Installed an OPTIMA battery in my 'lude. same day car dies completly on me while driving. I thought it was the timing belt cause it was loose. Still didnt work after the timing belt was installed, there wasnt any spark. I just had a feeling and opened up the ECU and low an behold a dime sized short could be seen on the circuit board. A friend of mine works at a big car audio store and told me they have had problems with several Hondas not accepting the Optima batteries. Why is this? If I buy another ECU that came off the same year car has same engine and tranny should it work fine?


Modified by Spy1r at 4:48 AM 3/1/2004

 

ive never heard of this before maybe u got a bad battery..

I know of 2 guys with hondas one prelude and other civic hb with optima yellow top and the other has the red top. They never told me they had any problems

 

yea no problems here.....well i installed mine 2 days ago but still

i also know/heard other lude owners who have the yellow top and have had no problem either

 

Had mine for a year with no problems......

 

just got my red top...no problems at all so far

 

5 years and going stong onmy red top...and i give it hell

 

Previous battery was working fine.


Modified by Spy1r at 2:50 PM 3/1/2004

 

Maybe alternator? Was your previous batteries not working at all?

 

i would say you have a wiring problem, a fuse should have blown before you shorted the ecu. or at least i would hope a fuse would blow before the ecu shorted out.

i've had my red top for a year now and no problems.

 

What do they yellow tops sell for anyways?

 

Had my Optima for 3 years now.. no problems.

 

ive had my yellow top for about 6 months, no problems

and i think i paid about 130 for it

 

had mine for 3 months now no problem..Red Top paid 110 for it..

 

I got a red one in my car, works perfect

 

you can get a Yellow Top for $139.95 shipped from TNA-Sports.com

good shipping and excellent customer serivce

 

if ur in orlando area let me know because i get yellow and red tops for wholesale price

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Spy1r &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> A friend of mine works at a big car audio store and told me they have had problems with several Hondas not accepting the Optima batteries. Modified by Spy1r at 4:48 AM 3/1/2004</TD></TR></TABLE>

Groan... If I had a dime for everytime I met an "expert..."

Your friend is, um, misinformed. There is a problem somewhere else - it is absolutely not the battery - 12V is 12V regardless where it came from. Likely it's an alternator problem or voltage regulator.

 

No he has not been misinformed he speaks from experience. He has 5 years installing custom systems. I think he knows what he's talking about.

 

there's no way the battery did that to your ecu....do you have some kinda crazy system and somebody did the wirring for you? Because that sounds pretty f 'ed up to me.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Spy1r &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">No he has not been misinformed he speaks from experience. He has 5 years installing custom systems. I think he knows what he's talking about. </TD></TR></TABLE>

There's a funny story about experience, about Napoleon being told his generals had lots of experience. He said, "my donkeys have been in more battles then my generals, does that mean they have more experience?"

Apparently it takes longer then 5 years for some to learn experience *and* knowledge. Either that or he's fingured out a type of physics no one else knows. Sorry, bottom line, he is incorrect.

 

12 volts is 12 volts huh? theres a little thing in voltage called amperage..when talking about a stock battery between an optima battery there is a much larger amperage level in an optima. almost all electrical systems in a vehicle that pertain to the ecu run on low amperage wiring and ac voltage. any type of voltage spike could easily cause a problem in a sensitive component of a vehicle. Furthermore I have worked on countless numbers of vehicles that cost more then you will make in 3 years and know better then to under estimate the components in those vehicles.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Spy1r &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">12 volts is 12 volts huh? theres a little thing in voltage called amperage..when talking about a stock battery between an optima battery there is a much larger amperage level in an optima. almost all electrical systems in a vehicle that pertain to the ecu run on low amperage wiring and ac voltage. any type of voltage spike could easily cause a problem in a sensitive component of a vehicle. Furthermore I have worked on countless numbers of vehicles that cost more then you will make in 3 years and know better then to under estimate the components in those vehicles.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Whoa, before you continue to be an *** you might want to do a little research into how electricity works and get your terms correct! Let's see if I can't break it down a bit. First amperage isn't "in" voltage...they're two totally separate units. kb58 is exactly correct when he says 12V is 12V...there isn't a difference. Amps are a measure of current or the draw across a circuit. They are a function of how much power your accessories are pulling. To use an example, a common automotive fuse rated for 20A can handle a continuous load of 20A used by the accessories in that circuit. If you exceed that rating it causes a buildup of heat, blowing the fuse. NOW, by installing a battery that can provide a higher number of amperes you are not forcing more energy into the system...you are simply adding to the reserves. No more energy will flow through the existing circuits unless drawn through either through a short circuit or via additional items added to the circuit. This is the same reason you can run multiple batteries without causing issues...you are simply adding to the "pool" of power that you can draw from, you're not forcing it to pass through the system.

Now that we have that worked out please stop with the childish comments like "I've worked on cars worth more than XXX"...to be honest, I don't give a rat's ***. You're only showing your level of immaturity. If you took the time to find out a little more about the person you were berating (kb58) you'd find that he has scratch built a vehicle of his own design, something you'll likely never do with your attitude.

--Ian

 

i've had a yellow top for about 3 yrs, no problems so far.

 

i have had my red top for about 8 years now and no problem what so ever!

 

I was thinking. The optima battery is just a tad bit taller than the original. Maybe the positive terminal touched the hood when I hit a bump? But the terminal has a plastic cover. Could this have caused my ecu to burn out?