Boiling Optima

[70chall440]

My wife's 05 Durango doesn't get used much as she has a 09 Caliber for daily use, subsequently the battery ends up dying so I finally decided I really needed to put a maintainer on it. I purchased three R2 Battery Savers (12W) as I have several cars that could use them. I installed on the Durango which was pretty much dead. After 3 days it made little to no progress, so I put a battery charger on it for 3 hours once a day for 3 days ending up with 12.1 V. I then put the R2 Battery Saver on it and left it for a day. I went and checked it today and noticed it was at 11.8V, so I went ahead and started the vehicle and let it run for about an hour (left the maintainer connected). When I came into the shop, this is what I found... I have never seen an Optima boil like this and am not sure exactly why it did it.

I shut off the vehicle and disconnected the maintainer letting everything cool down. While I am pretty sure the battery is toast, I will check it tomorrow to confirm. This battery is not all that old (perhaps 2 years) and has not been used much (which I know is worse than using it), but I am very surprised but this. I use Optimas quite a lot (70 Challenger, 73 Cuda, 52 B3B PU, 01 Ram, etc) and have never experienced this.

[HP_Cuda]

Let's just say I will never use Optima batteries again.

[Brads70]

Let's just say I will never use Optima batteries again.

I also had one.....once..... They work fine in a daily driver but not so good in our "play toys" that don't get driven and sit more than they driven.

[Cuda Cody]

Dang, Never seen that before!  Do you think it had anything to do with it running and having the charger on it at the same time?   

[Chryco Psycho]

Love hate thing
Had one in my daily driver lasted 14 years
had one in my Charger died in under 1 year , you have to use them constantly let them sit & they will die & will not recharge

[70chall440]

Dang, Never seen that before!  Do you think it had anything to do with it running and having the charger on it at the same time?   

Not sure but don't think so since the maintainer I had on there doesn't really produce much (12W @ 1amp max).

[70chall440]

I am the odd one out here, I have had really good luck with them, in fact I have one that is over 10 years old and still works fine. I have another that is at least 5 years old and it works well as well. There are lots of horror stories online in regard to Optima and I do realize there was a period where their quality was crap, but as I said I have had better luck than not.

As it relates to this issue, I have no idea what is going on or why it did what it did. I have never seen anything like this happen with one before. All this said, I am not sure what other brand I would go to, although I have had good luck with the Die Hard brand but don't like to be tied to just Sears for batteries.

[Topcat]

Let's just say I will never use Optima batteries again.

Amen to that!

You wouldn't believe how many I took back still under warranty.
You couldn't give them form free.

[Topcat]

Optima's were first being made I believe was Sweden.

Then they started over here in the U.S in I believe was Boulder CO.

Now they're made in Mexico.

During all these years and moves, you can bet they started playing  with the "recipe"
The "recipe" changes can be the quality of the recycled lead, the glass matting quality, and how much Calcium to use.
Calcium is used as an inert substance to harden the lead.

In the 80's to early 90's they were undeniably the best.

Move over to Northstar is what I will recommend.
Also known as the X2 battery. Sears has them as the Platinum (or they did)

[screamindriver]

I've never had an auto battery that will take a hard discharge more than a few times...A cell always goes bad and I get an error code with the charger trying to bring it back to life...I'm thinking that's where you're at now with that battery...Any computer controlled vehicle needs either the battery disconnected or a maintainer for any extended periods of time...It's not like the old days where there's no draw on the battery when the key is off...

 

[70chall440]

Probably so, I went out and checked it tonight (was still warm..  , it shows 12.3V however so we will see. I will check it again tomorrow and put the maintainer on it to see what happens. Fortunately this is not a vehicle we drive very often or need currently so it the battery is crap, it wont stop me from going anywhere (have quite a few more if needed.. )

Have been doing some research on Optima's (actually have a number of times) and it seems there are no lack of people who don't like them. As I said earlier, I have had very good luck with them over the years. Some of it I attribute to keeping a maintainer/tender on them, others is due to frequent use. I have a had an instance where one would not hold a charge, but that battery was at least 7 years old.

