{"id":6259,"date":"2009-11-17T23:02:19","date_gmt":"2009-11-18T06:02:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.myrideisme.com\/Blog\/?p=6259"},"modified":"2013-03-05T16:57:02","modified_gmt":"2013-03-05T23:57:02","slug":"optima-battery-red-or-yellow-top","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myrideisme.com\/Blog\/optima-battery-red-or-yellow-top\/","title":{"rendered":"Optima Battery: Red or Yellow Top?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mr_social_sharing_wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t<!-- Social Sharing Toolkit v2.2 --><span class=\"mr_social_sharing\"><a href=\"http:\/\/pinterest.com\/pin\/create\/button\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.myrideisme.com%2FBlog%2Foptima-battery-red-or-yellow-top%2F&amp;media=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.myrideisme.com%2FBlog%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2009%2F11%2Fhot-rod-battery-3.jpg&amp;description=Optima+Battery%3A+Red+or+Yellow+Top%3F\" class=\"pin-it-button\" count-layout=\"none\" rel=\"lightbox[6259]\"><img border=\"0\" src=\"\/\/assets.pinterest.com\/images\/PinExt.png\" title=\"Pin It\" \/><\/a><\/span><span class=\"mr_social_sharing\"><fb:share-button type=\"button_count\" href=\"https:\/\/www.myrideisme.com\/Blog\/optima-battery-red-or-yellow-top\/\"><\/fb:share-button><\/span><span class=\"mr_social_sharing\"><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/share\" class=\"twitter-share-button\" data-count=\"horizontal\" data-url=\"https:\/\/www.myrideisme.com\/Blog\/optima-battery-red-or-yellow-top\/\" data-via=\"myrideisme\" data-text=\"Optima Battery: Red or Yellow Top?\"><\/a><\/span><span class=\"mr_social_sharing\"><div class=\"g-plusone\" data-size=\"medium\" data-annotation=\"none\" data-href=\"https:\/\/www.myrideisme.com\/Blog\/optima-battery-red-or-yellow-top\/\"><\/div><\/span><span class=\"mr_social_sharing\"><a class=\"mr_social_share_email\" href=\"mailto:?subject=Optima Battery: Red or Yellow Top?&amp;body=https:\/\/www.myrideisme.com\/Blog\/optima-battery-red-or-yellow-top\/\" target=\"_blank\"><img src=\"https:\/\/www.myrideisme.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/plugins\/social-sharing-toolkit\/images\/icons_small\/email.png\" class=\"nopin\" alt=\"Email\" title=\"Email\"\/><span class=\"mr_small_icon\">Email<\/span><\/a><\/a><\/span><span class=\"mr_social_sharing\"><a rel=\"nofollow\" class=\"linksalpha_button linksalpha_link\" href=\"\/\/www.linksalpha.com\/social\/mobile\" data-url=\"https:\/\/www.myrideisme.com\/Blog\/optima-battery-red-or-yellow-top\/\" data-text=\"Optima Battery: Red or Yellow Top?\" data-desc=\"Optima Red or Yellow top? I bet you've got it wrong! If you missed the other stories about SEMA, then you didn't read how Optima Batteries brought up car and truck enthusiasts for a \"round table\" of sorts to find out what's happening with their customers.\u00a0 Great idea, right? MyRideisMe.com, through\" data-image=\"http:\/\/www.myrideisme.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/hot-rod-battery-3.jpg\" data-button=\"\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img src=\"\/\/www.linksalpha.com\/images\/social_share_button.png\" alt=\"Share\" class=\"linksalpha_image\" \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"\/\/www.linksalpha.com\/scripts\/loader_iconbox.js?v=2.4\"><\/script><\/span><\/div><p>Optima Red or Yellow top? I bet you&#8217;ve got it wrong!<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"highslide\" onclick=\"return vz.expand(this)\" href=\"http:\/\/www.myrideisme.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/hot-rod-battery-3.jpg\" rel=\"lightbox[6259]\"><img class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-6265\" style=\"border: 2px solid black; margin: 4px;\" title=\"with the strength of 10 women!\" src=\"http:\/\/www.myrideisme.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/hot-rod-battery-3.jpg\" alt=\"Optima batteries choose facts which one\" width=\"575\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.myrideisme.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/hot-rod-battery-3.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.myrideisme.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/hot-rod-battery-3-150x103.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.myrideisme.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/hot-rod-battery-3-300x206.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.myrideisme.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/hot-rod-battery-3-400x275.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>If you missed the other stories about <a title=\"Stories and pictures from SEMA\" href=\"http:\/\/www.myrideisme.com\/Blog\/tag\/sema-show\/\" target=\"_blank\">SEMA<\/a>, then you didn&#8217;t read how Optima Batteries brought up car and truck enthusiasts for a &#8220;round table&#8221; of sorts to find out what&#8217;s happening with their customers.