What's Inside an Optima Battery??? AGM Battery's Dirty Little Secrets!

Waterboarding wasn't going to work... It was a Marine battery.

Interesting to see how these compare to Fullriver's AGM batteries 👀

that is NOT corrosion ! It is supposed to look that way! Anode v cathode edit: well it is lead oxide (corrosion) but that is the way a lead acid battery works.

Bought an optima for $500 CAD in 2021 and now it won't hold much charge after 2 years. A $200 flooded battery lasts much longer !

Your wrong lead batteries are made with lead and a layer of lead oxide. Lead oxide is a red paste.

How old was the battery??

I was a delivery driver for Johnson Controls and have a car collection and dozens of these batteries. What I can tell you is the old original batteries made in Colorado were the best and I have 2 over 30 years old! Next are US made batteries which can last up to 10, and now the Mexico made batteries last just long enough for the warranties to expire. Is this something designed into them? I don't know but are looking for an alternative.

😂😂😂😂😂😂

Lol nice intro... subbed!

How are the external terminal studs connected to those lead bars inside?

Rinse off blk crp, reroll it, put back together!

It's crazy how cheaply the connections are made. Literally just dump a load of lead onto the contacts and hope that it binds well. smh.. wow

Thats when they were made in the US. Seems like they don't last as long anymore since they moved production to mexico

You do also need to have an AGM capable battery charger to work with these. A regular battery charger will not cycle the charging properly to keep the battery cool, and will overheat and fry the crap out of AGMs.

I was chuckling from the beginning and then laughed heartily when he brought out the chainsaw and again when he started it. This is absolutely the best intro to a Utoob vid I have ever watched. This guy has a great imagination and a flair for drama. Cudos Bro!

I have a 4 year old Optima Yellow Top, that has spent 98% of its life sitting in my SUV and occasionally required a charge to start the engine after it sat for several days. Then twice recently went to 3.3 volts on the road. Left me stranded once, got home OK second time using only parking lights. With charger, it gets to 14.7V then drops to 11.5V when charger is removed. Best guess is that it has a 'Dead Cell' and I will replace it when finances permit. Looking at an almost $300 Duracell or Interstate with top and side terminals but must wait a few months.

I'm in the process of connecting my 2x100 amp house battery pack, via a 200 amp switch and 6AWG wire, to the engine battery so if/when it happens again, at 10/20degF, I can flick the switch and get home.

When the engine died on the road, a friendly motorist jump started me. My factory dash gauge read 0% before the jump and 75% of scale after the engine started. Zero% of scale = 3.3V and 75% = 14.7V via a VOM. Those are the readings after I got home the second time.

After watching this very valuable vid, my thought is that an interconnection at one cell is corroded and causes a Hi-Resistance that causes the 11.5 volt reading after a 14.7V charge cycle and occasionally goes so high that is acts as almost an open, i.e. 3.3 volts. Keep in mind that the 6 cells are in series and resistance at any one cell interconnect will cause a low reading after a full charge and randomly what amounts to an open on occasion.

This vid showed that the corroded connection between 2 adjacent sells may well be my problem and also the 'Achilles Heal' for all Optima batteries.

I accept that the lead grates will get covered with an insulating layer after several years of use, or non-use, and causes progressive deterioration of the battery. But I will not accept that the interconnections between adjacent cells will develop high resistance and battery failure due to corrosion.

NO MORE OPTIMA BATTERIES FOR ME........

I brought a pair and one failed just after two years so no warranty. Thought I was doing the right thing buying the most expensive battery but I won't be buying Optima again.

Was that Optima Battery Top Sonic Welded On, Glued On or Snapped On? Thanks for the video.

YOU ARE BRAVE to use a metal screw driver!

You forgot don't try this at home... And it's hard to open because you don't F with the Marines battery lol that was interesting to see inside. 15 years was a long run. I have the yellow top. For my classic car. Not going to put two yellow tops in my 02 Duramax plow truck.

My Optima yellow top is 6 years old (purchased from Amazon). It's been discharged several times down to the 10.5 amp range, and I have an AGM setting on my charger when this happens. The battery always has a small load while the car sits because of the gizmos that spring to life randomly, and the interior light has been left on numerous times. The Toyota battery before this one lasted 3 years. Sounds like I lucked out and ended up with a good one. Resting voltage 12 hrs after being on charger - 12.5V (disconnected from car). After the car sitting for 3 days - 12.3V.

No good very dangerous

Me Again now I’m trying to figure out how to bring a dead AGM battery back to life

There's an amusing string of comments here saying they much prefer a Johnson Controls battery over this clearly inferior Johnson Controls battery.

15yrs. Impressive.

Get a real man’s tool !! Like a cut-off wheel not that sissy tool … my dremel tool cut it faster

Melt the lead down for a boat ankor lol

Ok, I have the same battery, 15yrs old. Now that I've watched this video I finally can believe it is finally dead and I can emotionally say good bye. I'm getting another one just like it though. Excellent video on how these work not just a destructive test.

I didn’t even get 3 years out of mine. I went back to a GM agm battery from the dealership and it has outlasted the optima by double so far!

The one that could crumble is from PbO or positive electrode because it is just like dried paste. The negative electrode is pure Pb and still plyable and solid.

Hilarious I subscribed just because it was creative and fgave me a belly laugh

I can’t believe you wouldn’t wear a respirator while you did that.

Cutting this battery 🔋 looks like a full 9 hour job the the boss will pay you for after it’s open the shift is over

Totally turned channel, music was just tooo out there dude.

Old ones worked like their price. New ones are priced for their lack of work. Been with them for 24 yrs.

I got my first optima battery with a car I bought. It was a red top and it lasted about three years from the date code on the battery.

I wasn't impressed. It never saw any abuse that I know of and it got discharged once, but not to the point of being completely flat. I doubt that I'll ever get another.

The best explanation out there!

I would bet that the Optima AGM loses water just like smaller AGM's. If you keep a 7ah 12v AGM hydrated, it will last a lot longer. Unfortunately, it is "easy" to add water to the little AGM's - I don't see an easy way with the Optimas.

Oh damn wasn't expecting you to go all Leatherface on it 😂😂😂 hell yeah just subscribed brother

Deep cycle marine battery ;) I prefer the yellow top deep cycle amazing for the systems in my cars I run two in each vehicle

This would prove my theory probably when they were made here they used higher quality procedures and material but now that is not made in USA they won't last more than 5 years.......

That’s all it took to take it apart 😅… Nice example. Working w some yellow tops in my system & doing well 😎👍

My Northstar, also an AGM battery lasted 13 months. They covered it 100% under warranty but I had to wait a month to get the new one. I was sent an Odyssey as the parent company bought Northstar.

N'achetez jamais cette batterie. La mienne n'a pas fait un an.... Elle est belle mais le fait qu'elle soit blindé et bien ..... On s'en fou en fait...
La mienne n'a pas fait un an et elle était impossible à recharger...
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After 15 years of use? That's what, five times the warranty? Pretty darn impressive if you ask me.

Dude great work