me. I didn't know they had sold out. I've got a brand new one that I'm worried about now that I've read this. But the older ones I own all have lasted well beyond the warranty.
 
Although Internet mythology would lead some to believe differently, the quality of our batteries has always been excellent and has not declined. Many of the “bad” batteries returned to us under warranty are just deeply-discharged and work fine, when recharged as described in the link posted by Lowrange2. Nick, when did you purchase your Group 34 Optima that went bad after three years?


Jim McIlvaine
eCare Manager, OPTIMA Batteries, Inc.
www.facebook.com/optimabatteries
 
Holy crap.. its Optima Jim! He can answer all of our questions
1) Do you think i can discharge the battery and revive it for an other 5 years of useage?
2) what is the lifespan of an Optima Battery?
3) Are there Optima off brand batteries?
4) Are the newer Optima's the "same" batteries are the old ones just revamped or are they all together new?
 
OptimaJim said:
Although Internet mythology would lead some to believe differently, the quality of our batteries has always been excellent and has not declined. Many of the “bad” batteries returned to us under warranty are just deeply-discharged and work fine, when recharged as described in the link posted by Lowrange2. Nick, when did you purchase your Group 34 Optima that went bad after three years?


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

Jim,

Good to see you here that means a lot! 2007 if I recall correctly, could have been 2008 because I bought the group 34 battery specifically for my Celica build due to needing compact power. Took it back to Autozone to get them to check it out and it was just out of the warranty period. I dropped it off at the recycling place and parted my ways with the idea of using them.

I've owned 30 of the group 31 batteries when they were still made in various forms of high power stereo installs over the years and they were fantastic. I think there was a period where they were not made any longer or I could not get them, whatever it was at that point I had since moved on to AGM technology and did not look back. The ultra low ESR and greater reserve of the AGM batteries helps out a great deal when we are drawing alot of current out of the battery banks. I save weight with these type batteries and I do not need to have as many of them.

I put 10 of the group 34 yellow top batteries in a truck last year and they simply do not have the reserve nor do they act like ones I have previously owned. The charging systems we build are extremely solid and can support in the ballpark of 35-40kw. 2-4 275 amp alternators is not uncommon at all. For the size/power the AGM battery from XS Power just works better for our applications. Same with Kinetik, or the Stinger battery. The XS Power is the most expensive out of all of them but it is a quality product, I would have a bank of them in my own demo truck if I could afford it now.

I could have just had a dud battery...which happens from time to time :).

If you need more information feel free to email me [email protected]

Thanks a lot for taking the time to post!
 
jeepgeek2002, I sense some sarcasm in your post, but if you'd really like me to answer those questions, please let me know.

Nick the reason I ask about the timeframe, is because you're the second person I've come across this week, who thought they had purchased a battery built in our Mexico facility in a timeframe that doesn't match up with our production runs. We didn't begin production in our Mexico facility until late-2008 and it usually takes a month or so for our batteries to get on the shelves. As a result, even the oldest of those batteries are just now getting to the three-year mark in age. As I'm sure you've experienced with the other products you've used, the country of origin does not determine the quality of the product. Why did you opt for Group 34 YellowTops, versus Group 27 or 31? The ficaraudio.com website looks like you are based in Vegas, although you list your location as Smith Mountain Lake, Virginia. Are you at either or neither?


Jim McIlvaine
eCare Manager, OPTIMA Batteries, Inc.
www.facebook.com/optimabatteries
 
There are no Sarcasm fonts or i would have used them but yes please answer the questions if they make sense.
its obvious a lot of people are not liking the "newer" Optima's. Maybe its a chance to set everyone straight on what is true vs rumors!
 
OptimaJim said:
jeepgeek2002, I sense some sarcasm in your post, but if you'd really like me to answer those questions, please let me know.

