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a little background: 2003 civic, 70amp alt, factory battery, big-3 upgrade, DIY grounding upgrades, and a hyper voltage system. running a little over 1300wrms with 2 amps.

car is daily driven in CA...lowest temp we see here is probably in the 30' degrees during winter and in the mid 90's during summer season.
will an optima yellow top would be an optimal upgrade for the electrical system? specfiically to eliminate light dimming, reduce voltage drops, prevent strain on the overall vehicle, and able to get more power to my amps when they demand power. i searched and read some of the 7thgen members had problems with their yellow tops such as dying less than a year which is backing me away from a yellow top under the hood

 
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i have had the same Yellow Top for 3 years... i say go for it

 
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Ive had a yellow top in my pickup since '99 with a 180 amp alternator, snow plow, and **** load of electronics inside, and its still kicking just as strong as can be.

 
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even if one guys battery died within a year, it was just (defect), i wouldn't hold that against the yellow tops

 
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Would a capacitor help you out if the dimming is from your sound system?

 
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LOL 30 deg.......lucky!! Mine alternater is starting to make a little noise when its cold in the morning. I was thinking of changing the battery to and trying to find a higher output alte. and I am only running a infinty basslink at 200wrms. Oh ya and I only have 41k miles. If you do get a bettery let us know if it helps with audio performance and dimming.

 
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yellow tops are probably the best quality batteries that you can get, they normally last much longer than a normal car battery. it would be a great upgrade for your electrical system and make a world of difference.

also, i usually recommend the Exide 34XCD as an alternative to the yellow top. they use a similar design and are equal or even better in performance and can normally be had cheaper than a yellow. I use one myself as do most of the people I know and I recommend them for a good reason.

 
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also as a note, I am currently working with a custom alternator builder to put out a line of high output alternators that will fit 7th gen civics. they would be of superior quality and if and when they come out i should be able to offer then to 7thgencivic.com members for a good price :0

 
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Im interested already lol.

 
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for those who are running the yellow top, was your main purpose for your mobile stereo needs?
did it "eliminate light dimming, reduce voltage drops, prevent strain on the overall vehicle, and able to get more power to my amps when they demand power" ?

how much you guys paid for it? i want to purchase it from autozone so i can get that warranty.

 
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I think I paid like $179 or something, but that was back in 1999. I bought it because I had a snowplow on my old truck and that really does a number on a battery. The battery was still good and kicking when I purchased a newer truck and brought the plow too and its still as good as can be. I also have a 15 farad cap though too which helps a ton. Get it from Autozone if you get one

 
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I'll keep you updated on the alternators

 
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better make that 2 who are interested.... keep us updated

 
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i've been talking to a rep from Ohio Generator, but if i can deal with a 7thgen member, then i'd much rather do that... count me in as well

 
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3!!!!

 
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4

 
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5!!!

 
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Hey MegaHurtz, just thought I'd add that I was speaking to someone at alterstart.com and he said that the Canadian and American Civics differ in their alternator setups and that an alt that fits an American car won't fit a Canadian one....conversely a Canadian alternator won't fit in an American one, no?

I haven't been able to poke my head in a US Civic engine bay but it doesn't make too much sense to me...considering all the sedans (US and Canadian) were built in Alliston Ontario while all the coupes were built in the states somewhere (Ohio rings a bell but my memory is potshot)....well, just adding that info maybe you could look into it a little more. Oh and if you do end up getting something compatible with the CANADIAN Civics, add me to your list.

To add to the thread's original topic, I'm running a carputer, tons of neons, and a huge sub/amp combo in my car and the Optima really does help in startup. Despite what others said about the cold-weather limitations I've left my car outdoors overnight in -20C weather or lower and she started up only slightly slower than in the summer. I shoehorned in the D34 model by the way.

 
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sucks to have a Canadian car then lol... might wanna edit that...

good call, though... if for some reason they are different, you can always just go to any decent truck shop and they can re-core your alternator and beef it up quite a bit... Ohio Generator also does custom alternators, maybe you can look into that

 
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in my experience, optima, in the battery world, is equivalent to bose in the audio world. Theyre so damn popular, but noone can figure out why. they have a failure rate among competitors thats very very high....
these days youll more often see exide, stinger, hawker, xstatic, or ... crap, forgot the brand. regardless, youll see them more than youll see an optima

i killed an optima battery in under a year, then went to sears, bought a 69 dollar deep cycle that fit in the same space, and its lasted well over a year...

ever seen those super expensive stinger hpm audio batteries?
well, look up a company called hawker oddysey, its the manufacturer for them. you can buy unbadged stinger sp1700's for a fraction of the stinger battery price

just my $.07
(i like it better than two)

 
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omg he's back!

 
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as i mentioned before, i've been running a Yellow Top for a couple years with no issues, but i can also vouch for the Stinger and Xstatic products... i'm running a few BatCap 800s in addition to my Yellow Top, and my boy is running a pair of Stingers to power his 6 JL Audio 1000/1s for his 6 13W7s... just my $.04 (apparently $.02 is out due to inflation)...

 
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i'm also interested in the alternator.... cause i heard if i put on the true power pulleys... it can cause some issues. BTW i have a yellow top... for about 8 months now and no problems what so ever, i'm running a 600w amp w/2 10" hooked up, and 120w inside speakers.

 
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wait so let me get this straight....

yellow top: audio system upgrades, any mods that will strain the battery
red top: performance related? cold start ups?



if what i'm assuming is true, then would i be better off getting a red top if i keep my stock cd player and system? i care more about performance!

ok thanks

 
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well a red top only comes into play when you start the car as far as i know. and my yellowtop (although has less cca) will start up fine too. it still has better stats than the stock battery. the yellowtop is just more resistant to getting damaged by letting it sit or using radio with car off. i love my yellowtop i always use it to listen to music or plug in a spotlight when i'm working on the car. it always starts right up and quickly charges to full without damaging its capacity.

 
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yellowtop is a deep cycle battery, while red top isn't

deep cycle batteries allow for more abuse and discharge without permanent damage
the tradeoff being:
discharge rate is much lower
a non-deep cycle battery can discharge is full capacity MUCH quicker, and exhibits much better performance in colder weathers.

personally, what I use is a non-deep cycle in front under the hood, and a deep cycle in the trunk on a 200A relay to isolate it when the car is off..

there is no "better", they are just different.

use your system with the car off? go yellowtop
dont, then its unnecessary