Just bought and installed a set of Optimas on my 2001. My old batteries were your standard lead acid batteries, and in this case were a set of Mopar power pro 6 that were in there when I bought the truck. My truck had developed a slow start problem over time, it would always start, but not as strong as it used to. I found out a month or two ago that the drivers side battery had died, and the truck was running solely off of the passenger side battery.

I took some pictures of the install so I will start with the shots of the batteries before I put them in. This first picture is a side by side shot of an Optima and one of the Mopar batteries I pulled out.



And here is the top side shot as well:



Funny thing is the Optima is much smaller yet is rated better than the Mopar. The mopar battery had a CCA (cold cranking amps) rating of 750, it didn't have the CA (cranking amps, nominal temp at 80°) listed on it. The Optima had 800 CCA and 1000 CA, with a RC (reserve capacity) of 110 minutes.

The install went fine, I had to make no modifications to the battery trays or hold downs. While I had the other batteries out I cleaned out the trays, which will get dirty regardless of what bettery is in there. The drivers side did have the battery temperature sensor on it. I should have taken a picture of it but I forgot about it. The sensor is not in the middle of the tray, it is more inboard on the tray. All I did was line up the middle cell on the optima and made sure it was contacting the sensor. This is also a great time to put anti-sieze on the hold down bolts. The passenger side was even easier since there is not a temp sensor in its tray. I did have to off set it so the positive cable would reach the terminal. Here are the picture of them in thier new locations.

Here is the drivers side:


And the passenger side:


This project took me about 2 hours, I spent a majority of the time cleaning the battery trays and the terminals. After I installed them I put my volt-meter on it and measured 12.07 volts. To me they looked weak or dead (a normal good lead acid battery will measure 12.75 to 13.25 volts). To my suprise when I turned the key the engine cranked, and and cranked good and very strong. Way better than my old batteries. I was very impressed with that.

All in all, I spent $155 per battery (a normal lead-acid battery was $90). I am very happy with them and look forward to not having corroded terminals anymore.

 

you paid a bit too much for the batteries.. A Stock replacement mopar battery is about 70$ +tax and a Optima Red top runs about 110$ at such places as Auto Zone.

 

Personally I'd pay $100 more for a redtop just so I don't have to deal with corrosion ever again.
Jr, did you check that the hold bolts on the driver's side didn't penetrate a wire loom?
That's the biggest problem that can happen with the shorter than stock redtops.

 

No I didn't but I will once it stops raining out here.

They were pricey but given my location everything is more expensive. Everything has to be shipped out here and the cost of that is reflected in the prices we pay for things.

 

When I did mine I ended up cutting about an inch off the bolt to make sure it didn't hit anything

Randy

 

I'm curious as to which optimas you guys are using. I was considering optima, but after checking their website, they show no application for my 2000 2500 ctd? what gives?

 

I ran red tops in my '97, no problems....

 

They make 2 red tops the 750CCA and the 800cca the 750 runs around $110-$130 the 800 cca run about $20 more. Retail is $139 and $169

 

One thing to keep in mind is that the RC reserve capacity is 150 minutes on the stock Mopars vs the 110 on the Optima. I think that is why Optima doesn't show one of their batteries fitting our application. I thought about doing an Optima, but decided to do a lead acid instead for the RC.

 

I run the blue tops in my boat. worth the extra $$. nice thing about them is you can drain them completely and they will charge back to 100% were the others won't. So they are a great battery for something that is not used on a reg basis and good for pushing major wattage on stereos.

 

What exactly does that reserve capacity do?? Allow you to run accessories without the engine running?? If that's the case, my Optima will still start my truck after 4 hrs listening to the radio...my 2 year old Exide's wouldn't!

I'm sold on the Optima's!
Chris

 

An optima battery is rated differant than an acid battery and has more reserve capacity!! Optima is actual and acid battery is what it should be under perfect conds.

 

Mmm...me too. I'll tell you though, when it's cold, I've noticed a significantly longer WTS time with my Red Tops when compared to the OEM batteries. It's too noticeable to be just my imagination.

 

Not trying to start anything but that sounds like a dealers excuse or sales pitch.....ie., made up. I'm not saying you made it up either, just doesn't sound right. If it has more RC, then they should rate it that way. I know plenty of folks that like them, but for the price I wasn't going to go backwards on RC. I tailgate and play the stereo too much. I always thought the Mopar batteries were good batteries, just a little leaky on the corrosion. I put in a good quality lead acid battery with the Deka's. I've had no battery last as long on my boat as the Deka's so I thought I'd do them in the truck. I hope and believe the Optimas a good batteries for you folks that have them, just not sure they're worth nearly twice the price and the whole RC was an issue for me. Anyway, just my thoughts on it.

 

IMHO, the hype over Optima's is just that... hype.

Their stats are not all that impressive (at least not the red tops most people are buying), and most of their benefits are really of little use for standard automotive use.

I've returned 2 in a row (red tops) for turning out DOA within 3 months of use - and know of plenty of others who have had similar issues. It seems their QC has really gone down hill since they first came out (which could have something to do with being bought out and changing mfg. hands).