This got me looking at other brands as now I am not sure where to look. I can be a bit "brand centric" so I need to research what a good replacement would be, beginning to think Duralast Platinum might be a decent one. I want something carried by chain auto parts stores, not just Sears or online.

Open to suggestions, perhaps we could change this thread or start another about which batteries are good and bad..

[cataclysm80]

I've had optimas in numerous vehicles, including a 6 volt positive ground setup, and also used them as 12 volt power outside of a vehicle (deep cycle), and I've always had pretty good luck with them. 
I like that they're sealed and don't corrode battery trays or cables.

The only vehicle I had optima problems in, is a computer controlled vehicle that I've only driven once since 2009.
I've put 2 new optima batteries in that truck, and they just don't like to be installed and abandoned.  I'm sure they'd have been fine if I had driven the truck.  Some type of maintainer or occasional charging may have also helped.
The problem is that the vehicle should be driven more regularly.  Use it as your daily driver for a week every now and then.  They're meant to be driven, enjoy it.

I have blown one of those caps out of an Optima before.
If I recall correctly, it's a one way pressure release valve for the sealed battery, and it blows when the battery is overcharged.  It was one of the batteries I was using as a 12 volt power supply outside of a vehicle, and I left it hooked up to an old analog battery charger for to long.
It wouldn't hold a charge after that, and I took it back to AutoZone where they replaced it for free under warranty.

[Topcat]

Probably so, I went out and checked it tonight (was still warm..  , it shows 12.3V however so we will see. I will check it again tomorrow and put the maintainer on it to see what happens. Fortunately this is not a vehicle we drive very often or need currently so it the battery is crap, it wont stop me from going anywhere (have quite a few more if needed.. )

Have been doing some research on Optima's (actually have a number of times) and it seems there are no lack of people who don't like them. As I said earlier, I have had very good luck with them over the years. Some of it I attribute to keeping a maintainer/tender on them, others is due to frequent use. I have a had an instance where one would not hold a charge, but that battery was at least 7 years old.

This got me looking at other brands as now I am not sure where to look. I can be a bit "brand centric" so I need to research what a good replacement would be, beginning to think Duralast Platinum might be a decent one. I want something carried by chain auto parts stores, not just Sears or online.

Open to suggestions, perhaps we could change this thread or start another about which batteries are good and bad..

There are only 3 major battery manufacturers to all the store chains in North America.

Johnson Controls= Interstate and other labels they use
Exide Struggling in the American market
East Penn Dekka Really the best wet cell out there.

Don't be fooled by all these re labeled brand icons being advertised.
Fore example: Interstate sells Korean made generic versions on their low line levels.

The big chains like the auto parts companies and Wal Marts negotiate their cost demand and re labeling brand name they put on.
There's a ton of stuff beghind the curtains going on. Don't become another sheep.

[Brads70]

Mike advised me, as quoted from above post " Move over to Northstar is what I will recommend" and so far its great. I have a buddy who works as a mechanic at the local police department and northstar is all they use as well. They are noticeably heavier though if that matters?

[70chall440]

I talked to Northstar at Sema, nice product for sure, however the problem is that you cannot walk into any local store and get one. Also, they are definitely on the high end cost wise (~$300).

I am going to do some research and post it here. I do believe that when it comes to batteries there is a significant amount of "mis-information" and anecdotal information based on beliefs and feelings than real information. What I mean is that some things get a bad reputation some times for things that may not be completely their fault whereas other things get a good reputation in a similar manner; neither of these are based on actual fact or science. You cannot use marketing hype as a sole decision maker as everything everyone makes is the "best", likewise you cannot use all the information you find on forums as the "gospel" because as we all know, there are a lot of people out there doing all manner of things wrong and blaming the product.

Therefore, I think it has to be a weighed and methodical approach to determine what may be the best solution for any particular person. To this end, I will endeavor on a bit of a research effort and see if I cannot put something together to share here.

At this point, I am not ready to condemn all Optima batteries as being junk. While I have never boiled an Optima I suspect that my actions were not in the best interest of the battery and I caused this to happen in some way (mainly by not maintaining it). But in the interest of science  I think it is worth it to actually do some research and see what can be found so that others might have something to use in their own decision making process.