| Subject: Optima batteries |
Author:
JD
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Date Posted: 8:03pm
Optima's are spiral cell AGM batteries. They use thin layer plates and acid saturated glass twisted in a spiral.
The idea here is to give the lasting power of an AGM (absorbed glass matt) with the cranking AMPs of a standard lead acid cranking battery.
It's all about plate surface area when it comes to cranking amps. The more plate you have touching acid the more power you can pull out quickly.
AGM's have thick plates, they last a long time but the power comes out slow.
Lead acid have thin plates the power comes out fast.
Optima's have thin plates wrapped in a spiral: power comes out fast but there's a catch. Due to the low clearence between plates they tend to overheat when charged hard, and heat kills batteries.
If you want to use them make sure your charge system is compatable with them. Throw too much charge at them and they fry.
Optima is marketing these things as trouble free easy to use batteries.
Actually though trouble free in the right set up they are the least forgiving when it comes to voltage spikes or quirky systems. If you don't know a lot about batteries I'd say stay away from AGM's and Optima's in particular, and just run simple old fasioned lead acid batteries.
Don't get me wrong they are a good product: I bought and installed three in a project last week, but unless you know exactly what your charging system is doing they are not a good bet for you.
Tight lines, Jim
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