quick shoot it in the head!!!
CK5
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Optima batteries, 4/10/18...battery status update
- Thread starter 76zimmer
- Start date
My Optimas are still going strong , Patty fired the truck up after 5 weeks of sitting today and it started the truck no problem.
Sure enough get in the nsx which sits on a battery tender year round and Optima is dead. This one lasted 4 years at least I guess. Just enough to be outside the 3 year replacement window doh!. It probably started the car maybe 5-6 times in that 4 years. Rough life for an Optima I guess. Oh well time to get an orbital for this car also.
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Ok, so here I am, again with issues. The battery in the suburban has gone dead 3 nights in a row.
I disconnected the negative battery cable and put the multimeter in between the leads.
The first photo is with all doors closed and the alarm on. It appears to be showing .06 milliamps.
The second one is just for information but it is with one door open. It seems to indicate 2.43 amps which seems correct.
I charged the battery up to 13.43 volts each day but it's dead the next morning. I'm charging it back up and will let it sit over night with nothing on it and see what I get.
This is very aggravating!!
I disconnected the negative battery cable and put the multimeter in between the leads.
The first photo is with all doors closed and the alarm on. It appears to be showing .06 milliamps.
The second one is just for information but it is with one door open. It seems to indicate 2.43 amps which seems correct.
I charged the battery up to 13.43 volts each day but it's dead the next morning. I'm charging it back up and will let it sit over night with nothing on it and see what I get.
This is very aggravating!!
That is actually 60mA not .06mA.
It might be a little decieving to you because your switch is on the mA setting. But in order to measure mA the red multimeter wire needs to be in the mA socket. Your wire is in the A socket so that reading is in amps.
Ah, thanks for that info!! I did try the mA socket but it didn't read at all.
But, should 60mA be killing my battery in a night?
If it didn't read in the mA socket then you probably blew the fuse in your multimeter. Each of those amp settings have a fuse in them to protect the multimeter. If you measure more current then they are rated for you will pop the fuse.Ah, thanks for that info!! I did try the mA socket but it didn't read at all.
But, should 60mA be killing my battery in a night?
Yes 60mA is a lot should be around 10-12mA. Personally I think 2mA is to much for an Optima.
In my experience Optima batteries don't like to sit for any period of time with any kind of draw on them. The situation you're in now is, even if you find the draw and get that reduced it's to late. That Optima is probably toast and its "reserve" capacity is severly reduced. That is the trick with those Optima's. People will charge them up and think they are fine and I suspect that is what occurs on the majority of postive experiences. But if you actually measured the reserve capacity they are toast. When I finally removed the Optima from my Range Rover it measure 12.7V good battery right? Nope reserve was 34A. I'm basically in the same situation with my Optima I removed from my NSX. That one sat on a battery tender year round for 4 years. I wouldn't be able to start a lawn mower with the thing.
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cdoggwsu
1/2 ton status
http://powersource.optimabatteries.com/uncategorized/what-is-normal-for-a-parasitic-draw/
Not sure if that's been posted already or not but it's good info. 60mA isn't all that out of the question - especially with a 2-way alarm.
Not sure if that's been posted already or not but it's good info. 60mA isn't all that out of the question - especially with a 2-way alarm.
Yup, just tested the fuse. It is blown.
Well, If 60 is too much I guess I'll start pulling fuses and see where the draw is.
Well, If 60 is too much I guess I'll start pulling fuses and see where the draw is.
For just a blazer with an alarm it's high. For an Optima again just to much. I agree it should be fine but that hasn't been my experience with Optima's.
You can disconnect the alarm and measure its standby current all by itself. That will give you and idea of how much current the truck is using. I'd be surprised if you alarm uses much more then 20mA in standby mode. The other thing will be your aftermarket radio. That will pull some power. Beyond that there isn't much in these trucks that should be consuming power.
Well, the radio is pulling 2mA so there is 4 more somewhere else.
The bigger deal here is the battery should not go dead on 60mA draw over 3 days of no use. That's bull****!
The bigger deal here is the battery should not go dead on 60mA draw over 3 days of no use. That's bull****!
cdoggwsu
1/2 ton status
2mA or 20mA? Are you doing keyless entry/remote start as well? I can't remember the exact numbers now but years ago when I put a Python 680XP with the two-way key fob on my Integra I remember seeing a pretty big jump in the key-off draw. I was running a used yellow top at the time (~1.5 yrs old) and it lasted me another 6 years with that alarm setup on top of a decent sized stereo system (no cap so the battery was taking all the amp spikes) and whatever other little gadgets happened to be plugged in.