\u00a0 Great idea, right? MyRideisMe.com, through <a title=\"From a woman&#039;s point of view\" href=\"http:\/\/www.myrideisme.com\/Blog\/tag\/grease-girl\/\" target=\"_blank\">Grease Girl<\/a> and me, <a title=\"My 1927 Ford roadster\" href=\"http:\/\/www.MyRideisMe.com\/Garage\/pikesan\" target=\"_blank\">Pikesan<\/a>, represented the hot rod and custom car crowd. Also strongly represented was the off-road, diesel towing\/performance, drag racing and serious computer-audiofile segments.<\/p>\n<p>Why&#8217;d Optima do it? Cause they&#8217;re serious about making batteries for enthusiasts. The showed me they care about their existing customers and want to earn more by selling a great product.<\/p>\n<p>On the first day, I learned about the &#8220;Optima Paradox.&#8221; Red top or yellow top?\u00a0 Ken, my expert technical guide, schooled me on how folks that need a yellow top see that it&#8217;s more expensive and buy a red top instead. Understandable, but wrong. Optima&#8217;s a premium product and costs more than a run of the mill wet battery. But, experience tells\u00a0 you, or should, that getting the right parts for your ride, even if they&#8217;re a little more money, always pays off in the end.<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"highslide\" onclick=\"return vz.expand(this)\" href=\"http:\/\/www.myrideisme.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/hot-rod-battery-2.jpg\" rel=\"lightbox[6259]\"><img class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-6264\" style=\"border: 2px solid black; margin: 4px;\" title=\"Gotta get the red top when you only need starting\" src=\"http:\/\/www.myrideisme.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/hot-rod-battery-2.jpg\" alt=\"Optima Battery choose facts which one?\" width=\"270\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.myrideisme.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/hot-rod-battery-2.jpg 798w, https:\/\/www.myrideisme.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/hot-rod-battery-2-150x112.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.myrideisme.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/hot-rod-battery-2-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.myrideisme.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/hot-rod-battery-2-400x300.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 798px) 100vw, 798px\" \/><\/a><a class=\"highslide\" onclick=\"return vz.expand(this)\" href=\"http:\/\/www.myrideisme.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/hot-rod-battery-1.jpg\" rel=\"lightbox[6259]\"><img class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-6263\" style=\"border: 2px solid black; margin: 4px;\" title=\"Gotta Get the yellow top for starting and deep cell voltage\" src=\"http:\/\/www.myrideisme.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/hot-rod-battery-1.jpg\" alt=\"Optima battery choose which one\" width=\"270\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.myrideisme.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/hot-rod-battery-1.jpg 798w, https:\/\/www.myrideisme.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/hot-rod-battery-1-150x112.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.myrideisme.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/hot-rod-battery-1-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.myrideisme.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/hot-rod-battery-1-400x300.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 798px) 100vw, 798px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Breaking down what I learned, I expect some genuine disbelief, bordering on hate, in the way of comments from this story. Why? Because I&#8217;ve already found that some of my buddies are breaking these simple rules:<\/p>\n<h3>Red top is for starting.<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>High voltage, short duration &#8220;bursts&#8221; of power when cranking the motor<\/li>\n<li>Put another way: Big-time cranking amps with only a little discharge because the motors starts and the alternator quickly takes over<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Yellow top is dual purpose.<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Purpose #1: Starting, like the red top<\/li>\n<li>Purpose #2: Continuous or long periods of high demand, high power usage<\/li>\n<li>Put another way: Crank it, over power your alternator, drain it, then let your charging system catch up. Repeat. This up-down, repeated cycling is what yellow tops are made for.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>That&#8217;s the basics, let me add some other general rules (here&#8217;s where the wrench throwing starts)<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>If you think you need more than one battery, get yellow tops<\/li>\n<li>If you use a &#8220;battery tender&#8221; or external charging source to keep your ride ready to roll, you need a yellow top<\/li>\n<li>There&#8217;s no reason to have two red tops<\/li>\n<li>If you&#8217;re not sure which one you need, you can&#8217;t go wrong with yellow top<\/li>\n<li>Mixing red tops and yellow tops is wrong! (unless they&#8217;re wired completely separately)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Finally, the most general rule:<br \/>\nIf you&#8217;re running anything on your ride that needs power, especially when the engine is off, that wasn&#8217;t there when it was built, you need a yellow top.