Optima battery question

[turbomonaro]

Hey have a optima red top, just wondering what you guys do in regards to charging??.
My auto guy recommended to keep the charger on 24/7 but I have already killed a trickle charger.
And purchased A new projector charger but the battery guy said no too charging 24/7 so abit up in the air, his thoughts were that it would be dangerous to do so. So what's the norm out there ......?.. Thanks guys

[kochevy67]

optima sells a charger for their batteries. They are coming out with a new one some of us got a sneak peek at it while in Vegas at the PT.com dinner. I am sure someone else will chime in on this. As for me I have used a craftsman battery maintainer on mine for years and never had a problem. I can tell you that a friend of a friend was using a Black and Decker one and it burned the garage down, so needless to say I stay away from their brand.

[turbomonaro]

Thanks for the heads up that's what I was worried about.
If the charger burns out, as my sons room is over to top
Of the garage.
So thanks for your reply. Any other advice anyone

[KWIKND]

The "battery Tender" works great for me. I think it brought my red top back from the scrap pile after being in paint prison for a year and a half
Dan

[Rhino]

I've tried quite a few chargers on optimas over the years. My neighbour recently picked up an optima D1200. If quickly charging an optima is your goal, that thing does it better than anything else I've found. I'll be purchasing one shortly.

[TheJDMan]

Go to YouTube and search for optima charging. They have a rather extensice video on how to charge their batteries or any AGM battery. John Deere also sells a smart charger designed for AGM batteries for a lot less than the optima charger.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YzC1hBsZ1Rg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_uTnth9LDs

[OptimaJim]

Leaving a quality battery maintenance device on and charging all the time should not be dangerous at all. However, it is important to make sure you are using a quality device that properly-regulates both voltage and amperage. I read a lot of comments from folks who brag about the $6 charger they pulled out of a bargain bin at their local retailer, but I also read a lot of comments from other folks who had serious issues with those same units.

Quality battery maintenance devices will be microprocessor-controlled and properly-regulate both amperage and voltage. The best units will also have AGM-specific settings (not to be confused with “gel” or “gel/AGM” settings, which should not be used on non-gel batteries, including Optimas). Either our Digital 1200 or digital 400 will get the job done just fine, although I'm not sure what their availability is in Oz yet. The Digital 1200 has more features and will charge at a faster rate, but the Digital 400 is significantly less expensive and is perfect for someone just looking to maintain a battery when a car is not being used regularly. If you have any other questions, I'll do my best to answer them.

Jim McIlvaine
eCare Manager, optima Batteries, Inc.
www.pinterest.com/optimabatteries

[1989GTA]

What is the difference between the red top and the yellow top optima batteries?

[blunt420]

id like to know can a yellow top be brought back from the dead this is my 2nd and for some reason they just arent lasting?

[andrewb70]

I just unhook the battery when I know it will sit for a long time. I've had the same optima red top in my GTO since 2002.

Andrew

[GrabberGT]

I just unhook the battery when I know it will sit for a long time. I've had the same optima red top in my GTO since 2002.

Andrew

This is what I do. I was just telling someone the other day that I've had the same yellow top for 10 years now and its never been on a charger.

[Mike Holleman]

red top is a regular automotive starter battery and a yellow top is a deep cycle.

[OptimaJim]

1989GTA, RedTops are considered SLI (starting/lighting/ignition) batteries and are suitable for the vast majority of applications. YellowTops are designed for both starting and deep-cycle use, so if your vehicle has significant electrical demands, like a large stereo, car alarm, winch, etc... or no charging system at all, a yellowtop is a more appropriate choice. For batteries of identical size (like a Group 34), RedTops will have slightly more cranking amps, while YellowTops will have slightly more reserve capacity. We also created a YouTube video that explains the differences in more detail- http://youtu.be/SRSeqepGN60

blunt420, what are the circumstances surrounding the issues you are having and have you by chance ever measured battery voltage when you were having issues?

Jim McIlvaine
eCare Manager, optima Batteries, Inc.
www.pinterest.com/optimabatteries

[19sixtynine]

I bought a used yellow top, put it on a "battery Tender" brand charger and left it for 3 years while I worked on my car. I thought for sure it would be a goner, but nope, it fired the car right up and continues to run strong. I've been driving the car since November and when I pull it in the garage I jsut hook it right back up to the tender. I own 2 battery tenders and love them, never had a problem and have been using that brand for about 10 years on various cars, bikes and boats.

[renegade6]

I had an optima red top in my 57 truck and let it sit for a year disconnected while I was deployed and it started right up when I got back.

