Optima battery nowhere to be found??

[sageuvagony]

As some know, I have a 92 LX. I have a small sound system. 1 12" 1000 watt peak Pioneer sub with 1000 watt amp. I constantly get dimming of my lights when I play my music fairly loud. My Pep boys Pro Start battery only lasted me almost 2 years. Now it dies with only having my headlights on for about 15 min. Everyone tells me that my sound system is a good reason why my battery is dying. They all tell me to buy a yellow top optima rather than buying a CAP. I have the money now...

I CANNOT find this battery anywhere.. calling tons of places, they tell me they can order one directly from optima and will be here in about 4 days. Others tell me "for some reason we haven't had them in forever." I kinda want one today so I kept calling around. Interstate batteries told me they stopped making my type of battery (YEL51R) about 16 months ago because they are redesigning it? They also said that if I DO find one, it will be a pretty old one.. They don't know a time frame of a new release. Anyone know ANYTHING about the YEL51R? Pleaseee??? I'm about to just go buy a CAP untill then I guess... running my car in its current condition will only kill my battery more and alternator as well. Any ideas?

Thanks!
Richard

[songsandstars]

Don't worry so much about the battery brand or type, what you want to look for is something that will probably be higher priced, becaue you get what you pay for. Look at the amps that it puts out, the higher the better.
Also, I had to change the gauge of wire on my battery from a 4 gauge to a 2 gauge, because it'll hold more of a load. I had kind of the same problem when i installed my stereo and my dash, all I did was change the wire and the dimming and cutting out ceased instantly.
The battery wires were about $6 bucks a piece and really east to install. I would start there first, before you go out for a new battery, unless yours is already dead. Your battery light on your car should be on too.
Let me know how this turns out and i'll help you more if that's not the problem. Good Luck...

[my99cavy]

I know that Farm and Fleet carries Optima batteries. Have you tried there?

[sageuvagony]

This is my current setup now for about 4 months now... As you can see I have my "Positive terminal to starter" wire already at 2 guage, my valve cover to chasis at 2 guage, and the negative wire to starter at 2 guage. The starter spins ALOT stronger and faster since this upgrade. The Alternator wire to fusebox is still stock.. Should I replace that as well or just leave it? And of course you can see the grounding kit as well. I wish I knew exactly where to connect the wires. One of the wires is supposed to go to my headlights.. how do I connect a ground to my headlights? where? And another must be connected to the engine block. The rest I found a spot for. I don't see anywhere I can connect it to the engine block... I see places all over to connect to the head but not the block.

Thanks again!

[Christ]

if you can connect it to the head, do it.. the head bolts will allow for a ground circuit.

the headlight ground would connect behind the headlights on the pass side where there is a bolt with one or two wires running from it. (I think) other than that, anywhere on the chassis. if you don't already have one there, connect the headlight ground to the bolt that holds the main fuse box onto the car, under the fust box tab, since the fuse box doesn't need a ground, but it will act as a chassis ground.

as far as your battery draining quickly... you kinda should have a capacitor for a 1000 watt amp.. anything over 500 really.. and if the wire to the amp is more than 10 feet long, it should be at least 4g, preferably 2 or 0. 1 farad should be fine, you can get a fairly cheap one from walmart that works fine.. I've used them before with no problems on higher end systems.

That capacitor will stop your battery from dying so quickly, and stop your headlights from dimming every time you get a good hit.