Just looking to see if anyone else in the north east us or other areas where it is pretty cold (20 degrees and lower) is anyone having trouble starting their car with yellow top batteries? I have a yellow top in my 03 Subaru Impreza RS and I also have a tsunami battery topper (https://www.tsunamionline.com/product.php?id=300). I have been having troubles remote starting my car and when I go to turn it over with the key it was very very sluggish. more recently It refuses to start, I have had to jump it with other vehicles and such.
I have taken the battery to advanced auto a local auto parts store and he said that the battery was fine and that it wasn't getting enough of a charge at the same time I cleaned the post of the battery and upgraded the negative to chassis ground with Kicker 1/0 wire. after that it seamed ok but it was also a little warmer out. today it was really cold and my trickle charger that i have did nothing but wiz me off so I had to jump it with my mothers van. then i went and worked for 8 hours and when I went to leave I was not able to start it. I tried jumping it with a scion XB but it would not turn over. luckily a buddy had a battery pack jumper that he let me use and it started. I fully expect it not to start the next time that I try to and it is getting really annoying.
when I look at the voltmeter on the topper it shows that the battery dropped down to between 6-11 volts (it varies time to time.)
Is anyone else having problems with their batteries? I know yellow tops are not meant to be a starter battery but there is no way they suck this much right?
If anyone has any suggestions that would be awesome. I don't believe the problem to be any of my electronics because this just started happening when it gets pretty cold. it may be a problem of yellow top + the topper but I don't see where it would be all it is is a metal block that clamps to the terminals.
also my supervisor is having similar issues mostly on the same days as me but my problem seams to be more severe because he is able to start his with using the key.
thanks for any help,
Jonathan
Optima batteries will not take a charge on a trickle or even 10 amp charge those pieces of junk need to have a full size battery charger connected to them. then set that battery to the jump start mode and charge the battery for a good 15 - 20 minutes. this seems to get the chemicals activated then turn the charger back down to a 20 amp setting if it has one or the next highest setting from jump start that your charger has and let it charge for several hours. don't know why but that seems to be the only way to get these batteries to take and hold a charge.
and to answer your other question, yes they do suck that much.
yes, they do suck. I had one for a while in a car I used to own. Never again! They are pure junk, the only thing they are good for is their ability to be mounted in any position, on their side for instance. But they dont last for crap! Mine crapped out on me after only about 10 months or so.
they do make pretty good weights to hold down tarps and such.
I have a yellow top in my Pathfinder and since installing it (two plus years) I have only had to jump start it once and that was a month or so ago when it was single digit temperatures outside. I had to have AAA come jump start it. It's been pretty dependable for me tho.
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pathfinderguy
The yellow tops were not designed as a starting battery. They are deep cycle batteries, good for an isolated second battery or running your trolling motor on your boat. If you are using an optima as your primary battery, you definetely want a red top. I have had several in different cars and had no problems. Still charge and discharge pretty fast and have a good reserve capacity.
I agree with paidnfull. I had a red top, its been in 3 different cars and is almost 5 years old. Love it.