Optima battery question
 

I just purchased the other day a Optima D51R Optima battery to be used in my 914/6 project car. It is brand new with manufacture date code of 05/08 but my project car probably won't be ready for the battery until the end of the year:( I wanted to take advantage of the $25.00 rebate which ends in a week. So what should I do ( if anything ) to keep the battery up to snuff until the end of the year?SmileWavy

Put it on a maintainer or use it in another car. Don't let it sit and die.

Milt +1. I have used the same red top in a turbo beemer, dodge quad cad, and now my dodge hemi hotrod.

Buy a "battery tender." These have a "brain" so they will keep the battery topped off but will not sit there trying to charge the entire time. I use one of these on my antique car when I put it away for the winter to keep my 6V optima red top in good shape.

+1 on the maintainer. Whats so special on the Optima batteries anyways. I have heard of a lot of people using them but never heard why. I have a good interstate megatron in the 944 that was new when i bought the car but it is several years old now and might be leaking. Im not sure yet. So is one of the optimas worth the extra change?

porsche4life - in the 356 world, we love the optima because it has lots of CCAs, esp. considering it is a 6v battery. Also, you can mount 'em any way you like, even upside down. Not to mention the no leaking, etc. so you don't have to worry about more corrosion. They are also the right size to be able to fit into a fake housing that looks like an OEM 356 battery.

When I got one for my 356, I left my lights on 3 days in a row, completely draining it each time. Still gave me several years worth of great service after that.

Only bad thing about them that I am aware of is they are sensitive to over charging, so we adjust our voltage regulators to put out 7.25v and no more.

Optimas have more power, are totally sealed, and can take many more cycles (charge to full discharge) than a regular battery. Being sealed, they don't leak, and don't have to be vented for interior mounts (like in my AMG and many BMWs).

the Optima that used to be in my race car was purchased in 1998, its still going strong I use it as bench battery and for my trailer, I trickle charge it religiously.