AGM Battery
Tips & Support
- Sponsor
- OPTIMA Batteries
- Location
- Glendale, WI
The electrical demand of new vehicles seems to increase every year. That increased demand has forced some automakers and many consumers to look to AGM batteries to answer those high electrical demands, so what is an AGM battery? It might be best to start by helping sort out some confusion some people have about AGM batteries. We can start by saying an AGM battery is a lead-acid battery, but that doesn't mean an AGM is also a gel battery.
The acronym "AGM" stands for "Absorbed Glass Mat," which in the case of a lead-acid battery, means the electrolyte in the battery is absorbed into fiberglass matting in between the plates in the cells. Gel batteries are an entirely different technology, even though some people confusingly refer to the two almost interchangeably.
All OPTIMA REDTOP, YELLOWTOP and BLUETOP batteries are AGM batteries, but no OPTIMA batteries are gel batteries. (OPTIMA ORANGETOP batteries are lithium) We think it's the "G" in "AGM" that often confuses people into believing that stands for "gel," when it really references the "glass" in Absorbed Glass Mat. This is so common, we even see other battery websites, that should know better, making this very mistake when describing batteries.
As we mentioned before, a gel battery is a completely different lead-acid technology. As the name would suggest, the electrolyte in gel batteries is somewhat gelatinous in consistency, typically after it is mixed with a fumed silica. While there are plenty of gel batteries out there, the next gel car battery we see will be the first, as gel batteries are typically found in stand-alone power applications.
The only reason most consumers need to know the difference between AGM and gel batteries, is because many battery chargers have gel-specific or confusing "gel/AGM" settings. Gel batteries tend to have very narrow charging parameters, that may not fully-charge non-gel batteries, so we suggest avoiding using any charger setting that references "gel" when charging an OPTIMA battery. AGM-specific settings are ideal, but regular or "deep-cycle" settings may also be used.
If you believe your car or truck needs the robust capabilities of an AGM battery, you can look up the battery (or batteries) your vehicle needs right on the OPTIMA Batteries website and we can ship them anywhere in the lower-48 states for free!
The acronym "AGM" stands for "Absorbed Glass Mat," which in the case of a lead-acid battery, means the electrolyte in the battery is absorbed into fiberglass matting in between the plates in the cells. Gel batteries are an entirely different technology, even though some people confusingly refer to the two almost interchangeably.
All OPTIMA REDTOP, YELLOWTOP and BLUETOP batteries are AGM batteries, but no OPTIMA batteries are gel batteries. (OPTIMA ORANGETOP batteries are lithium) We think it's the "G" in "AGM" that often confuses people into believing that stands for "gel," when it really references the "glass" in Absorbed Glass Mat. This is so common, we even see other battery websites, that should know better, making this very mistake when describing batteries.
As we mentioned before, a gel battery is a completely different lead-acid technology. As the name would suggest, the electrolyte in gel batteries is somewhat gelatinous in consistency, typically after it is mixed with a fumed silica. While there are plenty of gel batteries out there, the next gel car battery we see will be the first, as gel batteries are typically found in stand-alone power applications.
The only reason most consumers need to know the difference between AGM and gel batteries, is because many battery chargers have gel-specific or confusing "gel/AGM" settings. Gel batteries tend to have very narrow charging parameters, that may not fully-charge non-gel batteries, so we suggest avoiding using any charger setting that references "gel" when charging an OPTIMA battery. AGM-specific settings are ideal, but regular or "deep-cycle" settings may also be used.
If you believe your car or truck needs the robust capabilities of an AGM battery, you can look up the battery (or batteries) your vehicle needs right on the OPTIMA Batteries website and we can ship them anywhere in the lower-48 states for free!