Did I damage my Optima battery?

[LanceS4803]

I usually keep my red top Optima on a trickle charger, but a couple of months ago I used the charger on a 6v lawn mower battery. So, I flipped the charger switch to 6v and did that battery. Then put it back on the car.
With the cooler weather, went to get the car out tonight and the car wouldn't start. Checked battery, was reading 6.5v. Started troubleshooting and first off noted that I had forgotten to flip the charger switch back to 12v.
Did I damage my battery? Anything more I can do other than recharge with the appropriate setting?

[steve911T]

Lance, this is a copy/paste from Optima. Brother had a bum battery and this is what they said.

"The most important consideration when storing any battery is to make sure the voltage never drops below 12.4 volts. We recommend using a "battery maintainer" – a device that will monitor your battery and keep it at full capacity during storage.


If it is not possible to use a maintenance charger, disconnect the battery from the vehicle during storage to prevent small electrical drains from discharging the battery. Always provide a full charge with a battery charger prior to storage, and then check the battery voltage periodically and charge the battery if it falls below 12.4V.

However, for nearly all people (over 90%) who believe they have a "dead" Optima battery, the battery only needs to be charged. If the battery has less than 10.5v most battery chargers won't do anything to charge the battery using typical procedures, and most test equipment will erroneously indicate the battery has a bad cell.

If an Optima is deeply discharged (below 10.5 volts) most basic chargers will not supply a charge. Also keep in mind an Optima will not recharge properly if treated as a regular flooded or gel battery. To charge the battery, you can wire a 2nd fully charged automotive battery (12V+) to the discharged AGM in parallel (+ to + and – to –). Then hook up the charger to the discharged battery, setting the charger at 10 amps. Leave for 2 hours, monitoring frequently. When the discharged battery reaches 10.5 volts or more, remove the 2nd battery and continue charging the AGM until fully charged.

Typically we recommend charging at a relatively low current, such as 2 amps, 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, estimate charging time by multiplying the capacity (amp hours or Ah) of the battery by 1.2 for a rough estimate of charging time in hours.

In most cases these steps will recover the AGM battery. It’s okay for the AGM battery to get slightly warm during the charging process. Hot to the touch means there’s a short and the process should be discontinued."

Good luck. I have had the best luck with them by hooking them up for 10 minutes to a fully charged battery from a running car, disconnecting from the running car, and then charging it over night.

Steve

[juanbenae]

the red tops go quick, all at once.

[LanceS4803]

Thanks for the Optima info.
I have a spare battery that I can hook it to. We'll see.
Hopefully this Optima isn't totally gone. Only a few years old and been a VERY good battery.

[Joe Bob]

Did the same to mine.....kinda....

Killed my Optima, did a Easter Resurriction.....

[LanceS4803]

Took the battery to a local Batteries Plus. They only charged me $6.35 and the battery is now fully charged.
Installed when I got home and everything is back to normal.
Close call.