96 maxima battery recommendations?
 

The car is 96 Maxima bought his summer. Last week, the battery was dead due to I did not drive it for more than a month. In September, I was out of town for 3 weeks, but I can start the Maxima when I was back. The battery is new, manufactured in July 2011, ValuCraft, 650 CCA. I brought the battery to AutoZone to test, the result is the battery is bad. I want a better battery for the Maxima, could you give me some recommendations based on your experience?

I guess the factory alarm system use a lot battery. I have Altima and Accord without alarm system, I can start them after sitting a month with several years old battery. Can I disable the Maxima factory alarm system?

optima red top


that is all

I auto zone sales said the optima is not designed to use in hot area like near engine. It is true? How hard to install the optima red top?

Thanks!

its real easy to install a 10mm wrench and a little elbow grease is all you need

the guy at autozone is an idiot
they sell optimas

the only way he would be right is if they sell parts for a tractor or combine or something that doesnt have an engine but its an AUTO PARTS STORE

ARRRGGGHHHH!!! stupid people piss me off!!

sorry

yellow top if you have a lot of electronics

:sprint: to optima red top (for standard electronics anyway), I got one earlier this year.
Went to the drive in for 3 movies one night (~5 hours) during the past summer, motor off the entire time w/ stereo blaring (forgot to run motor after each movie)... after the movies were over expected to need a jump... the car turned over with absolutely no effort, I love this battery. :)

I vote for a Red Top. I love mine.

Costco Kirkland.

Ive had a Redtop and the rest have been Kirkland and they all have outlasted the Optima.

Can you get the warranty paperwork from the previous owner? Its gotta have a 2-4 year warranty & you could get it replaced for free.

I thought that. The battery is from autozone for $80, warranty is 1 year free replacement, 6 year prerated. It is not a good battery. I am reading all info about optima. I am interested yellow top now for deep cycling. For normal battery, once fully discharged, its days are numbered. I can not drive Maxima daily, have 3 cars need to drive in turns. So Optima yellow top may fit my Maxima.


Thanks!

Back in the day, Optima's used to be better than what they are now. I'm not really sure why this has happened, other than it could be due to lower quality control and other factors to cut costs. The last few cars i've owned have received Interstate batteries. They have great customer service, and they don't hassle the crap out of you if there's a problem with it while its under warranty.

ive had an interstate in my car since i owned it and winters over here a brutal its still crankin strong goin on 2 years

Instead of worrying about the battery why not find the cause of your battery drain problems? It's called a parasitic drain.

and a search would've probably found an answer to this REPEATLEY overasked question....:rolleyes:

:sprint:Agreed! There is no way the stock alarm could kill the battery in two days. Better start doing some troubleshooting.

OP check your charging system and check of drain on battery.

Duralast Gold from autozone in my car, sis car, mom's car, boy's car, gf's car, gf's sis car.

Great battery, Nooooo issues. highly recommend man.

go with the 24f-DLG (yellow top) from Autozone.. its a way better battery then the valucraft and saves you like 60 bucks from the optima.. one thing about the optima batteries.. although nice they only have a 3 yr warranty while the Duralast golds have a 3 year free replacement and then 5 yeah pro-rated. I have a 24f-DLG and my father is running one as well in his truck for over 3 years now with no problems. We both have all the electronics you could think of. HIDS, Full system, he's running two amps.

For everyday use the DLG is more then enough. THeyre made by the same same company (johnson Controls) that makes DieHard, Interstate, ProStart, and Everstart.. all great batteries.. But you get a better warranty with the Duralast Gold.

Optima ftw. Its a good investment

I bought the yellow top optimum. I did not drive the maxima often. I did not drive it at least for 3 weeks. Today I can open the door and trunk, but can not start the car. I think the battery drained out again.

My question is can I jump start the car or I have to charge the optimum battery follow the manufacture instruction? http://www.optimabatteries.com/produ...t/charging.php

If I have to charge the battery, any store recommended?

Thanks a lot!

Sorry, I read the manufacture instruction more carefully, I can jump start it and use alternator to charge it.

Thanks!

Interstates are what I gave used. Would last forever running a 500w amp and speakers at car shows. They also install the new battery on site for you and you drive away ready to last. They also offer commercial discounts :)

crz1,

here is the answer to your problem:
If you don't drive the car often and you have even a small parasitic drain, there is no battery produced on this earth that will keep up. After a year it will start dying. So in order to avoid getting into trouble buy a battery charger for about $40 and a volt meter for about $10. Measure the battery voltage couple of times a month. The voltage of a healthy battery is 12.6V. If you measure 12.4 or less, plug it in the charger for the night at 2A/h. Read on the internet about car batteries and their voltage. From what I remember if the battery goes down to 12V it is 75% discharged.
You don't have to buy another one. Just keep charging this one...

Shoulda got a lawn and tractor battery

walmart maxx ftw about 1000ca and was like 70.

Actually, this is incorrect. He bought a yellow top deep cycle battery...which is exactly what he needs if he is going to keep running it dead all the time. Deep cycle batteries are designed specifically for this purpose.

