The Red Top is a starting battery.

The Yellow Top is a high discharge battery. It is designed for applications such as high power audio systems, winches, auxilary lighting systems, etc.

The Blue Top is a marine battery.

 

CTD NUT- I have a lot of respect for you, and I agree with you, but a roll over is possible, although not near a likely. That is part of the reason I went with Optimas on my rig. Another is I spend a lot of time with the doors open and the radio on. Sometimes and entire 8-10 hour day. And when I do that with my Red Tops the truck still fires right up.

But I do not use my truck like most people, But I am not like most people.

My dad uses the cheap Wal-Mart batteries, and he just kills them, and gets his free replacments. I guess he is smarter than I am.

 

I run the Mopar spiral Pro series battery and love them (similar to Optima). I like having a clean truely maintenance free battery under the hood.

 

Oh yeah, that is a big deal for a yellow top Optima. The typical 9k - 12k electric winch will pull in the area of 400 amps at full load.....with only 70 idle amps available, this leaves the battery left with a 330 amp load.....even at a 250 amp load if you have a true 150 amps of alternator output, this is WAY out of the range of rate of discharge the yellow top was designed for. A 250 amp rate of discharge will seriously compromise the life of a yellow top. I have been through this exact scenario in the past and have first hand experience with this and have seen it repeated over and over.....the yellow top will not work with an electric winch - we even had an Optima rep. tell us this directly. It really shouldn't be used as a primary/starting battery at all.

 

I use a Red Top in the sandrail. It sits for 5 or 6 months and still starts. It's two years old and takes a pounding with no trouble, were as I used to replace a battery every year. My buddy has two 6-volt red tops in his rail. Just changed them after 5 years, for peace of mind. They still worked fine.

 

The following is from the Optima sales brochure.

Optima's Yellow Top battery reaches way down when it comes to deep cycle performance. The Yellow Top will outcycle, outlast and outperform flimsy flat plate conventional deep cycle batteries anywhere and in any temperature. It's ideal for high accessory vehicles or for situations where you need maximum reserve capacity and one less thing to worry about. The Yellow Top is perfect for vehicles with high-end stereos, winches or driving lights.

 

"The Yellow Top will outcycle, outlast and outperform flimsy flat plate conventional deep cycle batteries anywhere and in any temperature."

But it don't outlast or outperform the Red Top in our trucks. I put a Red Top in an old Taurus recently, as even though the Interstate 875 CCA battery was still working fine after almost 8 years I got tired of cleaning up the acid that was leaking out at an increased rate.

 

Dual Purpose (Starting and Deep Cycle) Batteries for Professional Use

OPTIMA YellowTop is made to install and forget. No matter the conditions, be it dampness, heat, dirt or exposure to extremes in vibration or regular discharge, you can count on OPTIMA to deliver uninterrupted power. OPTIMA's ability to hold a higher voltage during the discharge cycle makes it possible to utilize more of the stored power in the OPTIMA compared to ordinary batteries. The YellowTop handles many discharges as well as re-charges without losing significant capacity. OPTIMA is also ideal for seasonal use because of its very low self-discharge rate. That means you can store your seasonal vehicles all winter without regular charging and still spring out of the starting block when winter is over.






this is straight out of their internet ads. the truck has been driven less than 500 miles since the battery was installed.

and when I called them about it, they said, bascially to buy another one.

I told them I would never buy another one if they are like that

 

I bought two NAPA spiral cell batteries for my '99 dually in '01 or '02, don't remember when. But I do know that I switched them to my '02 when I bought it and they are by far the best batteries that I have ever owned, granted they cost $128 each! I was trying to look up which ones I bought, and what they are actually called, but NAPA's website stinks. You can't find anything on it.

 

Ditto - I have heard of a lot of problems with yellow tops used as starting batteries... I have a pair of red tops - $96 each on some stupid sale from 4wheelparts.

 

NAPA's are made by Exide, same as my MoPAR Pro 7's. Pict of one of mine in the gallery ( sorry about the dust)

 

I run dualy yellowtopsin my '98. Haven't had any troubles yet. They've been in for 5and a half years so far.

 

A 360 is a little easier to turn over than the ol Cummins

 

How come they don't list an available Red Top for our trucks on the Optima website?


Tony

 

Cause they dont make a group 27 size....group 27 is the OEM battery size. The Optima size to get is the Group 34/78.