aftermarket battery?

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Old 06-08-2006, 02:54 AM
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aftermarket battery?

i was waiting for my wife in the parking lot this late afternoon, i was listening to radio and reading magazine while the lite on because it was kind of dark, when my wife came, i tried to start the and clank! wont start.... i have my freind help me jump start.... my car is 2 1/2 yrs old and its time for new battery... i dont know what to pick-up... any suggestions... and where to pick-up... thanks

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Old 06-08-2006, 03:27 AM
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I'm pretty happy with my gold Diehard battery. Was about $80 at Sears and it even came with a battery shaped mini cooler!
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Old 06-08-2006, 04:00 AM
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optima red tops are good......but if you are pushing amps i suggest the yellow top. I have been a faithful with the redtops and they have always lasted me 3 to 4 years plus and this is including living in the desert of AZ..oh and we use red tops on some of our vehicles in the army and they have been combat tested
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Old 06-08-2006, 04:22 AM
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Originally Posted by hslin
I'm pretty happy with my gold Diehard battery. Was about $80 at Sears and it even came with a battery shaped mini cooler!

Originally Posted by 4080wrx
optima red tops are good......but if you are pushing amps i suggest the yellow top. I have been a faithful with the redtops and they have always lasted me 3 to 4 years plus and this is including living in the desert of AZ..oh and we use red tops on some of our vehicles in the army and they have been combat tested

thanks... hslin, 4080wrx... im going to check-out optima red at rons...
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Old 06-08-2006, 07:12 AM
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Originally Posted by 4080wrx
optima red tops are good......but if you are pushing amps i suggest the yellow top. I have been a faithful with the redtops and they have always lasted me 3 to 4 years plus and this is including living in the desert of AZ..oh and we use red tops on some of our vehicles in the army and they have been combat tested

I got yellow...good if you want to hang out in your car and play the radio for a while.
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Old 06-08-2006, 10:50 AM
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i like my red top optima, but for people running audio systems requiring more voltage, i would suggest the yellow top. Keep in mind where the battery terminals are located, as not all batteries made by optima have the same terminal locations. Some people like to learn the hard way on this...
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Old 06-08-2006, 08:14 PM
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Unless you plan to drain the battery regularly the red top is a much better choice. While many people speak of the yellow tops abilities.....they dont mention what the battery requires/benefits from. Most notably they need a higher constant voltage for charging and they perform better when kept fully charged (meaning you drive regularly for reasonable amounts of time/distances).

I believe you can get better pricing on optimas from Interstate, costco, and Battery Bills. Just be sure to get the right model (positive on right) and its much easier if you get the spacer for a better fit.
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Old 06-08-2006, 08:31 PM
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Red Top here...

Picked it up from Sears...

My stock battery lasted a whole 8 months...been using the red top ever since...no problems.

As noted above, make sure you get the red top with the proper battery terminal orientation.
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Old 06-09-2006, 12:11 AM
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dan, my stock battery recently went out on me. went to my brother at security and sounds since he sells optima batteries there. i suggest red top since the terminals are the same for our stock battery. i originally wanted the yellow top, but i didnt want to waste my bros time and have them extend my terminal. call me up
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Old 06-09-2006, 01:33 AM
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Red Top ftw if you don't have a lot of car audio. I only have a deck so Red Top does me just fine.
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Old 06-09-2006, 04:05 AM
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this morning, i went to pick-up a red top optima battery at the nex autoport near sub-base, cost me $99.00.... i thought me more ..... thanks for all of your suggestions and comments
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Old 06-09-2006, 08:46 AM
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For everyone who is saying their battery died on them, I hope you checked the electrolyte level. The stock battery is not maintainence free. I had to add water to mine a couple times before it finally started giving up the ghost at 2.5 years old.

I now run the Odyssey Lightweight Battery and it works great. You may not be able to play your stereo with aftermarket amp for 5 hours without starting the car, but my car started all winter long, even on 9*F mornings.

I like that it shed 20 pounds from in front of the front wheels. Almost makes up for all of the Dynamat Extreme I have in my doors.

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Old 06-09-2006, 10:00 AM
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Originally Posted by acarguy
the yellow tops abilities.....they dont mention what the battery requires/benefits from. Most notably they need a higher constant voltage for charging and they perform better when kept fully charged (meaning you drive regularly for reasonable amounts of time/distances)

I experienced this exact thing. I had a yellow top half cell. I didn't have a system or anything, but I put on an average of 450miles a week(town to ewa 6x a week.) Later, when I stopped having to drive that distance, after 2 months, the battery died. It couldn't even hold a charge. I ended up replacing it with a DieHard
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Old 06-09-2006, 07:45 PM
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Originally Posted by hangbot
I experienced this exact thing. I had a yellow top half cell. I didn't have a system or anything, but I put on an average of 450miles a week(town to ewa 6x a week.) Later, when I stopped having to drive that distance, after 2 months, the battery died. It couldn't even hold a charge. I ended up replacing it with a DieHard
Yup, its one of the downsides to most deep cycle batteries.....unfortunately most resellers wont tell you or just dont know What makes it worse is the fact that a yellow top cost significantly more.
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Old 06-09-2006, 08:19 PM
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I also run the Odyssey PC680 battery. It's light and I've had it for 16 months. I have two amps (and a 5 farad cap) and so far so good. It's light.

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