optima tip worked!!

vash · vash's Garage

a few months ago some pelican-adians posted (ronin and 911pcars) that sometimes a dead optima needs to be hit hard by a charger set on "start" in order to get it to accept a charge.

i'll be damned if it didnt work like a charm. my poor brother trying to finish his 71 bronco project we started had his new battery sitting around for one year. he called telling me his battery was still dead after two days at trickle. i told him this tip, and it worked! thanks guys, i am filing this info away.

cliff

david914 · 02-03-2004, 08:35 AM

Hmmm.... That's worth a try. Just how hard did you hit it? IOW, how long did you let the battery cook on start mode? I've got an Optima that sat a little too long and it won't take a charge. It appears to, but won't start the car (no current capability).

David

vash · vash's Garage

david, my bro hit it on "start" for 20 mins, and then used 10 amp trickle.

EdT82SC · 02-03-2004, 08:59 AM

I had a similar problem with my Interstate battery. Trickle charge didn't work. I gave it a jump with my truck, and after that the trickle charge would charge the battery.

singpilot · 02-03-2004, 12:56 PM

Geez, I hope the guy at the place I buy my Optimas doesn't see this.

I am on my third Optima. My XM antenna was (incorrectly) wired to hot all the time power, and would download new / updated menus every 12 hours. Wasn't until I 'caught' it in the 'act' that I discovered the source of the power drain. Took out the first two batts. Would be dead for a week before I'd catch it. Wouldn't take a charge, back it went for warranty replacement.

Great tip, BTW.

vash · vash's Garage

singpilot! i wont tell.

Pete000 · 02-03-2004, 01:21 PM

This is a very common problem with the Optima battery. I have had two and took one in that just would not come up from dead. Thinking it was bad I wanted a new one under warrenty. The Optima people put it on a megga charger for three days and it was as good as new. What I do now if one of mine goes down I just hook it up with jumpers to my Honda van and it run for a while and it will bring it up enough to let the regular charger take over. Some trickle chargers even can't seem to keep them topped up. Over all I think these batteries are a bit finiky to keep charged if you don't drive them every day. I have also installed a cut off switch which helps.

rick conrath · 02-03-2004, 01:42 PM

This explains the problems I have been experiencing. I guess that I should throw the 1 amp trickle charger in the trash and go for the hot start unit. I was quite disappointed how quickly my Optima lost its charge.
Rick
'78 930

singpilot · 02-03-2004, 04:30 PM

Wow, I feel sooooooo much less stupid. My trickle charger wouldn't keep the Optima up either. I now have a cut off as well when mine sits for a week or longer. No probs since.

cstreit · cstreit's Garage

This is not that uncommon. In fact in the directions of most chargers they will tell you that if the battery isn't taking a charge, knock the amperage up a bit and put it on "manual mode".

These chargers work by monitoring how much a battey will take and when it senses the battery isn't taking more charge, it shuts down. A dead battery sometimes will not take a charge well, don't remember why, and needs to be coaxed a bit so the charger can read that it's accepting the voltage.

911pcars · 02-03-2004, 05:37 PM

This is a good time to suggest connecting a battery "maintainer" for those idle periods when the car sits for awhile. Harbor Freight sells one for about $12. Works fine. Car starts right up even after weeks of sitting in the garage. A master disconnect is good too, but then you lose radio presets, clock and alarm functions.

Sherwood

RoninLB · 02-03-2004, 07:05 PM

I completely disconnect the ground cable with a marine battery ground clamp and new ground wire. I don't need another switch.

singpilot · 02-04-2004, 04:50 AM

The 'battery maintainer' that I was using worked perfectly (as advertised) on my wet cell batteries. It did not work that way on the Optima. The 'cut-off' switch I installed is the one with the little 'wheel' that disconnects the two halves of the cable. The 'wheel' can be completely removed to act as an 'anti-theft' deterrent. Yes, I lose my presets and clock. I lose those too, everytime my batt used to go dead.

john walker's workshop · 02-04-2004, 07:06 AM

that works for the regular batteries as well. i give them about 5-10 minutes of 200A start mode, and then 20A for several hours. small chargers won't start charging until you jump another charged battery to the dead one for a short while.

widebody911 · widebody911's Garage

Glad to see you had a positive experience and that the battery's condition wasn't terminal.

I don't know why I was all charged up to post this, but I guess it's better than some of the negative comments I've seen in other threads. Too much coffee this AM - I'm all wired up!

KFC911 · 02-04-2004, 09:30 AM

OK, so my 10/2 amp chargers that I've used for years on my boat won't cut it (...now I know...why didn't I read this two months ago!). So If I'm getting a new charger, will a 55a (start mode) be sufficient? Also, I've always used the 2 amp setting on my deep cycle batterys (thinking it was better)... which setting is 'better' for the Optimas? Thanks...

singpilot · 02-04-2004, 12:57 PM

I used a 'battery maintainer' that supposedly was the type that maintains voltage up to like 2 amps output.

The type that is required, from what I am hearing is the kind that puts out amps up to a cutoff voltage that zaps the Optimas back to life.

When I replaced my last one, there is now a "new" sticker that warns....

Maximum recommended amperage for recharge is 45@13.5V
Maximum recommended voltage 14.5