to optima or not to optima

[OptimaJim]

Hello, I noticed your conversation regarding our batteries and wanted to offer some assistance. chevy_mike, can you described what was going on when you encountered three issues with our batteries in three different vehicles? Were you able to get warranty service on any of those batteries?

I've noticed several of you have tossed around the “g” word, so I do want to clarify that our batteries are not gel batteries, they are AGM lead-acid batteries. Gel batteries are rarely found in automotive applications outside of electric golf carts and have very narrow charging parameters that may not fully-charge non-gel batteries and could damage them over time. For that reason, we recommend avoiding any charger settings that say “gel” in them, even if they say “AGM/gel.”

Many of the “bad” batteries returned to us under warranty are just deeply-discharged and work fine, when properly-recharged. This is due to the fact that AGM batteries have very low internal resistance, which allows them to deliver current for far longer than a traditional flooded battery. That's great news if you are a tournament angler and need your trolling motor batteries to keep operating on a windy day. It's bad news if you try to recover your deeply-discharged battery with an older, analog charger, that does not recognize or charge batteries discharged below a minimum voltage level (usually around 10.5 volts).

This is not unique to Optima, in fact, other AGM manufacturers have dealt with this issue by simply voiding the warranty on their battery if it is found to be discharged below a specific voltage level. We didn't do that with our warranty, but we did create this YouTube video, which explains how to recover deeply-discharged batteries.

The quality of our batteries has never been better. Our production facility is ISO 14000 certified for environmental management and ISO/TS 16949 for quality management and while some AGM manufacturers now use recycled lead in their products, we still use 99.99% pure lead.

Warrens69GMC, we changed our warranty policy in February of 2009, to equalize the warranty between our YellowTops and RedTops. We recognized some consumers were choosing RedTops for deep-cycle applications (including 4x4 owners with winches) because of the additional pro-rated warranty, even though the YellowTop was the more appropriate choice for their application. We also acknowledged that pro-rated warranties were often confusing and frustrating for retailers to calculate and consumers to undersand (you will see a lot of retailers moving away from pro-rated warranties in the coming years). When we eliminated the pro-rated portion of our warranties, we also extended the free replacement period on YellowTops from 12 months to three years.

Optima batteries used to be cheaper, because the price of pure lead used to be cheaper. Those who follow commodity prices know what has happened in the metal market in the past ten years, which includes lead. If your raw material prices go up by more than 300%, how much should your retail price increase?

The key to long battery life, regardless of brand, is proper voltage maintenance. When any battery is discharged below 12.4 volts and left sitting in that state, sulfation begins to form, which diminishes both capacity and lifespan. That makes a quality battery maintenance device an excellent investment for any vehicle that doesn't see regular use. If anyone has any questions about our products, I'll do my best to answer them.

Jim McIlvaine
eCare Manager, OPTIMA Batteries, Inc.
www.pinterest.com/optimabatteries