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Optima 6V discontinued!


Paul Dobbin

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Optima 6 volt battery discontinued!  
My neighbor needed a new battery today for his 1936 Ford V8 and was told the my favorite
6 Volt Optima battery has been discontinued.   I searched and found none available, but no announcement from Optima.
Anybody have any connections to verify or suggest a better battery for our 6 volt cars?  I found a tractor 6 volt battery at Tractor Supply, they also have an 8 volt one.

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I talked to two people at Optima and they said they have no information on when they will be available. I was lucky, called JEGS last week and they had four in stock. I ordered two and got them. When I checked Monday they were out. 

 

Now for some possible good news. I have been in contact with Lifeline batteries and am trying to get approval for a 6 volt AGM Group 1 battery. They already have the design just need to know if there is a market. If your interested go to their website and use the contact link to let them know. If several people expressed interest I think they would make a run of them. http://lifelinebatteries.com/

 

Lifeline is a premium quality AGM battery used extensively in the marine and RV industry and AGM is the perfect battery for use in hard to access locations like many of our old cars. 

 

Steve

 

Edit: this is my contact, send him a message: justin@lifelinebatteries.com

 

Edited by stvaughn
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1 hour ago, Bob Giles said:

I just came from our local Battery Warehouse.  I asked him if 6 volt Optima were being discontinued. He called his supplier which is Interstate and they told him they could still order them.   $170.00

Ask him to call and find out how many are in inventory and if they are in stock pass that information along.  The ones that are out there may soon be gone because the factory is out of stock and does not know when they will have any. 

 

Steve

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1 hour ago, JACK M said:

I recently bought a 6 volt battery at Bi-Mart.

Seventy nine bucks and a 15 dollar core charge. So I gave them an old lawn mower battery.

 

Was it AGM?  That's what we're talking about. You can get 6V lead-acid batteries easily.

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1 hour ago, joe_padavano said:

 

Was it AGM?  That's what we're talking about. You can get 6V lead-acid batteries easily.

Joe,

 

AGM (Absorbed Glass Mat) sealed battery technology.  

 

Check it out here:  https://www.solar-electric.com/learning-center/batteries-and-charging/agm-battery-technology.html

 

Regards,

 

Peter J.

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2 hours ago, Peter J.Heizmann said:

Joe,

 

AGM (Absorbed Glass Mat) sealed battery technology.  

 

Check it out here:  https://www.solar-electric.com/learning-center/batteries-and-charging/agm-battery-technology.html

 

Regards,

 

Peter J.

 

Thanks for that link, but I don't see any 6V AGM batteries there for anything close to $75, thus my previous question.

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20 hours ago, joe_padavano said:

 

Was it AGM?  That's what we're talking about. You can get 6V lead-acid batteries easily.

 

No, just a tractor battery.

I have never seen a need for an Optima in six volts. Those cheap tractor batteries last forever.
I do need at least two AGM batteries for my motor coach as two of the six are shot. I cant even run the furnace over night.

But the rig takes six of them and they are EXPENSIVE and they are all the same age. I think they are similar to golf car batteries but I'm no battery expert.

The costs of Glamping I guess.

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Of course the 8 volt fits in the 6 volt holder. It is designed to be a size 1 , group 1, whatever 1, that fits most antique cars and tractors.  Unless you have a Buick....?

 

To do that, they had to make the cells smaller, as there are 4 stuffed into that box, rather than 3 , due to 2.1 volts per cell. I would rather just fix the 6 volt system, they worked fine from the factory. Turning those old generators up to 10 volt output to charge an 8 volt battery is past their design specifications.  But I digress. ?

 

I'm with Jack, buy the regular lead acid battery and replace it when it is dead. Really dead, not just failure of the electrical system to work properly. Now if the battery is hidden in a hard to get to place, maybe a longer life AGM battery is made for you.

 

To see who actually manufactures a particular battery, check out this list. Note Interstate is not a manufacturer. Optima is a manufacturer owned by Johnson Controls. I think Johnson Controls makes at least a third of the vehicle batteries sold in America.?

 

http://jgdarden.com/batteryfaq/batbrand.htm

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On 9/20/2018 at 4:27 PM, Paul Dobbin said:

Optima 6 volt battery discontinued!  
My neighbor needed a new battery today for his 1936 Ford V8 and was told the my favorite
6 Volt Optima battery has been discontinued.   I searched and found none available, but no announcement from Optima.
Anybody have any connections to verify or suggest a better battery for our 6 volt cars?  I found a tractor 6 volt battery at Tractor Supply, they also have an 8 volt one.

There has been no announcement from OPTIMA about the discontinuation of our 6-volt battery line because it's not being discontinued. I wish I could get into specifics about what is going on with production right now, but that will be obvious within the next few weeks and 6-volt batteries should be available within the next month or so. We appreciate your patience & understanding!

Jim McIlvaine
eCare Manager, OPTIMA Batteries
www.optimabatteries.com

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