MaCe

just bought a new optima red top , turns out thats all ive needed to get my shit runnin cause its been dead for about 2 weeks now .. installed that beatch and my baby fired right up :bubbarubb

just a pic or 2
engine bay


red top


i'll be addin a sub in the spring time and im hopin that this bad boy can handle the output


MaCe

18anatak

Thats cooler than a polar bears toenails.

fizzle

Why did you go with a red top and not a yellow? I have heard that the yellows are better - especially when you start adding in a stereo system...

acura1983

whats difference of the colors? iplan on gettin one but dont knoe which one to get....

VXCL

read here we just went over it

http://www.acura-cl.com/forums/showt...ghlight=optima

proaudio22

The Red Top is a SLI (Starting, Lighting, Ignition) battery. The Yellow Top is a deep cycle. Cycling is discharging and charging of the battery. The deep cycle allows frequent large current discharges and charges without any effect on the life of the battery. The Red Top WILL NOT take kindly to that and will have a shorter life span. The Blue Top is available in either of the above types (SLI or deep cycle). They have an extra set of terminals for accesories.

suXor

You should never run the stereo with the engine off anyway. Regardless of how well the battery can take the cycling, your alternator may freak out with all the charging it has to do.

clstyle

yea man that car should alwayz be on!

with stereo upgrades, ur car should alwayz be on
if ya gonna hear music

baka_t

The redtop IMO is the best overall battery. It has more cold cranking amps and has more cranking amps then the others to keep your amp from drop out when playing music with alot of bass with all the accessories on. I would get the regular bluetop just because of the two extra posts to hook up accessories, stereo equp. ect. Mace you shouldn't have any problem with that battery adding a sub. I have a punch power 800 in my silverado work truck and it handles that amp just fine while starting that beast.

lnsyone

i thought this thread was about an sr20 swap...

proaudio22

Our cars should draw no more than 100 amps while cranking. Any rating over that is overkill.

Your battery shouldn't be doing any work while the car is on either. It cannot supplement any current draw until the voltage drops below ~12.5v. It's all downhill from there, esp with a non deep cycle battery. If your voltage at idle is below 13.5, you need a larger alternator (or remove those underdrive pullies :P)

Chris, it shouldn't affect the alternator at all. It will only affect the time it takes to charge based upon how much current is available, just like a 10 amp charger is slower than a 25 amp.

liloj

when i got my red top..my electrical stuff ran better.....but im gonna get a blue soon....red doesnt go with anything on my car...

baka_t

100amps in normal driving conditions. Not counting cold weather starts and how many times you have to crank it to get it started.

The battery is a constant source for accessories if you have them directly connected to it. Normally you only get 12v from the battery to everything. The only way you get 12+ voltage is if the accessory + is connected rite to the post of the battery terminal. Therefore, running a higher CA rating battery will reduce the load on your electrical system esp if you have a high powered stereo.

proaudio22

This would only help the Yellow Top's case then. Continuous drains like such on the Red Top would discharge it quick. The Yellow Top can sustain a 100amp continuous draw for 30mins before it drops below 12v.

Nope. When the car is on, the alternator powers EVERYTHING. The car's operating voltage is ~14.4v. The battery will not discharge (IE make any difference) until this voltage drops below ~12.5v (most normal battery voltages now). There has to be a current draw that exceeds the capacity of the alternator for this to happen. If your system is dropping 2v, you NEED a larger alternator. This would be similar to your houshold 110 voltage dropping to ~95 volts. Dimming lights means the voltage is dropping - halogen filaments lose/gain brightness based on voltage, current stays almost constant.

At 12.5v, your original excessive current draw is now 14% higher because of the lower voltage. Now, the battery will start to discharge. It will start to lose voltage and the overall car voltage will drop more, and current draw is still climbing. The battery is no longer being charged b/c it's being used - it prob will no longer start the car. The voltage regulator on the alternator is about to shit its pants. Your alternator will prob burn up soon after that. See where this is going?

Now that will not happen all the time, only when you are drawing the excessive current. Considering you have the proper capacitance for the load, you should have a pretty even draw with the stereo on. So the above situation happens when you have it on, and it has to charge the battery/recover when it's not.

You can test the above with a volt meter. Test the battery while the car is off. Test at the battery with the car on. Test while all your lights are on, stereo is playing (car still on). If it never drops below 12.5 (shouldn't drop below 14), then the battery is sitting dormant.

d00g

i gotta get me one a those

r3mix3r

CLpower

that's why you should hook up a second DC battery to just run the system off of. I have all my electricals on my hot rod running of one battery then the just the motor/etc running off the other

then again I have HUGE 50lb a piece Deep Cycle Batteries as advertisement for our company

baka_t

Actually the car's operating voltage is 12v. Bust out the fluke and take some tests. The only point where the voltage is a constant 14.4v is at the battery while the car is on. As far as dimming goes then why put a cap on your system?? The whole theory on a cap must be wrong if your theory is true. Only reason you would need a larger alternator is that your exceding the amperage of the stock one. Current and amperage is very different. Take for instance a 120vac if you plug a 1000watt crest into it the current draw will still be 120v it will never draw less then that unless you have a huge cable run. Only thing its drawing is amperage.

proaudio22

Car's operating voltages have been approx. ~14.4v since forever. You must charge a 12v battery with more than 12v. As far as dimming goes, it would dim without a cap b/c it draws more peak current. A cap is there to give the amp immediate current draw and then recharge itself quickly before the next. This gives a more even current draw vs. what the amp is pulling. If you plug a 1000 watt amp into a 120v circuit, and it draws MORE current than is available, the current will remain the same, and the voltage will go down. As the voltage goes down, the current will go up, and the voltage wil go down further.

I haven't had time to post until now, I misplaced my meter too (well, the best one - it can log data, etc). I took the readings like you suggested:

*Stock 98 3.0CL at idle, heat/blower on:
At battery: 14.67v
At main fuse box: 16.64v
At cig lighter: 14.62v
At my cap in the trunk: 14.61v

*Turning the headlights on (HIDs) results in a 0.1v loss all around. High beams reduced it by another 0.1v.

*When the fans kick on, same thing: 0.1v loss all around.

*Turning my radio on and turning it up till the sub amp (775w) hit it's limiter (max before clipping) resulted in a .4v loss all around when the bass hit. So far, I'm within the limits of the alternator AT IDLE. Also keep in mind I have a 1 farad capacitor.

*Revving the engine to a cruising rpm of ~2500 resulted in a voltage gain of 0.5v all around. I'm def within the limits of the alternator while in motion.

Now, feeding a battery over 15v like so AFTER it's fully charged can shorten it's life very quickly, esp an AGM (like an Optima). Our car actually has a seperate circuit that comes from the alternator that charges the battery. It's connected to nothing else and can vary that voltage based on current draw.

Cocoa

iTrader: (2)

i got the red top too, hehe, 100 bucks though...

baka_t

The cars main essentials igniton, ecu, lights, switches ect run on 12v. So thats where i get my operating voltage. Of course the voltage needs to be more to charge the battery. I agree that the lights will dim if the amperage draw of the system/car componets excedes the maxium amount of amperage of the alternator. There should be no voltage loss however. Voltage loss however, could happen depending on the resistance(wire)but should be accurately designed by honda. Were the readings inital readings or did you give time for the system to adapt?? The voltage fluxuates up and down while the car is on and initial draw is added to the circuit but should be no loss as huge as the one your talking about. The voltage should balance out keeping a constant voltage. If not, you have problems with your regulator.

MaCe

well now the baka t and proaudio are having a POST WHORE WAR in my thread !!!!!

just messin around guys all i know is that im gunna have to get a cap anyway cause im going to be runnin 2 amps with a total of about 1000 watts dont think that my stock alternator or the red top can handle that when its bumpin

with the free 3 year replacement and the extended warranty its worth the money


ohh and i woulda have gotten the blue one but it doesnt match !

MaCe

proaudio22

You mean the internals of the electronics? If so then yes, they'd be regulated. I thought you meant power going everywhere. I think we were talking about diff things so we're just "duh"ing each other lol.

The dimming IS voltage loss lol! The current will stay constant (the overcurrent that is) and the voltage will drop.

It looks like Honda did a good job on sizing the cable, almost no voltage loss at all (1.3% max).

I made a typo above!!! The voltage difference with the car at idle and then raised to 2500rpm is only 0.05v NOT 0.5v. Also, the 0.4v loss when my audio system was playing loud was only at idle - it did not drop any significant amount when the rpms were raised to 2500. The 0.1v drop when the fans or lights were switched on also was not present at 2500rpm, only idle. This just goes to show that the alternator doesn't make as much current at idle, no suprise. The voltage in my car is a pretty consistant 14.6v all around, give or take 0.02v.

baka_t

I think we just confused eachother but now were on the same page. I just didn't understand what you were trying to say.

proaudio22

That tents to be the case a good deal of the time on the internet. People can argue about something that they really had the same thoughts on in the first place. Oh well, cheers!

Sideways240sx

to the people with optima's in there car what size fits. i might get a yellow top, or possibly a redtop. I will more then likely be running 2500 watts rms. Roughly. With 2 pheonix gold tantrum amps. I will probably get a batcap as well as a capacitor in the trunk because they come very highly recommended to me. Any input on this proaudio? will this be a good enough setup for 2500 watts rms? I just need to get a new battery bad, the one in my car has 440 cold cranking amps. It sucks here in chicago, my remote start wont even start the car, i have to go out there and crank it for like 5-10 seconds before it starts... Stupid cold wether. Thanks guys in advance.


Ps, what do you guys think of stinger car audio batteries??? alot of people say optima's are old technology and there are better batteries out there. Im no battery expert though, never really looked into them. Thanks

baka_t

I'd run a blue top and your gonna need to upgrade the alternator and run maybe a 2nd battery or 2 caps (1 per amp).

Sideways240sx

Does someone sell a bolt on alternator upgrade? do i have to rig something up? im getting alot more into caraudio/video, used to be intop speed. To many tickets/fines/court. ect... Ne ways i have the tantrum 400x4 which is like 550 watts rms it says, and then the tantrum mono block 1200.1 i believe it is.. Its on its way. Im trying to decide on which sub to run as well. I am debating between Image idmax 12..(never heard bad about this sub), Diamond audio tdx 12, or 15. I kinda want a 15 but am afriad sq will be shit. Ive never had a 15, but had 3 12 w6's before in my 240sx. I origannly wanted to run 2 idmax 12's but money is allowing me to do that at this time, due to expensive upper balljoints going out, needing a new battery, and other expenses. I was more then anything a really good sq sub, but can also be spl, Which is y i am looking at the idmax's and the diamond. Ive know a guy that got 153 db with 1 idmax 12, and 1 tantrum 1200.1 amp. It was loud as hell, but was also in a smaller car(eclipse hatch) but should sound very good in my car. What other subs should i consider? or should i pick the idmax, or tdx? What ever i get will be in a huge(as big as needed) ported box. trunk space doesn't matter. Thanks guys, Chris


Ps, baka due you know what size blue top i should look at. Its to late and cold tonight, but i will measure my battery and see what i think i can fit in there. The more i look at yellows they only have around 500 cca's which i dont know if it will be a big improvement, since its only 60 cca over what i have now. Think it will make a difference? My biggest concern is my remote start works. Right now it is set to auto tach learning, so it cranks till need be, but wont crank for like 5-10 seconds it needs to when it is 0 or colder outside. I could set it to crank longer, but then if i ever use it on a warm day, it will destroy my starter... Thanks in advance, chris

d00g

ahhh just found out that where i work we carry those batteries! i can get a yellowtop for bout 130! i know what im gettin next!....maybe....i'l have a 5 f cap so i should be ok tho...yellow over kill? ya think blue would be ok?

Sideways240sx

With a little bit of looking around u can get a yellow top for 119 shipped online. Dunno if its worth the 10 bucks to you, but they provide build dates on the batts, ect. Im buying a battery today. Im sick of this, im going to murray's/autozone and seeing whos cheeper any buying my optima. Im sick of this freezing cold car wont start shit, I actually had to jump my car this morning. Oh yea, and u can find redtops for 89 shipped as well online.

baka_t

An optima will work better in the winter due to it being a dry battery. Now sizing depends on what your running and how cold the weather gets around where you live. A redtop is great for starting the car esp in cold weather more cranking amps. Blue tops are good for accessories stereo ect. Aftermarket alternators are on ebay check it out. If your planning on running a huge system i would run either a redtop for the car and a bluetop in the trunk for the system or two bluetops.

Sideways240sx

i looked on ebay and didn't see any of these alternators... Any links... i think i went through 29 pages of alternators.. thanks, chris