Capacitor

I have a 2005 Mazda 6.  I had a system in there with a Lightning Audio 1 farad cap.  When I had the factory battery in the car everything worked fine.  When I upgraded the battery to an Optima Red Top the car takes a split second longer to start when the car is warm.  When the car is cold it starts within a split second of turning the key.  When the car is warm like I say, it takes an extra second to start, and it start's hard.  It only does this when the cap is installed.  Why would this be happening, especially after a new battery was installed.  I had the battery load tested and it was fine.  I also don't listen to the radio with the car off, so it wouldn't matter if it was a red top or yellow top.  My system is not a very large system either.  I know that the cap is constantly pulled current off of the battery, but there shouldn't be a problem when starting the car.  Has anyone ever had this happen?

My guess is it's your imagination. Something changed, and you can't quite put your finger on it, so your mind tells you it is the new battery. Don't worry about it, nothing is wrong. Oh, and once a cap is charged (and unless your disply is ALWAYS on) it will pull close to NO more current, ever. While it will "self discharge" (called leakage current) it'll be on the order of microamps, possibly milliamps... your car's computer will pull more than that, even when off... Again, I wouldn't worry about your "issue", as I don't really think there is one...It all reminds me of something that Molière once said to Guy de Maupassant at a café in Vienna: "That's nice. You should write it down."

I'm not saying it's necessarily the battery.  I was just wondering why it would start hard.  It sounds like when your batter is worn down and the car tries to start, except my car starts, it just hesitates before it does.  I don't want it to mess up the starter.

Lol, a new battery wont mess up the starter. I'm going with haemphyst and that it is only your imagination...like you were expecting a difference.