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!

[Engman]

BTDT - and it is going to cost you. The real downfall of the optimas is that they absolutely do not deep cycle. It is dead. The next one I buy will be the deep cyle one.

M

[seanery]

I had a deep cycle blue top in my 951. It was nice because it would sit in my garage in Indy for many, many months (year or so) while I was in LA and it would always take a charge and go, go, go. (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/driving.gif)

[groot]

Take is to an auto parts store and have them test it. Then you'll know for sure.

[DougC]

They have a 3 year warranty so couldn't you just take it back and exchange it? My red top is only a couple months old and I've been charging it very often cause I've been using it so much to try and get my car started..hope that doen't screw it up or something.

Doug C

[smg914]

VES,

This won't help you now but the next time you get a new Optima, keep a battery maintainer on it. The maintainer keeps it fully charged and won't allow the battery to discharge. The problem with the Optima's is when they get low, it's not easy to bring them back. I did this on my 914-6 race car that was only used a handful of times a year and the battery was still strong after 4 years.

[736conver]

QUOTE

My red top is only a couple months old and I've been charging it very often cause I've been using it so much to try and get my car started..hope that doen't screw it up or something.

I am in that same boat. I hope I didnt screw mine up either.

[anthony]

I disconnect the battery when the car is parked in the garage. My optima could sit all winter and still start the car.

[dlo914]

whenever we get a few optimas in the store (Autozone) we test them first to see if they're just low or needs a recharge. We never put them on the quick charger, because that would just kill the battery. So then we put them on the trickle charger for a good day and then retest them. Sometimes they're good in the end and sometimes they're not. But you should check on the warranty though. Since it's only been a year.

[horizontally-opposed]

There is a new charger on the market that CAN bring an Optima back, as it does not let the Optima draw what it wants to. It actually has an icon on the charger for a setting specifically designed for winter use -- which is a snowflake -- and for charging a red-topped Optima, which looks like a red-topped Optima.

It's called a CTEK, and you can check it out here:

http://www.autosportcatalog.com/index.cfm/...id/3480/sc/7542

I don't/can't endorse products, but this thing blew me away -- it's a very nicely done piece.

pete

[Mueller]

I thought you could recharge the Optimas if you used a more "aggresive" charge on them (use 15amp or higher instead of 2amp)

anyone???

[lapuwali]

I neglected an Optima until it was down to 10v, then put a normal 2 amp charger on it for quite some time, and it came back to 12.5v and works fine.

[dmenche914]

Ditto on that my red optima sat and died, many years old, It took a lot of trying, but after several days on a low current cahrge it came back, and now starts my triumph every week or so.

[horizontally-opposed]

Exactly, the key is a low charge for a long time. Most of the "smart" chargers of fast chargers will fry trying to give the Optima what it (thinks it) wants.

pete

[Mueller]

QUOTE (horizontally-opposed @ Oct 17 2005, 01:00 PM)

Exactly, the key is a low charge for a long time. Most of the "smart" chargers of fast chargers will fry trying to give the Optima what it (thinks it) wants. pete

opps.....mine fizzled out on me so I wonder if I cooked it by trying to charge it too fast????

[horizontally-opposed]

QUOTE (Mueller @ Oct 17 2005, 12:18 PM)

opps.....mine fizzled out on me so I wonder if I cooked it by trying to charge it too fast????

Yep, that's what I understand. And the CTEK basically incorporates a computer chip to do it's thinking. The guy who built them used to be the head of Optima in North America and went over to CTEK. He was saying that an Optima will normally dictate its needs to a charger, but that most chargers can't supply that need -- hence the need for a charger that reverses the "authority."

But if the people above have had good luck with trickle chargers, then there you have it. No use in spending any more money. Then again, I was not able to ressurect my Optima years ago with a variable charger that was a pretty good piece.

Still, check out what you can on this thing. I am RARELY as impressed with anything -- even whole Porsches -- as I was with this thing. If I remember everything:

-You cannot hook it up incorrectly -- it will show an error light
-You can't short circuit the thing with water -- even a full-tilt garden hose -- while it's charging
-You cannot overcharge a battery, period.
-You can drive over the flippin' case and not damage it
-Porsche, Mercedes, Ferrari, and Aston Martin have all come after the company to get their own versions for customers as an OEM product

And there's probably some other features I am forgetting. It's kinda the coolest battery related product I've seen since the Optima blew me away in 1992.

[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.

[vesnyder]

Brought the Optima into a battery dealer and they were able to charge it up using a commercial charger - my decent Sears Die Hard charger did not have enough juice to charge it - it found a dead battery (which it sensed as no batery) and would just go into sleep mode?? I shoudl be OK assuming I figure out what drained it in the first place!

Thanks for your help!

PS: For those of you who are fans of the "Battery Tender", eBay has them for a great price ...
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAP...TRK%3AMEWA%3AIT