I don't have any long-term experience with red tops but 3 days does seem a little ridiculous considering the sitting-for-months/years cold crank stories we hear about.
Probably the single worst part in all this is I had a 2 year old diehard that was working fine in the suburban in it's current form. IE alarm, stereo system and all else. Figured I'd "upgrade" to $200 Optima battery. dumb, just dumb!
Ya I think that is the part a lot of people are missing. The reason your battery is going dead is the "reserve" of that battery is no longer anywhere near where it used to be. So you no longer can sustain a small current draw for any period of time. You can charge it up and it will start a car but letting it sit for any period of time will kill it. Your problems are exactly the same problems I had with my Range Rover after about 1.5-2 years with an optima.
And no 60mA is not unreasonable. I have the same problem with my NSX that sits on a battery tender I've replace 3 of those batteries over a period of 4 years.
Tim, I'm glad to see you were able to get your draw measurements straightened out, as your previous numbers sounded way too low for your application. If I recall from what you posted earlier in this thread, you indicated you recently received a warranty replacement of a Group D34/78 YellowTop, correct? Our Group D34/78 YellowTop has a capacity rating of 55 amps when fully-charged. A 60-milliamp draw means a vehicle is discharging that battery at a rate of 1.44 amps (.060 x 24 hours) per day. This means the battery will be dead (0% state of charge) in just over 38 days (55/1.44) without any charge going to the battery. These calculations assume the battery is fully-charged when it is parked (most are not) and does not take into consideration climate, which can shorten (heat) or lengthen (moderate temps) these timeframes.
As Chris pointed out, when I measured the draw on my Excursion, it also measured 60 milliamps. However, Ford felt it was a good idea to install dual batteries in their diesel Excursions, so the combined capacity of my dual RedTops is 100 amps when fully-charged. Using those same calculations, it would take my truck more than two months to discharge my batteries. My truck also has more than 200,000 miles on it and gets driven nearly every day. My wiring is also entirely stock and the only non-factory electrical accessories I have are a GPS, cell phone charger and iTrip, which are all plugged in through cigarette lighters when needed.
It sounds as if you have been charging your YellowTop to 13.43 volts each day, so you're obviously fully-charging it. What has the voltage typically been when you find it discharged the following day? What happened when you fully-recharged your battery and left it disconnected from your vehicle?
Jim McIlvaine
eCare Manager, OPTIMA Batteries, Inc.
www.facebook.com/optimabatteries
As Chris pointed out, when I measured the draw on my Excursion, it also measured 60 milliamps. However, Ford felt it was a good idea to install dual batteries in their diesel Excursions, so the combined capacity of my dual RedTops is 100 amps when fully-charged. Using those same calculations, it would take my truck more than two months to discharge my batteries. My truck also has more than 200,000 miles on it and gets driven nearly every day. My wiring is also entirely stock and the only non-factory electrical accessories I have are a GPS, cell phone charger and iTrip, which are all plugged in through cigarette lighters when needed.
It sounds as if you have been charging your YellowTop to 13.43 volts each day, so you're obviously fully-charging it. What has the voltage typically been when you find it discharged the following day? What happened when you fully-recharged your battery and left it disconnected from your vehicle?
Jim McIlvaine
eCare Manager, OPTIMA Batteries, Inc.
www.facebook.com/optimabatteries
why is that optimas are the only battery that suffers from this tiny draw which is to blame for their batterys totally sucking fat nuts. one way to fix the tiny draw that kills your optima battery......buy a INTERSTATE
I have the same issue with my red top. POS goes dead in 2-3 days of not being used unless I disconnect it completely, which makes it last a week or two. 
My guess would be that there is something in the design that causes them to sulfate much quicker then standard batteries. I have no imperical evidence to support that claim. Just that, that is what I suspect happens and why people who let their cars sit experience the problem more then others.
Jim, I did get a replacement. This replacement is now doing the same thing as the old one in less then 6 months.
I do not know what the voltage was when dead and I've not done the charge and disconnect test yet.Yes, it seems I was reporting the numbers wrong but still, it was around 60 mA on the first go around with this.
At this point I'm pretty much done with optimas. I wont be buying any more of them. If 60 mA is going to destroy them in six months then I cant justify paying $200 for them. If the excuse is that I should have two batteries for 60 mA draw because Ford does then I call BS.
So it seems everyone is having good luck with interstate batteries?
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