Optima batteries, 4/10/18...battery status update

[yellowK20]

Ok well I got a GREAT optima story for you, I Bought a truck from an insurance auction ( see my build thread) It had been stolen and the interior burned 4 months ago. The headlights were left on by the thieves and it was left that way until I took delivery of the truck . These were "new" Optima Red Tops purchased with in the last 8 months from Sam's club.

While I was working on the truck I found the headlights to be on, figuring the batteries were toast I went and bought 2 Exide orbitals from Napa. But then I remembered this thread and how Optima Jim said that most of there warranty batteries can be brought back with the proper charging technique .

So I broke out my Fluke meter and measured the Voltage at 2.3 and 2.2 volts.......... I figured they were toast surely no battery could come back from being that discharged for that long in FREEZING temps .

But I figured hey why not what have I got to loose. so I hooked them up one at a time to my Schumacher charger in parralell with known good Exide orbital and began the charging process I checked the battery every 20-30 mins and to my surprise it began to take a charge!! I followed the procedures I had found online and with in 5 hours the battery was back at 100% according to my charger and was reading 12.62 volts . I repeated the process with its twin and it recovered fully in about 6 hours and came off the charger at 12.58 volts .

I was skeptical though to see if they would actually hold there charge so I left them unhooked over night and came back in the morning to see there voltages the first battery was at 12.57 and the second was 12.55 I reinstalled both batteries in the truck with cables connected while I continued to remove and clean the the interior. after 3 days I tested the batteries again and found no voltage drop from what I had recorded . with my work complete I decided to test fire the engine the optima batteries cycled the glow plugs and fired the 6.5 diesel up like they were brand new off the shelf.

Since then the truck has remained outside, Unplugged in zero and subzero weather and has never faulted to start immediately . I have not measured key off load but there is a aftremarket stereo and a new Alarm/Auto start installed on the truck . along with a cell phone charger that is always plugged in to the Cigar lighter.



Needless to say I'm pretty happy with my new Optimas I kept the Exide orbitals but they are on the shelf awaiting another project.

Here it is, FYI these batteries are still going strong. and they are "new" optimas purchased at sams club

 

[63chevyll]

Well I thought I was off to a good start. Followed the optima charging step #3.

Was getting excited because after an hour the battery wasn't getting warm and had about 12 volts. So I disconnected the other good battery, and continued to charge for 6 hours at 10 amps. Read 12.5 volts so I put it in a car and nothing.

Seems like the battery isn't holding any amps.

I'm going to try again, in parallel, then by itself at 10amps for 24 hours. If it don't come back then ok going to have a funeral.

 

[63chevyll]

Also, does an AGM battery get load tested like a standard lead acid battery. Like with an old vat40

 

[ryoken]

carbon pile tester

 

[nsxxtreme]

Well I thought I was off to a good start. Followed the optima charging step #3.

Was getting excited because after an hour the battery wasn't getting warm and had about 12 volts. So I disconnected the other good battery, and continued to charge for 6 hours at 10 amps. Read 12.5 volts so I put it in a car and nothing.

Seems like the battery isn't holding any amps.

I'm going to try again, in parallel, then by itself at 10amps for 24 hours. If it don't come back then ok going to have a funeral.

With a dead battery patience is key. Its not going to charge up as fast as a normal battery. I would leave it connected for 48 hours.

 

[magik235]

I am a fan of Optima batteries. I currently have 3 red tops in separate vehicles, 2 blue tops operating in a boat and a yellow top in my Jimmy.

I added a yellow top to my RV as a house battery earlier this year and today I added another yellow top as the chassis battery.

 

[eagle mark]

Bought an Optima in 2005, used it in three vehicles with winches, totally dead from sitting in off roader stored at least 10 times, still going strong today..

 

[76zimmer]

I need to do a voltage check on my two...both have had no issues starting the Maiden (Yellow top 5/10) which has been sitting for weeks at a time (with a power cutoff switch) and the DD 99 with the redtop (3/10).

 

[eagle mark]

I can tell you guys that a dead or low Optima battery will not properly charge with a standard battery charger. We tried and it said it was charged, then put it on a charger designed for deep cycle/gel and it took another couple hours.

If you don't have a specialty charger then the lowest setting for a long time. Auto trickle charger works good too. Just not fast charges ever...

 

[yellowK20]

I'll bump this thread, I brought home some dead red tops from my work up at the mine. one read 1.5 volts the other, 1.8 volts i threw them under my bench in october and figured I'd mess with them later. last night I was drinking beer in the garage and seen them laying there so I decided i'd try to charge them them and if they came back I'd replace the lead acids in my plow truck, I hooked up one last night and this morning it had fully recovered to 12.8 volts . I just put its twin on the charger so we will see in a few hours how its doing .

a little more back story, these batteries were in a D8H up in the mountains above the Arctic Circle that had the master left on , in late summer of 2011 so they discharged and were subject to temps of -70 below last winter,

 

[ryoken]

just cuz they go to 12, doesn't mean they are good... gotta carbon-pile load test em to make sure...

that's the thing about a "cranking" battery, they do not like a full discharge, sometimes you can bring em back, but it's not a given like a deep cycle...

 

[nvrenuf]

just cuz they go to 12, doesn't mean they are good...

Troof!

I bought a red top for my k5 2 yrs ago and (for those that have read my build, you'll know) it sat in my shop practically unused. It was discharged to 8.5v last month when I wanted to crank the new motor so I had Oreilly's charge it on their compatible charger. They got it up to 12.8 and it tested bad, I now have an Interstate.

 

[76zimmer]

Gus, I believe Jim has more info on bringing dead redtops back as well.

 

[yellowK20]

just cuz they go to 12, doesn't mean they are good... gotta carbon-pile load test em to make sure...

that's the thing about a "cranking" battery, they do not like a full discharge, sometimes you can bring em back, but it's not a given like a deep cycle...

I'm aware of this, I have brought a handful of "dead" optimas back to life I haven't used my tester yet I let them sit for a few hours after charging to let the voltage stabilize and the battery to cool.


here is the main thing , a lead acid would be ruined with no hope of being brought back because they would have froze and busted in the same situation.

so even if they don't come back they still have out performed the cheapo wal-mart batteries everyone in this thread is sayig is just as good.


I wouldn't mine trying some of those batteries you posted up, but for the price and physical size I will stick to optimas. especially when they are free

 

[yellowK20]

Troof!

I bought a red top for my k5 2 yrs ago and (for those that have read my build, you'll know) it sat in my shop practically unused. It was discharged to 8.5v last month when I wanted to crank the new motor so I had Oreilly's charge it on their compatible charger. They got it up to 12.8 and it tested bad, I now have an Interstate.

They didn't charge it right, if you discharge them below 11 volts you need to charge them in a parallel with a known good battery

 

[nvrenuf]

They didn't charge it right, if you discharge them below 11 volts you need to charge them in a parallel with a known good battery

This is the process they used, using an off the shelf new battery paired with mine via jumper cables. It was on charge for 6 days.

 

[yellowK20]

This is the process they used, using an off the shelf new battery paired with mine via jumper cables. It was on charge for 6 days.

then it must have had something else wrong with it. so far we have only had one optima we have tried that would not take a charge but it was an older yellow top

 

[nvrenuf]

I don't know... I traded it as a core so maybe one of the Interstate warehouse emplyees is using it now.

 

[yellowK20]

Ok so the battery that charged last night tested good, The other battery is still on the charger and shows 85% charge rate so I will let it go over night and check in the morning

 

[76zimmer]

how many amps are you charging with, and how warm do they get charging that long Gus?