'00 Honda Civic, Optima issue

Hello all,

I'm having a wierd problem with an Optima battery in a '00 Honda Civic, stock D16Y7 non-V-Tec. BIg amps kept killing the little civic-size battery, so I was planning a bigger alternator and a bigger battery. I bought a full-size, giant yellow top Optima battery and fit it in. However, after a half a day driving with it in,  the car refuses to idle at more than 500rpm with the big battery. I swapped the small Duralast back in, and idle returns to around 800rpm just like it should be. any ideas, guys? Also, would a 175amp alternator fry the charging harness on this engine? I was planning big alternator+big battery=huge power potential, but have gotten scared now. Thanx for any help guys, it is much appreciated. ---D.

Well, first off, the yellow top optima is a deep cycle, NOT a starting, or "main" battery....It won't last very long under the hood in that configuration. The red top is for that type of use. The yellow would be a second, isolated "stereo" battery.

I read that thread, and it makes sense. With my car off, the voltage meter on the Audiobahn amp reads around 12.3-12.5, car running it settles around 13.0, headlights on it runs around 14.5-14.9. I had a small, civic sized Optima yellowtop die on me in 8 months time. I figured that the alt. was just too small to keep it carged under the current draw (75 amp alt.). Would a Redtop be the better route to go? I was always told to use yellowtop for car audio...but would a redtop be better if it was the only battery in the car? Should I just get a redtop Optima and always keep my headlights on, so as to keep the alt. in charge mode? That would be cheaper than the whole alt. upgrade and big battery mess.

But does anybody know why the car idles low with the big Yellowtop? Would a big redtop do the same?

Than again ghuys. ---D.

okay, i read the rest of the thread and realize now that it is a bad idea to always have the alt. on high charge mode.

So it boils down to this: I would like to keep the car as stock as possible engine/electrical wise. I don't care about buying a  new battery once a year (or maybe even get it traded under warrenty). What would last longer, the civic-sized yellow top optima, or the civic-sized redtop optima? Last time I got eight months out of the yellowtop (but I had lost the reciept...so no warrenty).

Thanx. ---D.