Odyssey Battery

[D'Ecosse]

Well, I retract my recommendation on the Optima Yellow-top - POS only lasted 18 months - actually less than that as it has been problematic for probably last 6 months. I decided against even claiming the waranty as that would have just been a credit against same again. Thanks, but not throwing more good money after bad.

I have replaced it with a Hawker Odyssey PC1700T - got a great deal from Portable Power Systems - $180 shipped and I had it under a week to my door. (local Batteries Plus near my office wanted $280 plus CA tax.!! - & they didn't have in stock & would have to order!)



Also check out the great Stinger Expert Series SXBT Battery Terminals - my good friend Malibu Rapper got me the +ve terminal with the built-in digital voltmeter through one of his hook-ups - great guy!

I had actually taken some pics earlier today, but was so disgusted by the appearance under-hood I had to clean it up & re-shoot them! Looks pretty spiffy now, eh?

To complete the battery package, I also replaced the cable to the fuse box to give a little more contrast in there, similar to my audio power cable.

Finally, I had already wired this up previously, but will add this pic just to illustrate the convenience of the Battery Tender Trickle Charger - by running a harness from the battery terminals to the front bumper, it's just a simple matter of reaching in & connecting the BT to the harness waterproof connector plug. No need to even open the hood when you drive into your garage! The free connector on the car-side has a weather-seal plug and just tucks back inside the bumper when it's not connected.

 

[Malibu Rapper]

Sweet battery and you got it at a good price. That's just a few dollars more than what I paid for my Lightning Audio spiral cell and the Odyssey is a better battery. Where did you get the new battery bracket?

You missed a spot cleaning, the firewall below the master cylinder.

 

[nsxsocal]

This is interesting.

The optima 34R red top in my nsx lasted 14 months and i replaced it yesterday (under warranty) with another. The small yellow top in my s2000 died after only 6 mo's. it was replaced under warranty as well and has been in the car and doing fine now for 7 mo'.s i thought perhaps i was just having bad luck or perhaps there was a bad batch, but after reading your similiar results i have more doubt. Anyone else with optima short life stories???

 

[Malibu Rapper]

This is interesting.

The optima 34R red top in my nsx lasted 14 months and i replaced it yesterday (under warranty) with another. The small yellow top in my s2000 died after only 6 mo's. it was replaced under warranty as well and has been in the car and doing fine now for 7 mo'.s i thought perhaps i was just having bad luck or perhaps there was a bad batch, but after reading your similiar results i have more doubt. Anyone else with optima short life stories???

I've posted about this a few times in other threads but the Optima batteries are hit and miss at best, mostly miss IMO. I've heard the same story from multiple dealers that they get fed up with Optima because their warranty forces the dealers to eat a lot of the warranty costs and the batteries go bad often. The dealer where I bought my Lightning Audio battery from led me back to the room where he keeps all his dead Optimas and I ended up buying the Exide/Lighting Audio battery because it has an 18 month warranty where it doesn't force my dealer to lose money from prorating. I'm not going to recommend my Exide/LA battery yet because it's the same type of technology and I've barely had it for a year.

This dry cell Hawker battery I've heard nothing but good things about. It's pricey but the specs are unbeatable and the warranty is killer. The word needs to get out about Optima batteries. There will be a few ppl who will swear by their good experience but by and large I think a ton of ppl have had bad experiences.

 

[D'Ecosse]

You missed a spot cleaning, the firewall below the master cylinder.

Damn - sharp eyes - well, you'd need to have your head all the way in there to see that (hey, you should have seen the before pics!) But now you've pointed it out I guess I'd better take care of it.

... Where did you get the new battery bracket?

Pep Boys - was only a few bucks. I'm thinking of replacing it with a home-made aluminum bar - maybe similar (but not quite the same) to the Dali Mini-Odyssey bracket.

A little off the primary topic but ....
Here's the "before" pic ...

And a before/after comparison
.

 

[ChrisK]

How often do you guys drive your NSX? Just curious because my Red Top has been giving me trouble lately. It actually started when I left the trunk light on so I know this was my fault and now it looses its charge after about a week of sitting. Before I used to drive the NSX at least once a week so the battery never gave me any trouble. Now I rarely drive it and if I don't put a charge on it every week it will be dead. On the other hand, the Red Top in my old Legend that I sold to my sister has been in there for at least two years and hasn't been given any trouble yet. I wonder if these Optima batteries just don't like sitting around and discharges faster than normal lead acid batteries? IT seem like as soon as you stop driving the car the Optima doesn't like it and goes dead rather fast.

 

[D'Ecosse]

I think the NSX seems to have a relatively high standing drain current regardless - seems to be typical of NSX's to drain if not driven for a few weeks. But my Optima I found would not hold a significant current capacity and even if I had it on the trickle charger, it would reach voltage but barely crank the car - even after driving to work (an hour) by end of day it would barely turn over again. A Battery Tender is a good investment on an NSX I think to keep a new battery at peak capacity.

 

[mickeylex]

I got my Optima Red Top from Costco about a year ago. Its been holding the charge well (so far). I was on vacation and didn't drive the car for two+ weeks and it started up fine, but based on what I'm reading here, maybe its about to go south on me. Now that the summer is here, I'll drive the car 2-3 days a week, so it will probably stay charged. Good thing I kept the Costco reciept just in case.

 

[Malibu Rapper]

I got my Optima Red Top from Costco about a year ago.

Buying a battery from Costco is probably a good idea. I wonder what their return policy is like on batteries.

 

[ChrisK]

Just for the record, I too bought both my Optima Red Tops from Costco. The Legend one was at least 2, probably 2.5 years ago, and the NSX one was about 18 months. Maybe a little monger.

 

[Racerxjling]

Optima

I just bought an Optima Red top from Costco for only $99. My yellow top lasted approx 3 years trickle charged most of the time. Car was hardly driven though.

Jeff

 

[kkt]

Re: Optima

Thank you to D'Ecosse for his battery terminal recommendation in this thread.

I've been looking for a set to replace the OEMs and these work great!
I just hope my Optima holds up, 9 months and counting. :biggrin: