The larger batterys do fit I have one...

 

yes

 

This one dies to, but as mentioned, only the ones sold in the last 2 yeasr or so. Anything older than that seems to be rock solid. Im going to warranty 2 more next week for customers that are over a year old.

 

Does anyone think that vibration and a rough ride from a sporty suspension are the cause for internal failure?

I guess I'm returning mine to Walmart (where I bought a replacement Everstart the other day) to get my $6.00 core charge. That's about as much as this battery is worth now since Optima is not doing anything for me. At least it'll get it out of my garage.

 

No, it's not just S2000's that are causing these batteries to die.

Optima lied to me. They did not refund my purchase price - instead they prorated the refund.

It still got me a new battery + $15.

 

I suspect it is more like a change in suppliers or a change to a less expensive manufacturing process that is causing the batteries to die. Whatever it is, they are rapidly losing any credibility. Just a few years ago they were THE battery to buy. Now they are THE battery to stay away from.

 

Weren't they acquired by Johnson Controls about 2-3 years ago?

EDIT: Make that 6-7 years ago.

 

honestly, given that these failures seem to be predominant in the Type 51x designs, my vote is that the new battery design was the issue. the Type 51's only made it to market a little while ago, which is why early converters like John put full size batteries in vs the 51's.

so, i'm guessing that they either they scaled down a larger design (and ran into unforeseen problems because it didn't scale well), or they created a new design and didn't do enough testing before coming to market.


of course, that's 100% conjecture on my part.

 

I've read on howstuffworks i believe that the weather temperature does affect the battery and how it function maybe Optoma was not best to performance in cold weather.

 

The only ones that fail and fail often are the Type 51x. I've had mine for 5 years now(the regular size not the 51x). I bought it before I bought the car. Its still going strong. and it just sat all winter. Put the trickle charger on it just to warm it up in the spring but otherwise its fine. And I have a good size system and I drain it do to nothing at almost every car show.