Can I use an Optima Battery?
 

Found my old battery dead with a bad cell this morning. :( I like the idea of the no-lead Optima but I have been told that it is not good to use when the car isn't driven every day. I usually drive the car once a week but have had to go 2-4 weeks without driving it. Will the Optima stand up to being ignored for 2-4 weeks? I'm looking for answers from someone who had used their Optima like I would.

I have one, and its ok for 1-2 weeks. If I know I wont start my car in more than a week I plug in the battery tender. It will maintain its charge as soon as the voltage drops below a level. Search for battery tender, most recommend the deltran 1.5 amp for the optima, although I use the 800ma charger and it works great, albeit the first time I plugged it in, it was charging for a few days straight, now it seems like its cycling on once in a while for I always see it in its standby state.

I use it in my 964 without any problems. Sometimes I forget to plug the car (wife already make jokes about my electric cars...) for weeks and it turns on without any problems. I am actually thinking of replacing the battery in the SC and TT for an Optima as well... just not having to worry about acid spills/vapors is good enough for me...

Highly recommend the battery tender... I have one for each car and try to remember to plug them in whenever I know they will sit for weeks in the garage. Specially the TT... that one will eat the battery in a week, 964 seems to be ok for more than a month... I have had the SC for a short time so not sure what the drain is on that one...

If your car sits for 2-4 weeks at a time, you should use a battery tender no matter what kind of battery you have.

I have one in my race/street car. It sits for weeks at a time and starts right up. If I have it down for a month or more I hit it with a charger for a couple of hours before I start it back up. Battery is a red top and it's at least 6 years old.

-Andy

I put the 925 in my car and it has been fine. The most I have let it sit is about 10 days but it still spins the starter real hard.

got a red top in mine it's something like ten years old now. It sat once for about 1.5 years while the engine & trans was out of the car. When I put the drivetrain back in the battery handled it without any problems and it took a lot of cranking to bring the car back to life again.

only problem is that they are pretty heavy. ...great battery though.

My old Dodge truck often sits parked outdoors for over a month with no charger applied...it has an optima. There has always been plenty of cranking power to start it's 360 cubic inch V-8. An optima lasts about 10 years for me...