The battery charger is a good idea, but may not be practical. (no outlet nearby) How about one of these: http://www.rallitek.com/uploads/imag...llsize_599.jpg

Just pop the hood and turn the knob when you aren't going to drive the car for a few weeks.

I say interstate but hate the color of the battery! LOL...I hear way more complaints from the Optima and we are looking at functional not cosmetic here.

beegeezy,

before you invalidate someone's comment please read more carefully. I suppose you didn't get to the last line of my comment before you had the urge to use the word "incorrect"...

I read it carefully. Your statement was 100% accurate if you were talking about a regular starting battery. This is a deep cycle battery, designed for a different purpose. I realize you weren't suggesting a new battery, but you were warning him about his yellow top as if it were a starting battery. Here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_cycle_battery Read this and try to understand what I meant when I said you were incorrect.

Don't get your feathers all ruffled...I'm not trying to win anything, just trying to give the guy accurate info...which you weren't providing. (not entirely at least)

:sprint:

I inserted the duralast gold 24f three years ago and it still reads 12.7V in the morning 16 hours after alternator charging. The 24f is a little bigger that the 35n but it has higher wattage and is cheaper.

Had Optima red top for 4 yrs.- then died!
Switched over to Interstate Mega-Tron, gr8 battery...:D

I Love that!! My car doesn't go into sleep mode anymore and just draws amps until the battery dies..usually after 4-5 days if I don't drive the car. So I installed a Kill all switch right under the dash. I was never able to find the cause of the drain, so I took the easy way out.

Awesome someone else has the walmart maxx 1000ca but they prolly dont have the matching worked foxbody that the battery also fits

Don't let you car sit for longer than a week. With alarms and ecu memory, stereo memory, and bcm memory, cars are not designed for that kind of neglect. Run it for 20 minutes a week.

IDK if 20 mins a week is going to help much. He would be better off with using a battery disconnect if not driving the car for more than a week or two, or using a trickle charger at a very low output (~1A). It all depends on where his car is sitting. My car is parked on the street, so I won't leave the hood open with a charger attached. I drive my car usually daily and it doesn't sit for more than a couple of days...so this isn't an issue for me.

Just telling the OP that you like Optima red tops, duralast gold, interstate batteries, etc. isn't helping his needs. He is a very different kind of battery customer. As most of us drive our cars regularly, any battery will work fine. (some last longer than others though) But for someone that doesn't drive often (>2 weeks between use is typical) then the options are more important. A true deep cycle battery (non-optima) would last the longest with a small (~50-75mA) parasitic drain. The group 35 yellow top optima has an amp-hr rating of 48. So, 48/.075 = 640 then divide by 24 hours to get 26.6 days. That is a best case scenario and all the way down to 10.5V, which might not crank the car. (poor grounds, loose cable, etc. = higher resistance, less amperage for starting.) A group 34 optima yellow top is only marginally better at 55 Ah, giving you another 4 days. Realistically, the calculations should be done at a higher draw to balance out the <100% efficiency in draining characteristics. 48/.15 is closer to what you would probably see in real life...giving you about two weeks of usable charge with the group 35 yellow top.

This would be a nice option if it fits: http://www.dcbattery.com/lifeline_GPL-24T.html It's big though...not sure if you could squeeze it under the hood. But that battery gives you 80 Ah of juice, which would last quite a while.

crz1, the good thing is that you bought a battery that is supposed to be good for 350 full discharges....so you aren't going to kill it easily. But you do need to disconnect it or keep it charged if you want to hop in a start the car after weeks of it sitting.

If op isn't driving his car daily(by daily I mean at least once a week) he is prob better off disconnecting the battery when he doesn't intend to drive it for a while. Due to the electronics in the car the car will put a constant parasitic drain on the battery to preserve things like time, radio channels, security ect.

I'd honestly wouldn't spend the money on a optima, just go get a battery with a good warranty on it. I know sears sell's diehard golds for around 100$ or so and they come with a pretty decent warranty.

The Optima yellow top is designed for high accessory loads(such as mine). Every battery will be better suited for one thing or another. The auto parts store batteries are great for the avg driver who doesnt need an Optima

Thanks a lot for everyone's comments.

I jump start the Maxima yesterday and let the car idle for about 30 min. I bought the Peak PKC0AP 12 V Battery/Alternator tester (http://www.amazon.com/Peak-PKC0AP-Ba...8194062&sr=8-6) from Pepboy. It showed battery fully charged. But the tester alternator lights are not on. It did not indicate alternator is OK or faulty. I need to buy a multimeter to test the alternator output voltage. The battery was charged, I can turn off the car and start the car.

I think I have to drive the car at least once a week or disconnect to cable to the battery.

Thanks again!

I would still suggest to charge your battery with a battery charger rather than relying on running the car for 1/2 hour. You need 1-2A charging current to put the battery in it's fully charged state. The alternator puts out much higher amperage. The alternator is suppose just to keep the battery in fully charged state, but not to re-charge it from drained state.