battery vs alternator

Actually, if you don't plan on repeatedly discharging the bottery totally(read: playing the system with the car off until the battery is dead alot), then a Red Top regular starting battery is probably going to help you dimming situation out more then a deep cycle. It will have higher cold cranking/cranking amperage ratings, so it will deliver more juice to help solve your dimming issue.

The only benifit of using the deep cycle is as I ststed, it will hold up better to repeated full discharges/charges...

-Matt

I would REALLY like to see the math that leads you to that conclusion.

heamph :::shakes head::: if we were talking fancy class d amps, xover points, quality drivers - I'd defer.  I know you can install a better system.

But your devotion to these Red Tops is real, real misplaced.  You repeatedly telling people these are better for car audio is simply poor advice that is going to cost people money and frusteration- it belies Optima itself, and clearly you've never used these batteries side by side (if you did you wouldn't continue telling people this) - and your 'CURRENT CURRENT CURRENT' mantra is simply wrong. 

Your basic argument, which you obfuscate behind an explanation of plates or whatever, has remained the same ever since we first argued over these batteries, and is flawed at its basic premise:

https://www.the12volt.com/installbay/forum_posts.asp~TID~67715~KW~sedate~PN~0~TPN~1  (2nd, 3rd pages)

My system needs a peak of 200 amps - so I need the battery that can provide a peak of 600 amps because a peak of 500 amps isn't enough?  Exactly.  It doesn't make any sense.  Both of these batteries would - momentarily - power an electric chair.

EITHER battery will supply SEVERAL TIMES the CURRENT that the system will require - a battery that can WITHSTAND THESE CURRENT DEMANDS is what is required.

Look frizkysquirrel, read heamphs own posts on the subject and he admits the Yellow is Deeper cycling battery - what matters here is NOT current - either battery can supply far more than your system could ever require - what matters is the ability to withstand the current demands that are being foisted upon the electrical system - the Red Top will NOT do this over the long term when mated to a sufficiently powerful system.

The Yellow will.

I had to replace the red top in my G35 about a year after it was installed because it wouldn't hold a charge.  And I have an OEM stereo.  My problem is the car sits a lot, and the red top simply couldn't last in that situation (driving a the one weekend a month). 

I replaced it with a red top, because they honored the warranty, but if I had it to do over I would have bought a yellow top.

How did I know this was coming?

How is referring people to the Red Top batteries going to cost them MORE money when they cheaper than the Yellow Top's, and in my experience last LONGER as well?

I'm guessing that you're basing your argument on the premise that, being that the Red Tops are less reliable and will have to be replaced more often, they will have to spend more money in the long run - which I can dispell right here and now because i have owned(and still do) BOTH types of batteries. How many Yellow Tops have I had fail on me? 2. Now I will admitt that 1 of the 2 as been through 2 auto accidents, and has a 6" slit in the side of it (and still worked for a year or so after the last wreck) - BUT, it only lased 3 years, and my other Yellow Top is on it's way out, which I have had for about the same amount of time...

I have had the same Red Top for nearly 5 years, it has been completely discharged several times, and has never refused to start my 12.5:1 big block in my Bronco by ITSELF. Now, I had 2 of the Yellow Tops origionally in my Bronco because I used to think, like you Sedate, that the Yellows were better, and if I had 2, then I could also have more cranking amps than just one Red, right? Well, 2 of them did work better than 1 red, but then they started going bad on me and now all I have currently is one red top. I also have one red top in my Maxima, and it starts my car better than a yellow top, and it's just a fairly stock engine on the inside...

Following your logic that "if your system will need a peak of 200 amps, and the battery can supply a peak of 600 amps", then that battery should perform exactly the same in that same car as one that could supply 900 amps, correct? And this would apply as well to starting the car as well, correct - being that a starter only draws about 200-300 amps AT MOST to start the car? Well, I can tell you for a fact, that if you put a Yellow Top battery in my Bronco, which I have pulls ~200a on a cold start up it will crank slower than a Red Top battery if both batteries have a resing voltage that is exactly the same.

-Matt

Yup!

These other guys - it must be difficult - taking authority as truth rather than truth as authority . . .

The point of my story was to show that A. any battery can fail and that B. the Red Tops are not perfect.

I firmly believe that I deepcycled by Red top by letting it sit.  As we all know, after deep cycling a battery it will never hold a full charge.  That was the exact situation I had - a battery that worked, but would die in 2-3 days of non use.

On the same token, back in the day when I had my Cavalier I had a yellow top in it.  I rarely drove that car, but once I recharged the yellow top it was fine.  I had that yellow top for 4+ years with no issues at all, and quite a few complete discharges.  I can safely say you can completely discharge a yellow top with no loss in storage capacity.  I can also safely  say, from my personal experiance, you can NOT discharge a red top and expect it to operate anywhere near 100% of its original ability.  I'm by no means a battery expert and I'm speaking solely on my personal experiance with each battery.

Summary :

Yellow top installed in car with 1000 watt RMS system for 4+ years and several battery discharges - perfect

Red top installed in car with stock stereo for 1 year and 2-3 discharges - time for new battery.

The last thing I will add is someone along the way told me that Optima changed their design and that their new yellow tops weren't as robust as their old yellow tops.  If this is in fact true, which I don't know if it is or isn't, then that may explain some things.