\u00a0 For example:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Air compressors for air bags, air horns or whatever<\/li>\n<li>Stereos with big amps or multiple &#8220;Pimp My Ride&#8221; style 20 inch LCD monitors in the trunk<\/li>\n<li>Winch or off-road lighting (or gasp, underbody neon like my <a title=\"PT Cruising gone wrong. Very Wrong\" href=\"http:\/\/www.myrideisme.com\/Blog\/custom-pt-cruisers-dude-really\/\" target=\"_blank\">PT Cruiser buddies<\/a>)<\/li>\n<li>Games systems, DVD players or some alarms<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>So was I right? Are you doing it wrong? I&#8217;m not the expert here, Optima is!\u00a0 If you disagree, I&#8217;ll take your comments directly to them.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"mr_social_sharing_wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t<!-- Social Sharing Toolkit v2.2 --><span class=\"mr_social_sharing\"><a href=\"http:\/\/pinterest.com\/pin\/create\/button\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.myrideisme.com%2FBlog%2Foptima-battery-red-or-yellow-top%2F&amp;media=&amp;description=Optima+Battery%3A+Red+or+Yellow+Top%3F\" class=\"pin-it-button\" count-layout=\"none\"><img border=\"0\" src=\"\/\/assets.pinterest.com\/images\/PinExt.png\" title=\"Pin It\" \/><\/a><\/span><span class=\"mr_social_sharing\"><fb:share-button type=\"button_count\" href=\"https:\/\/www.myrideisme.com\/Blog\/optima-battery-red-or-yellow-top\/\"><\/fb:share-button><\/span><span class=\"mr_social_sharing\"><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/share\" class=\"twitter-share-button\" data-count=\"horizontal\" data-url=\"https:\/\/www.myrideisme.com\/Blog\/optima-battery-red-or-yellow-top\/\" data-via=\"myrideisme\" data-text=\"Optima Battery: Red or Yellow Top?\"><\/a><\/span><span class=\"mr_social_sharing\"><div class=\"g-plusone\" data-size=\"medium\" data-annotation=\"none\" data-href=\"https:\/\/www.myrideisme.com\/Blog\/optima-battery-red-or-yellow-top\/\"><\/div><\/span><span class=\"mr_social_sharing\"><a class=\"mr_social_share_email\" href=\"mailto:?subject=Optima Battery: Red or Yellow Top?&amp;body=https:\/\/www.myrideisme.com\/Blog\/optima-battery-red-or-yellow-top\/\" target=\"_blank\"><img src=\"https:\/\/www.myrideisme.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/plugins\/social-sharing-toolkit\/images\/icons_small\/email.png\" class=\"nopin\" alt=\"Email\" title=\"Email\"\/><span class=\"mr_small_icon\">Email<\/span><\/a><\/a><\/span><span class=\"mr_social_sharing\"><a rel=\"nofollow\" class=\"linksalpha_button linksalpha_link\" href=\"\/\/www.linksalpha.com\/social\/mobile\" data-url=\"https:\/\/www.myrideisme.com\/Blog\/optima-battery-red-or-yellow-top\/\" data-text=\"Optima Battery: Red or Yellow Top?\" data-desc=\"Optima Red or Yellow top? I bet you've got it wrong! If you missed the other stories about SEMA, then you didn't read how Optima Batteries brought up car and truck enthusiasts for a \"round table\" of sorts to find out what's happening with their customers.\u00a0 Great idea, right? MyRideisMe.com, through\" data-image=\"\" data-button=\"\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img src=\"\/\/www.linksalpha.com\/images\/social_share_button.png\" alt=\"Share\" class=\"linksalpha_image\" \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"\/\/www.linksalpha.com\/scripts\/loader_iconbox.js?v=2.4\"><\/script><\/span><\/div><p>Email Optima Red or Yellow top? I bet you&#8217;ve got it wrong! If you missed the other stories about SEMA, then you didn&#8217;t read how Optima Batteries brought up car and truck enthusiasts for a &#8220;round table&#8221; of sorts to find out what&#8217;s happening with their customers.\u00a0 Great idea, right? MyRideisMe.com, through Grease Girl and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[1815],"tags":[689,2512,1180],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myrideisme.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6259"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myrideisme.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myrideisme.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myrideisme.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myrideisme.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6259"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.myrideisme.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6259\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22641,"href":"https:\/\/www.myrideisme.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6259\/revisions\/22641"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myrideisme.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myrideisme.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myrideisme.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}