Nick the reason I ask about the timeframe, is because you're the second person I've come across this week, who thought they had purchased a battery built in our Mexico facility in a timeframe that doesn't match up with our production runs. We didn't begin production in our Mexico facility until late-2008 and it usually takes a month or so for our batteries to get on the shelves. As a result, even the oldest of those batteries are just now getting to the three-year mark in age. As I'm sure you've experienced with the other products you've used, the country of origin does not determine the quality of the product. Why did you opt for Group 34 YellowTops, versus Group 27 or 31? The ficaraudio.com website looks like you are based in Vegas, although you list your location as Smith Mountain Lake, Virginia. Are you at either or neither?


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

Jim,

SML is my "Home". I've worked in vegas and in the audio industry for 11 years now. I fly back and forth and have an apartment in vegas that I live in when I am in town. I also do engineering consultation at Virginia Tech ME department from time to time along with other things as well (I believe the term we will use here is entrepreneur). Why this matters, and why it pertains to the conversation at hand I am not quite sure, I could be in Timbucktu and still have the same group 34 that didn't last as other products I had previously had but either way that is irrelevant. It is not rare for people to have multiple places of residency even if they are thousands of miles apart.

Regardless of where the product was made or where it was sent. It didn't last as it previously did nor did it perform the same as ones I have owned in the past. The guy that owned the truck with the group 34's that I installed last year was an optima dealer which is why he went with the group 34's because that's what he sold the most of and he wanted to use it as a demonstration for how great they were. But, that did not work out so well and those were most definitely of Mexican descent. He has since replaced them with Kinetik batteries and has not had any charging issues since.

If you feel the product has not changed, that's great. The results vary from what is claimed, and I've used enough of the products over the years to know and see something is different now whatever it may be. If the products were still as good as they were previously, and they were priced competitively with the AGM batteries on the market and performed just as good, if not better. You would still see people using them in huge car audio applications. Shoot, I would use them myself, but that is not the case.
 
Just for kicks I took my 11 year old Redtop back to Advance Auto today to try and get them to warranty it. I at least got a few laughs from the counter guys!

I stuck an 8 year old Redtop in my Heep and she is starting fine again.
 
it maybe that my alternator kicked the bucket. i ll have to get it checked.
 
jeepgeek2002, to answer your questions, people discharge and recharge our batteries all the time and see far more than five years of use out of them. However, the longer any battery is left in a state discharged below 12.4 volts, the more sulfation will form. That will diminish both capacity and lifespan. The lifespan of any battery will vary, based on a variety of factors, including application, climate and how it is maintained. We state our batteries can last up to twice as long as traditional flooded batteries and we manufacture all of our own batteries in our own facility. We never re-spec or re-brand Optima batteries for any of our retail partners. Like any other manufacturer, we are constantly striving to improve our product. While the quality of our batteries has always been excellent, the batteries we are manufacturing today are the best we have ever made.

Nick, I am familiar with owning multiple residences and your location doesn't have too much to do with the conversation. As you are in the industry, I was interested in knowing if you were located in Vegas or not. Optima sends me to Vegas for SEMA every year and I was going to suggest you come by our booth, if you happen to be out there as well.

I was only asking about the Group 34s, as we have two significantly larger batteries (Group 27s and 31s), which are more commonly found in car audio applications. I know any changes in our products have been for the better, but I don't question at all whether individual results will vary from what we see as a whole. Those variations will always exist for us and any other manufacturer or brand. I also know our batteries are not as popular in the car audio market as other companies and brands, but I also see where a lot of our resources are directed and car audio is not near the top. I would expect companies that focus more of their resources on a specific market will have more of a presence in it.


Jim McIlvaine
eCare Manager, OPTIMA Batteries, Inc.
www.facebook.com/optimabatteries
 
Oh goody, the classic Optima Q-C debate again!! :rolleyes:

If you want to read where this is going, you can check here: http://naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=1030883

If you're too lazy to click here, the quick version is this: nobody at optima will admit that their products are not up to the standards of 8 yrs ago and that everyone claiming to have a failed optima is either 1) an idiot who can't figure out Optima's charging procedure or 2) just extremely unlucky ...


For what it's worth, I traded in my old DD at the end of 2011 with my ~10yr old red top still going strong. The old Optima batteries produced until 2003/4 timeframe were flat awesome!


Optima now makes some of the fanciest paper weights and doorstops on the market!
 
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