So a little history on my battery ventures. I started with my 1982 FB with a 450 CCA battery. I quickly killed that battery, as it was walmart special cheapie battery. The second battery that I bought was an Optima Red Top. 800CCA. Dead in 4 months. Then I bought my Exide Orbit battery. 850 CCA. It lasted for 2 months with repeatedly trying to start a motor with 45/45/45 compression on both rotors. Then it sat for about 18 months and it was used to start my buddies old ford truck with a 351. Started it right up. Yesterday I went to start my car after it sat for over 2 months with a bad rear end. My battery that I had in my 1985 was dead from listening to music while I was working on my car, so I figured what the hell, i'll try my deep cycle. Put it in and turned the key, the motor started after only 2 revolutions of the engine. The batteries are pricey at about $180, but WELL WORTH IT.

 

Thanks. I was curious about those batteries, having had ok results with red and yellow top optimas. However my friend had two red tops fail to take a charge so this info comes at a good time.

 

Yup. Long been known in the 4x4 community Im a part of that Optimas quality went downhill FAST and couldnt keep up with our trucks (lots of winching, heavy cranking, stereos, etc), and the Orbitals are the new ones to have. I have an older Optima before all the quality control problems and its still holding strong, but I dont think I will buy another. I plan to go straight for the Orbital for the RX-7 when it comes time.

~T.J.

 

This is good to know as I'm not happy at all with the redtop in my T2 FB, It won't take a full charge and goes dead after a week of sitting.... pathetic.
The redtop in my other FB that I put in there like 3 years ago is still going strong, guess it was sometime inbetween there that the quality started to go downhill...

 

I still have a battery that says ECONOMY on the top of it from when I got the car about 2 years ago... Car sat with same battery for I believe a year, still runs. Good to hear about the Orbit batteries, whenever this one croaks I know what I will be getting next!

 

ya, their quality control went out the window, and from what the guys at Murray's in Ann Arbor told me the company has stopped stocking Optima batteries because of it.

 

The Optimas don't like getting fully discharged. They act like a lithion-ion battery and establish a recharge ceiling every time they're fully discharged. Each time it's discharged, the ceiling and total capacity lower. Sometimes you can ger around it by setting the charger on it's lowest trickle setting and keep recharging it.