[1989GTA]

Thanks Jim and others. I will go ahead and purchase a red top optima.

[MonzaRacer]

Well now I bought a "blem" blue top and it sat out on gravel next to my Camaro body I was working on. The Interstate I had in my truck took a dump when my starter started pulling over 600 amps (and then installed the optima) funny how 600 amps made insulation slide real nice on starter positive cable!
Ran that battery till I parked in 08, then after sitting it went bad. I have a GP 65 DieHard in truck , was only 2 mo old, Customer had drain issues so he bought new Interstate (both built by Johnson Controls, same line even) guess I need to open hood and recheck it as it has sat for about 6 mo. Was cold when tried to start truck,,,guess its warm enough NOW. And Im more healed up from my wreck.

[Rhino]

Jim, could you possibly give any insight into why the optimas tend to have a higher incidence of failure when their charge is allowed to drain? I know this was my own fault, however I've had a few of them die due to lack of use without a maintainer. In a similar use case a typical battery drains however is able to recharge.

At some point I was told that the polarity of an individual cell could "flip" when recharging. The other day I did take an optima which was completely dead and threw it on the D1200. The first two attempts stated it wasn't able to charge. After the third conditioning it did allow a charge, however after a few hours it boiled the battery. After feeling the individual cells one was extremely hot while the others were warm. Could this be a side effect of a flipped cell?

[MIKE67]

I just got a new red top. Had the same info in the instructions. (I got this from http://www.optimabatteries.com/us/en/support/faqs/)

If an optima battery is deeply discharged (below 10.5 volts), most basic chargers will not supply a charge. Also keep in mind that an OPTIMA battery will not recharge properly if treated as a regular flooded or gel battery. To charge the battery, you can wire a second fully charged automotive battery (12+volts) to the discharged AGM in parallel (+ to + and – to –). Then hook up the charger to the deeply discharged battery, setting the charger at 10 amps. Leave for two hours, monitoring frequently. During this process, if the discharged battery gets very hot or if it is venting (hissing sound from vents), then stop this process immediately. When the discharged battery reaches 10.5 volts or more, remove the standard battery and continue charging the AGM until fully charged.


For normal charging, a relatively low current, such as one or two amps, can work well, but when the battery has been deeply discharged, some sulfation of the battery plates may have occurred. If you charge at 10 amps, the higher current will help to break up this sulfation.

If you have an automatic charger, let it run until the charger indicates charging is complete. If you have a manual charger, you can get a rough estimate of the charging time in hours of a completely discharged battery (11.2 volts) by multiplying the capacity (amp hours or Ah) of the battery by 1.2. If your battery is not completely discharged, the time would be less.

In most cases these steps will recover an AGM battery. It’s OK for the AGM battery to get slightly warm during the charging process. If it’s hot to the touch, it means there’s a short and the process should be discontinued.

[OptimaJim]

Hi Rhino, I'm not aware of any incidences of higher failure rates with our batteries when they are allowed to drain, when compared to any other battery. Whenever any battery is discharged below 12.4 volts and is left sitting in that state, sulfation will begin to form on the battery plates, which diminishes both capacity and lifespan. That goes for optima or any other brand or manufacturer. In fact, some other manufacturers will specifically list a minimum voltage level for warranty coverage. Bring a battery in that has been discharged below that level and your warranty is void!

AGM batteries are actually more resilient to deep-discharges than flooded batteries, but as Larry pointed out, many chargers won't provide current to a battery, unless it registers a minimum voltage that is typically at least around 10.5 volts. In those instances, the parallel charging technique he referenced can recover those deeply-discharged batteries. However, not every deeply-discharged battery can be recovered and batteries are consumable items. It is ok for batteries to get warm while charging, but if they get hot to the touch, charging should be discontinued and they should be recycled.

AGM batteries have much lower internal resistance than flooded batteries. This allows them to accept and deliver current at much higher rates than their flooded counterparts and deliver current longer than a flooded battery, which may stop providing power around 10.5 volts. That's great news if you are a tournament angler discharging your batteries down to 7 volts on a windy day. That may not be quite so good news for a hot rodder who only drives his car once a week and has an alarm with an 80-milliamp draw (or a poorly-wired stereo system or a new Corvette or any other vehicle that is known to discharge batteries in a key-off state). I've heard various theories about what happens to batteries when they go bad, but I'm not sure how an individual cell's polarity could ever be reversed by itself or without impacting the polarity of the other cells in the battery.

Jim McIlvaine
eCare Manager, optima Batteries, Inc.
www.pinterest.com/optimabatteries