Optima Battery

[curtis reed]

Originally Posted by OptimaJim

Hello, I noticed your conversation involving our products and wanted to offer some clarification.

The quality of the batteries we manufacture (and we manufacture all of our own batteries, in our own facility) has always been excellent. The batteries we are manufacturing today are the best we've ever made. No manufacturer has a 0% defect rate, but any suggestion of widespread quality issues at any point in our production are false. Our plant and our main distribution hub in Laredo, Texas were both temporarily paused as of yesterday, due to weather-related electrical outages. We also had a two-week anticipated shutdown in April of last year due to COVID-19, but had a 90-day inventory stockpiled at that point. Other manufacturers were not so fortunate.

Jim McIlvaine
eCare Manager, OPTIMA Batteries
www.pinterest.com/optimabatteries

Is your production plant in Laredo or just the distribution hub? There are thousands and thousands of your products out there so they have to be pretty good but your comment doesn't truly clarify this particular part.

[Mike Pearson]

I haven't used an Optima battery in a while. I went to a lithium 16 v battery. I don't use the battery in the car to cool down between rounds. I have a regular lead acid battery that I carry in the trailer to run the water pump and fan between rounds. The lithium battery will reach full charge in about 20 minutes doing it this way

[Chip THELEGEND Johnson]

In class cars using a FUNCTIONABLE alternator a Red Top should be fine. Most of these cars are not race on a regular basis and don't get in a round robin situation. I ran them for years. I do know when they went to Mexico the quality and longevity suffered. Sounds like that may be better know from optima Jim's post.
In a bracket car or one with all the electronics you need something better. I do a lot of bracket racing too which includes double entries and 9 or 10 round races. Ive made 15 + runs in a 12 hr stretch on multiple occasions. When you get in the late rounds as many as 5+ runs in an hour with no alternator. In a situation like that I like to run ROCK 16V.
Batteries are like Coke and Pepsi Everybody has a favorite. That being said most battery failures are user generated. Take care of them charge them properly with the right charger and generator and you will have good life

[OptimaJim]

Hi Race Clean. OPTIMA Batteries was started in the United States in the 1970s, from technology developed by the Gates Corporation. They sold the brand to the Gylling Group in 1991, who then sold the brand to Johnson Controls in 2000, who then sold their entire battery division to private equity in 2018. Throughout each ownership, building the absolute best product and bringing it to market has been the focus for our brand. We have never outsourced production, re-branded, re-spec'd or otherwise compromised our commitment to making the best batteries possible. YellowTops are heavier than their RedTop counterparts and offer slightly more reserve capacity and the ability to be deep-cycled, while the RedTops offer slightly more cranking amps.

Curtis, I apologize, I thought I had included a link to a virtual tour of our production facility in Monterrey, Mexico, but it doesn't look like it worked, so I'll try again here. Our main distribution hub is in Laredo, Texas.

Jim McIlvaine
eCare Manager, OPTIMA Batteries
www.pinterest.com/optimabatteries

[curtis reed]

Thank you for the answer Jim.

[Race Clean]

Originally Posted by OptimaJim

Hi Race Clean. OPTIMA Batteries was started in the United States in the 1970s, from technology developed by the Gates Corporation. They sold the brand to the Gylling Group in 1991, who then sold the brand to Johnson Controls in 2000, who then sold their entire battery division to private equity in 2018. Throughout each ownership, building the absolute best product and bringing it to market has been the focus for our brand. We have never outsourced production, re-branded, re-spec'd or otherwise compromised our commitment to making the best batteries possible. YellowTops are heavier than their RedTop counterparts and offer slightly more reserve capacity and the ability to be deep-cycled, while the RedTops offer slightly more cranking amps.

Jim McIlvaine
eCare Manager, OPTIMA Batteries
www.pinterest.com/optimabatteries

OK,I dont remember seeing them(current shape) before the early 90's so I thought thats when it started, didn't find any info on it before the 90's!
Thanks