Well I went out an bought a yellow top Optima battery. From what was told to me its for extreme off road usage and high wattage audio systems. Do you think this will help with dimming issues and such that much?

 

Optimas are a vast improvment over a normal wet cell auto battery, but a Kinetic or Stinger dry cells would be the best choice...

 

yea it will help with the dimming but if your alt is getting weak you willmight still have some dimming issues but the yellow top was a good choice. i wanted a kinetic but the one it calls for doesn't fit right in our battery trays. you have to take of the radiator cap and bend the inner lip of the fender a little bit to get in. we had to do this to my buddy's blazer. dont sure about how the stinger fits. any of them are a good choice

 

so how would a kinetic hc600(or 1 of the smaller guys) compare to a red/yellow top?

I assume they still have the ability to be discharged and recharged without problems......

 

I have an Optima red Top in every vehicle I own ..
My first one was when they first came out around 1990 and that same battery is still in my 85 Blazer today ..
I have killed that thing more times by leaving something on and then a week later I go to drive it and oh oh , dead , I put the charger on it for 3 minutes and it starts and charges fully in a matter of seconds ...
Great battery !

 

I wanted to trust the good things I have heard about Optima, I really did. You don't shell out $180 without doing research. I just retired my Optima red top after 13 months of service. Hands down the worst battery I have ever owned.

Seems to have a high level of discharge like it sat on a shelf somewhere for 4 or 5 years without a charge. About 3 months ago it wouldn't start the car after sitting a weekend. starting 3 weeks ago was starting to not start the car after sitting overnight.

Starting the car the voltmeter would routinely drop to 9 volts. It would immediately drop to 12V when I tunred the car off, and would only come to 14.3 with the engine running. I couldn't get Autozone to replace it either. It would take a charge and pass on his tester in the store so it was good according to him.

When it was not wanting to start the engine after sitting in the parking lot during the work day I decided to stop trying to beat a dead horse and went to K-Mart for a DieHard Gold. No problems and the car starts on the first crank like it should. Charges to 14.6 and drops to 12.7 when the engine is off. 11.8 when cranked.

Also for future reference a 78 series battery has an additional 110 cold cranking amps an will just barely fit on the battery tray of a Blazer but is a tight squeeze geting it in there and requires some manuvering. 75 series is manufacturers recommended battery size for 2nd generation S-10 Blazers

 

Optima's need strict voltage regulation... If your charging system puts out over 14.8 volts at any given time, it makes the battery vent, each time it's over that voltage...

I've seen my stock setup spike to 15.1 a few times...

Ahigh quality alternator probably has better voltage regulation in it...


On the other hand, I've also heard that since the price jumped up, it can be hit or miss as to if an Optima is any good...

I'm still running the stock battery, so I'm not worrying much until it dies... Probably shove the biggest battery with top + side posts that I can fit...

 

I had my Yellow Top since 2000 and been transfered from vehicle to vehicle. No Problems yet and been discharged more time than I can count.

 

i have minimal dimming with no big 3, ac delco batt, and 4 gauge wire running 1000rms

how much power are you running?

 

Powermaster XS, I like these batts alot I just cant seem to afford them..lol