Which Optima battery for the USA?

Seems like the Ferrari charger or the Ctek will charge and maintain.
The red top batteries are AGM....snowflake mode on the higher end Ctek charger. The standard Ferrari charger may not use the optimal maintain trickle voltage. Probably close enough though.


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The 458 has flash card technology so it uses 7 amps just sitting in the garage. In practical trems this means the 458 Ferrari battery just sitting will go dead in about a week.

When my Ferrari battery charger died I just converted the system to a "battery Tender" It has worked well for over a year.

Best

Lee

 

If the vehicle is drawing 7 A at rest, there is a drastic problem in the wiring. The tech manual specifies 19 to 22 mA as normal and it should never exceed 35 mA.

The tech manual provides:

 

The optima battery is an AGM battery and it is made by Johnson Controls They also make other battery brands including interstate The interstate AGM battery is less costly than the Optima battery You might also be interested that since Johnson Controls purchased Optima they moved manufacturing to Mexico and there are indications that the quality of manufacturing is not the same as it was when they were in California In my opinion I would get the interstate AGM battery and then for a battery tender either the CTEK or the Deltran battery tender both companies have battery tenders that are right around the $8o to $100 range and they are pretty much equivalent

Steve

 

+1. If the battery draw when the vehicles ignition is turned off exceeds the 35 to 50 mA I would look very carefully at what is going on your indication of 7A Much too high

Steve

 

Is there such a thing as a battery tender which works off another battery? It may sound like a silly question, but there are no nearby outlets in my condo parking spot so just wondering if such a device exists.

 

+1

Had Optima Red top it died in less than 3 years. Will never buy again
I have CTEK 4.3 been very happy with it
Just picked up Odyssey AGM myself and going to drop it in over the holiday break

 

I use the yellow top in my Porsche. The last one lasted 7 years. it is a deep cycle battery

 

I recently installed one in my 458 per the dealer's recommendation. It works quite well with perfect fitment and exact spec's as the Ferrari OEM battery. World Sourceone is either made in the USA or in Germany. That's rare these days. They also make many OEM for high end cars and trucks. I've never heard of them until the dealer recommendation. Braille's Endurance series would be my top choice. Braille's lithium is also an alternative but trickle charging may be an issue. See my other post on the responses. Odyssey is good but fitment is tricky.

 

The CTEK MUS 4.3 is the higher end battery maintainer you mention and is AGM compatible with the snowflake as you found out, part of the 8 stage charging in 4 modes.

The Ferrari factory battery maintainer has been superceded by 070002801 which only has two stage charging.
70001701 FERRARI BATTERY CHARGER (RETAIL VER) - Ricambi America, Inc.

70002821 BATTERY CHARGER USA/CDN - Ricambi America, Inc.

At $465 the factory unit is an older model while the latest CTEK MUS 4.3 is under $100 at nearly every US retailer.

 

I did an acid test of the Optima with my Maserati. I would leave it for 4 weeks and then come back.

The battery of course was flat or nearly flat. So, I got an Optima thinking it was "best". Wrong. It was worse. In 3 weeks it was dead.

Then I went back to an old favorite, the Interstate Megatron. This by far is the best battery I have ever found for long term non-use.

Sorry Optima. Interstate batteries are better.

 

I got the number from my Mechanic who does all the work on my cars. Maybe he said 7Ma hours and I misunderstood him. 7 amp hours is much to high as you point out.

The key points are the battery goes down on its own much quicker than most cars we are used to in the US.

Dealer told me the battery will go dead in about 7 days is the car is not driven or the battery charged. I suspect that is a rule of thumb and can very between cars.

My 1865 Cobra kit had a Odyssey battery that is supposed to last 12 years, mine did 11 years before it died. The battery also had a lot of cranking amps to turn over a high compression engine.

Best

Lee

 

Either way would work; the standard CTEK MUS 4.3 set comes with battery terminal eyelets on a quick disconnect pigtail that you could easily mount to the battery.

On the other hand, the converter is The Ferrari Dongle and using it illuminates the charging icon on the dash and disables ignition so you can't accidently depart with it attached.

Depends on whether the $89 dongle is worth it to you.

 

Why does Ferrari have this issue?
Why don't they just add a switch to turn off the car completely?
When parked.

 

Great question.

There are circuits which require being powered up to hold their computer memory. Ferrari saved on the cost of chips in NVM, Non Volatile Memory and require car power

 

Really....this seems piss poor unacceptable....for the money they command for these cars.

 

I have replaced my OEM Fiamm battery with Optima Red Top 34R. Now the car can sit longer in the garage (about 2 weeks more) and the Optima is almost 2 kg (4,4 lbs) lighter. Optima is also compatable with my Ferrari OEM battery charger.

 

You are only partially correct. Yes, there are circuits that require power to hold memory. For example, radio codes and memory presets. Another example is the alarm system that disables the vehicle in the event of unauthorized entry. It also needs power to "listen" for your key fob signal to open the doors. But, no, Ferrari did not try to skimp on the cost of computer chips to save money by using chips that do not need power to retain memory.

All newer cars have continuous un-switched power draw ... Ferrari is not unique. I am not sure how much current that is being continuously drawn ... probably something in the range of 25mA to 50mA. One day I might take the time to determine it.

The issue is that many owners keep the car garaged for extended periods of time without starting the car. It you start and run the car at least every 4 weeks or so, your battery should be able to handle that just fine. If it does not, then you need to check into why it would discharge faster than that. Although, 4 weeks is a bit too long to keep your battery in tip top shape, so to speak. Many people might put their Ferrari into winter hibernation for ... say 4 months or so. Now, you are getting to a point where the un-switched current drain (aka parasitic current drain) might very well deplete the battery to the point where it will not start the car. And, over time, frequent discharging of the battery under 90% charge will adversely affect battery capacity and battery life.

A battery will self-discharge about 3% per month, with no external current drain. The additional current drain caused by un-switched circuits on your car will only add to that. So, if you plan to leave your car unattended for long periods of time, you should disconnect the battery or keep it on a battery tender. In fact, I would recommend that if you do not start and run your car at least every 10 days or so, you should keep it on a battery tender.

Steve

 

Exactly.

I even put a tender on my DD periodically, even if it is topped off then I'll do it just for desulphation stage.