Hey. I've had my Optima YT battery for about a year and a half, and it's not performing right on me now. I just had it tested with a load tester and the battery should be putting out between 12 and 13 volts and its only putting out about 11.3 or 4. It's causing my car to start very weakly and my system seems like it sucking the life out of my car (when it hits really hard now, my RPM's drop a lot and I have 2 caps!). My caps probably aren't charged right if my battery isn't working right though. So, I called AAA and had them come out and hook jumper cables up from my car to their truck to charge my battery somewhat. After about 5 minutes of it being hooked up to the truck, I tried starting it and it started sooo much better! big improvement! Then I drove around for about 15 minutes to let the alternator try to take over and charge the car but when I got home and started my car again, it did another weak start as if the battery was never charged again. My battery isn't totally dead but it's definetly hurt. What should I do? Any suggestions? BTW, it's not covered under warranty anymore, I tried.

 

Have you car's charging system checked first. Make sure the alternator is putting out the correct amperage. If the alty is OK, then your battery might have a dead cell and will need to be replaced.

 

that's it? those are my only two options? I either need a new alternator or battery? is there anything else that could possibly need to replaced instead? something else that's part of the charging system? Sorry if that's a dumb question, i just don't know a whole lot about these things...

 

You just said "you don't know a lot about these things" so stop driving yourself crazy and go get your system checked at your favorite shop!!

 

was the yellowtop brand new when u bought it?

 

yea it was brand new when i got it. that's why i don't understand why it would die on me after a year and half! i mean, I do have a big system and a lot of stuff in my car, but that shouldnt make THAT much of a difference right?

 

Could be a flawed battery. My Red Top wouldn't hold a charge after 2 months of use. Don't assume. Get the battery and alternator tested.

 

The only other thing it could be is a weak ground. Either where the battery is grounded or if you have any accessories, like a stereo, that also need a solid ground. I had this same thing happen. I took the ground wires off where they were connected to the chassis and sanded them to bare metal. reconnect and hook it up to a charger if you can. You will need to repeat this process with the amplifier and any added accessories as well. A bad ground in the electrical system WILL cause a slow voltage leak over time due to restricting the level it can be charged to. Yes, this is time consuming, but worth it in the long run.