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What is THE best battery?

CeeFive

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 3, 2003
Messages
61
Location
Boston
Corvette
2008 VR ZO6
Come spring I am looking to change my battery for something good. Still get that "Charge system fault" every now and then and it has been to the dealer twice. They tightened up the connection below the battery but say all else looks good. It seems to come up when I have not driven the car for a week or so. I am getting the feeling it may be the battery not putting enough out. Seem to run down pretty quick also. Optima the best, or are there other suggestions? And where is the best place to get one? Thanks
 
Optima Batteries are the best batteries on the market.
If your car sits for long periods of time and has allot of aftrmarket electronics use the Yellow top.
If your car is a fair weather weekend car use the red top.
GM batteris are crap plain and simple.
Lot's of place carry them,
Tim
 
Yes - Timster is right - the Optima red top is a good one - I've got one in the Vette and one in my 73 Bronco as well. Costco has a good price on them if you're a member there.

The stock bettery is crap. 525 amps for a vehicle with that much eletrical demand is pathetic. The optima red top is in the 800 amp range. You'll notice the car starts much faster with the optima too.
 
Whats the difference between the red top and the yellow top?
 
The yellow top is a deep cycle battery. It will have fewer Cold Cranking Amps (CCAs), but will withstand a drain much longer. You will see yellow tops used in mraine and off-road applications where the battery will have several hours of load on it without a re-charge (usually a stereo or lights).

If you park your car for weeks at a time, the Yellow top might be the choice for you. I think the red top would hold up fine though anyway. It's a vast improvement over the stock battery.

Mine's a daily driver, so the red top works fine. My 73 Bronco will sit for weeks sometimes, but there's no drain on the battery when it's sitting. The most high tech thing in that vehicle is the CB.
:D

The red top is also cheaper. $100 at costco, the yellow top is more.
 
Diehard

I put a die hard gold in my vette and my impala and my camaro they work great and have a long warranty.
 
Did the dealer do a battery capacity check? It's quite possible that you have one or more cells that are not taking and/or holding the charge. This usually presents itself after sitting idle for a couple of days.
I'll have to disagree with the majority here, Delco batteries are really some of the better batteries made using the latest technology. To be sure, the optima batteriies are very good batteries, but they have been known to fail also. It's really the luck of the draw, sometimes dispite the manufacturer's production control, they do occasionally miss something, or an internal component can fail. I have never had a Delco battery just fail on me. But beyond 3 years on any 12 volt battery, you're usually pushing your luck.
The battery in my 02 Z06 seems to be as strong as the day I took delivery. It sometimes sits for up to three weeks while we are traveling. I do nothing special to preserve the charge.

vettepilot
 
I have Delco batteries in six of my seven vehicles. The Delco battery in my 85 Oldsmobile is over 10 years old, and still going strong.
 
I go with the Sears Diehard, they have always been reliable.
Tom
 
Just finished replacing the batter in the C5. There was absolutely no warning that this battery was going to go. My wife started it up in the morning and had to make a stop on the way to work. Her stop was close to where she works, about a 30 minute drive or so. She walked in for a couple minutes and came back out and the battery was toast. I've never had a battery go without some sort of warning (reduced cranking power/longer starting). What's with this?

My recommendation is not to wait to get the battery. If you think that's the problem, get it now before it leaves you stranded. Don't wait for a warning that the battery is getting weak, because you may not get one.

Leon
 
Put in the new style AGM Delco battery. They say it doesn't leak.


http://service.gm.com/gmtechlink/arcv_pdf/8_00_e.pdf


Gordon. I had that happen to me. The battery is made up of several cells which are really smaller batteries wired in series. One of the cells can reverse polarity if the battery is weak instantly reducing the overall voltage output.
 
Define best!

Do you want:
1. Lot's of cranking amps
2. It to still crank after sitting for three months without starting the motor
3. Lightweight
4. A leakproof battery
5. A smaller battery



You can't have it all. Define best, and you'll get good answers instead of wild guesses on what you really want.
 
I would recommend DieHard in a heartbeat. The big advantage here is that Sears will generally install one while you wait... this gives you the opportunity to watch them do it. I like to slip the Sears "mechanics" a few bucks to help ensure a "quality" job (actually, to help minimize the probability that they will f*ck something up).
 
Mostly,I want a battery that will start the car after sitting for a few weeks at a time. My car is an 02 coupe and I just turned 4600 miles, so you can see its a fair weather bird.( Someone will get a nice coupe if I like the C6 Z) I also want a battery that has no chance of leakage. When I started this thread, I figured the same battery would keep coming up as the "best" in most peoples opinion. I could care less how much it costs, just want a battery that has a great track record. With the drain on these cars, it seems 2-3 weeks is too short a time for the battery to die, without sticking a battery tender on it all the time. There must be longer lasting batteries than that.
 
I had my battery go while I was shopping at Pep Boys. In this case... any battery was the best one, cause I just wanted to be able to get home! Man did I feel like an A**!
 
For longevity, a gel-type battery isn't the best choice. They "leak" power while sitting, and generally don't have as much power anyway. Our alarms, or something, will continually sap power, so a smaller capacity battery will not suit you well. A lead-acid battery will retain power longer, but weigh more and still have the possibility of leaking.

With a lead-acid battery, you could try converting to regular type of hold-down system so that you could use a battery case.

Moving the battery to the back of the car also reduces the damage that could occur from a leaking battery.

If you must have a gel-type, you could use a battery tender. The gel-type batteries like Optima, generally only last a week or three. When discharged beyond something like 10.4 volts, they are damaged permanently.

You picked the toughest combo: no leak, and long lasting.
 
Costco Batteries

In my experience, the few times I brought back my dead batteries to the store, un-experienced employees just swapped out the bat's without even checking out the time that I had it.

Gotta love it!

vv
 
Optima Battery the best

Optima Red Top 75/35 is my suggestion as the best for a C5. Some Corvette opt for the Optima Yellow Top. The Yellow is best suited for cars with extra electrical draw, ie: high powered audio/video equipment.
Whatever battery you choose, be sure its an AGM (Absorbed Glass Mat) type. All Optima's are AGM's
 
Hey Glenn, I thought the optimas were "gel type" batteries and some people telling me they won't hold a charge as long? My car is an 02 with 4200 miles, so it sits a lot. (Wiped down after every drive etc.) No extra electrical stuff on it. I just don't feel like constantly plugging it in. Still recommend the Optima? Thanks.:Steer
 
CeeFive said:
Hey Glenn, I thought the optimas were "gel type" batteries and some people telling me they won't hold a charge as long? My car is an 02 with 4200 miles, so it sits a lot. (Wiped down after every drive etc.) No extra electrical stuff on it. I just don't feel like constantly plugging it in. Still recommend the Optima? Thanks.:Steer

Yes, the Red Top Optima 75/35 will be fine. I have an 02 also, garage kept, wiped down after every time out and sits alot. (ex: driven once in December) I use the Optima Red Top and it definately is an AGM battery.

Some interesting reading from Optima's website: "Inside this unusual battery is a six-pack of SPIRALCELL TECHNOLOGY®. Traditional batteries have a stack of thick lead plates surrounded by acid. But OPTIMA® batteries feature two thin lead plates wound into a tight spiral cell, with an absorbent glass-mat in between to hold the electrolyte solution.This unique design allows for more power and increased energy, resulting in quick, reliable starts. OPTIMA batteries are the first and only batteries to feature SPIRALCELL TECHNOLOGY.

For more: http://www.optimabatteries.com/
 

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