Charging Opima Red Top, Is there a trick I should know? Options

[vesnyder]

My year old Optima Red Top battery lost it's charge and I am trying to figure out a way to recharge. I've read the old posts that suggests hitting it with a big charge (75 amp) for a short period and that will allow it to be charged normally. I ried that and it is not working? I have a decent Die Hard charger that goes through an assessment of teh battery before it begins to charge and I get the fault flashing light every time? I've tried all the settings - Type I and Type II, along with the trickle charge, standard and 75 amp start charge and nothing? My latest attempt is to put a trickle charge on it and see if that works? Any ideas/suggestions?

Thanks in advance!

[lapuwali]

IMHO, a lot of "trickle chargers" are basically too smart for their own good. I used a plain old tech stupid charger that had no "sensing" of anything, and has a switch on the front that selects between 6 and 12v, and 2 and 6 amps.

Leaving a near dead Optima on 12v and 2 amps for many hours (like 8-10 hours) brought it back. I suspect a Battery Tender or the like will work as long as the battery is nearly fully charged, but these things don't seem to work well when the battery has a low charge (any battery, not just an Optima). I've had terrible luck with Battery Tenders (the brand, not the idea), and don't recommend them.

btw, the "neglected" Optima I spoke of sat hooked up in a 914 that didn't move for nearly 6 months. The Optima in my 912 regularly goes for 6 weeks between uses, and I've yet to have it fail to start the car, after about 13 months of that sort of abuse.