Draining Battery Issue
 

I have an Optima Redtop battery (34R model). I bought it 6-7 years ago. It has always been strong and started right up. I always kept it on the trickle charger in the non driving winter months.

It has now been totally dead after a week of not being started. This happened twice now. I took it to be tested today but they needed to charge it and I didn't have time to wait. I came home and put it on the 10 amp charger for 1.5 hours and it's hardly charged up. I then put the trickle charger back on it and am leaving it over night to see what happens.

I recently rebuilt my engine and my car sat for a year while I did this. I had the trickle charger on the battery for the whole time. Could this have killed the battery? Not sure why it would just die like this.


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Hi Matt...i see the warranty is only 3 years or do you have extended warranty?

Ivan

Old age? Batteries do die.

No extended warranty. Bought it from Advanced Auto. I figured it would last longer. I need to get tested to confirm.


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You can have it tested but if you read the warranty ..it will not help you.
Just get your self new battery..i personally have regular 80A battery nothing fancy..

Ivan
http://d26maze4pb6to3.cloudfront.net/9613/4997/8047/Optima_Consumer_Warranty_101112.pdf

I just want to have it tested to make sure it's bad. Don't want to spend 200 on a battery I didn't need.


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Don't you have to charge an Optima discharged battery in parallel with a good battery?

Yea. It seems if it goes below a certain voltage then you need to use a fully charged battery and a charger at the same time.

I was also reading that you need to use an AGM charger with these batteries. Optima now sells chargers for their batteries too. I'm not sure my Die Hard charger is the proper type for these batteries. However the trickle charger I have is the one that optima used to recommend on their site prior to having their own.

I left it on over night. It started at 25%. When I came home from work today it was up to 75%. I'll leave it on and see if I can get a full charge. Then I can test battery from their to see if it will hold a charge.

I was able to get the battery to fully charge. I measured voltage at 12.93. After two days the voltage has dropped to 12.57. The battery is not in the car. Do you think this indicates a battery that will no longer hold a charge? The manual says with this test the battery should last about a month and should still be close to the fully charged value.


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Hi Matt..maybe you should check if you have a draw in your system.Easy check is.Disconnect the ground strap to the battery and insert between a test light.Make sure you disconnect the trunk light and key off.If the test light lights up you have a draw.
Further checking the draw you can take out one fuse at a time to see it the light goes off.

Ivan

o yah closed doors as well.....

Matt,

Does your charger also de-sulfate as it charges via the maintenance cycle?

My Ctek 3300 de-sulfates the battery to help keep it alive longer. Buddy of mine kept his battery alive for 10 years. Just a thought.

My experience with off brand regular battery is once it gets drained below 25% it's not long for this world. I know I'll hear all about the battery that got drained dead multiple times and lasted 50 years I would say those are the exception to the rule. I run off brand batteries in my truck and usually only get a year or two out of them, I have to keep it on a trickle charger year round as I have a draw that I have not been able to find so they tend to get low occasionally. I have a red top and a yellow top optima in my Porsches that I keep trickle chargers on as well but also have cut off switches, the yellow top is 6 years old and the red top is 3. Both have been run low, buy low I mean dead, with no issues yet. I would see if you can locate a short if there is one but also install a cut off switch, cheap insurance.

After two days, that kind of seems ok. But without putting a load on it via regular usage you may not really know. Hate to say it, but beyond tests, put it in the car and use it. You will know pretty quick (couple days/week of using the car) if you need to buy a new one. If you don't want to take the risk, buy a new one.

When my Interstate finally died after 12 years, it was on a tender and all fine and seemingly charged. Hit the key to start car, all warning lights/buzzer came on as normal, but when it came time for the starter to engage (high draw) -- Poof -- all dead and battery never mustered another peep again. Instantly dead - permanently. After 12 years, I couldn't complain. Luckily car was in the garage. New Interstate from my local imported auto parts store and fine again.

Thanks all.

According to Optima's manual, fully charged Red Top batteries should be 12.6 - 12.8. Since mine was at 12.57 last night it seems ok still. I'll check it tonight when I get home again to see if any more decrease.

I tested for a parasitic draw last night. There was a .006A draw, which is nothing. I'm going to put the battery back in the car and drive it this weekend to see what happens. I'll stay local just in case.

One other test I want to make, is I recently hooked the trunk light back up. I need to make sure it's turning off when the trunk closes. The switch works by hand, but I need to see that it turns off with the trunk actually closed. When the light is on the draw was .800A which could definitely drain the battery.

At this point though, I think the problem may be as follows: Prior to the first battery drain, I was setting up my radio settings in the garage. I usually leave the key in the ignition and may have not fully turned it off when I was done. When I first recharged the battery, it was fully dead and I just recharged it enough to get the engine started (thinking the alternator would do the rest?) Is it possible that it was never fully charged properly and didn't hold the charge while sitting in the garage for then next week when it died the second time?

After 6-7 years, any car battery is living on borrowed time.

Yep, the path seems clear:

1) Check for vampire draw. Nothing significant?

2) Charge the battery with a charger with a reconditioning mode. Still won't start the car?

3) New battery. Most anything will do for 5+ years, though lead acid batteries don't seem worth the hassle anymore compared to AGM.

4) Always leave the tender on it if you won't be driving it for a while.

So far so good. I think I may have been right about leaving the key on which drained the battery and then not fully charging it properly. However we will see if the battery is dead next weekend.


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If you do get another one, get the yellow top marine battery. It is designed for full discharge. I back it up with a Battery Tender Plus when not daily in use. My last Yellow Top lasted 15 years. Quality isn't what it used to be but I expect more than three....in my fifth so far.

ALSO, bringing a battery back from the dead is better performed with 1 hour at 2 amps and 1 hour at 10 or more with an analog charger. Repeat as necessary. Once fully charger, i.e. the meter drops to zero. Put it back in the frunk and try to start it.

Get a Battery Tender plus and use it religiously if you plan on not driving for more than a day. Leave the permanently attached to the terminals/pigtail extended outside the frunk. It has a rubber cover to protect it from corrosion and you can connect it w/o having to open the lid each time.

Those fancy digital ones are worthless with totally flat batteries. BTDT, got the tee shirts to prove it.

Yep. Higher end tenders have a "Supply" mode that just spits out power with wild abandon, like an old-school float charger. If you don't have an old charger, it's a great feature, particularly for removing batteries in newer cars that lose their sh:t when all power is completely removed.