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Next day you’re eager to start exploring. You double check your gear, strap yourself into your seat, turn the ignition and all you’ve got is a clicking solenoid — the death knell of your big plans for the day. You have a dead battery, an automotive component we rarely think about until it fails.
Let’s face it, conventional batteries just don’t hack it in the dirt. They’re great for citified sedans that live in garages, roll on asphalt and generally keep all four wheels on the ground. But your rig does none of the above and requires a non-conventional battery like Optima.
It’s more than just Optima batteries’ deep-cycle stats that handle off-key accessories without a near-death experience. Just about everything we do with our off-road rigs is deadly to traditional batteries. The difference between ordinary and Optima is in the SpiralCell technology.
All batteries generate electricity through an electrochemical reaction. In the case of auto batteries, this reaction results between lead and lead-oxide immersed in a strong acidic electrolyte. Ordinary batteries use lead plates submerged in a vat of acid, literally inviting corrosion both on and around the battery. Ordinary batteries are also finicky in weather extremes and susceptible to vibrations.
The Optima battery also uses lead and acid, but that’s about where the similarities stop. The high-purity lead (99.9 percent pure) plates are tightly wound with a glass mat that absorbs the electrolyte like a sponge. What’s the advantage of this design for off-roaders?
“The AGM (absorbent glass mat) material holds the acid in a tightly wound cell to eliminate acid spilling and increase vibration resistance. This configuration also allows for lead to be used in its purest form, slowing or limiting corrosion dramatically,” explains Cam Douglass, director of product development and marketing.
There are other benefits as well: The design exposes more than twice the surface area for lead alloy electrodes compared to ordinary battery design. The result is more cranking power and a shelf life two to three times longer, Optima claims. In addition, with the electrodes separated by fiberglass for low internal resistance, the battery, if you’ve relegated your rig to non-use for a really long time, can be recharged in as little as an hour. Ordinary batteries can take between 10 to 16 hours on a battery charger. Moreover, with Optima batteries there’s no maintenance, the acid can’t spill and the batteries can be mounted in any position.
If all that tech info isn’t enough to illustrate the advantages of Optima batteries for off-road applications, just check out the case. Stripped of the outer layer, the battery’s six spirals look like a six-pack of your favorite beverage, but this design really adds some valuable reinforcement.
If you really need us to draw you a picture, think of your last trip to the backcountry. Unless you opted for one of those mellow Forest Service SUV trails that could easily accommodate a low-rider, you experienced vibrations. Not the annoying buzz of a cell phone on mute, but the kind of vibes that reduce your internal organs to mush and separate bones at critical joints. We call that fun, but your battery doesn’t.
Douglass points out that vibrations can destroy an ordinary battery in any number of ways. Vibes cause the lead grids to basically break at the weld, or cause two or more grids to come in contact with one another. Either issue can kill a battery immediately, what Douglass calls a “traumatic event,” which translates into being towed back to civilization. More common is a slow and painful death with deterioration of welds or plate contact the by-product of repeated vibration.
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The only thing worse than vibrations for a non-Optima battery is heat. Desert off-roaders can easily get that concept. They don’t deal with the “Ooh, it’s a little toasty” heat, but the Death Valley-fry-an-egg-on-the-hood kind of heat; heat that comes at you from all directions, the sun literally beating down and the ground radiating up.
Optima gets its heat tolerance not from chugging Gatorade, but from the purity of the lead used in the compressed cells. “In a traditional battery,” notes Douglass, “alloys need to be added to the lead to keep the plates rigid and help protect against vibration. But it’s these impurities in the lead that cause corrosion. Heat accelerates corrosion dramatically, causing premature battery failure.”
Optima automotive batteries come in two basic flavors: RedTop and YellowTop. And for boats and RVs (including Toy Haulers), there’s the BlueTop. The RedTop is designed to turn over high-power engines by supplying a very high amount of energy for a short burst. For applications where you run off-key lights and other electronic accessories or have a heavy electrical load pulling from the battery, such as a winch, use the YellowTop. And it has both deep cycling (rechargeability) and heavy-duty cranking power.
For those taking a boat or Toy Hauler or other type of travel trailer on your off-road adventure, using an Optima BlueTop battery means more running time and up to three times more recharges than what you’d get out of a traditional battery. It’s perfect for boats with electric trolling motors, onboard electronics or stereo systems and RVs with “creature comforts” that tend to drain batteries quickly. In addition to providing weight savings and outstanding vibration resistance, the BlueTop’s efficient power delivery and faster recharge time mean you’ll spend less time worrying about your battery.
You don’t have to take our word for the indestructibility of Optima batteries. The United States Search and Rescue, US Marine Safety Institute has been using Optima in its four rescue vehicles since 2002. Not just the Optima brand, but the same four batteries. The only maintenance has been a quick charge after the vehicles sat for three months. No battery failures.
In addition, “The Truth About Cars” racecar, equipped with RedTop, participated in the 24 Hours of LeMons (that’s not a misspelling — this is not the really cool Gran Prix 24-hours of LeMans, but an event described as a “demolition derby-in-denial”. The reinforced battery tray in the car dislodged itself from a rusty fender. The car’s vibrations let the battery metal hold down meet the positive cable. The two welded themselves together and fried several underhood wires. The Optima survived where an ordinary battery would have exploded. That’s not the sort of acid test you’d typically encounter off-road, but it’s good to know just how tough an Optima can be.
