I have a Optima Battery Red Top in a car I don't drive much. Optima says never to let the voltage drop below 12.4 volts. Optima says only to use a charger with a AGM setting. I have two chargers. A reliable old Schaumacher 2/10/50 Battery Charger with trickle, battery, and starter settings. The other is a DIE HARD battery charger maintainer with 2 amp slow charge for 12 volt, or 4 amp slow charge for 6 volt. The battery maintainer has float-load monitoring. Optima says its okay but not preferred to use a 1 amp max, 13.2 - 13.8v for float charging. Can I use one of the chargers I have safely without hurting the battery? Or must I get a third charger that has a AGM setting?
Best to get another battery ! ! There's some BS around the internet and supposedly on optimas sight that you can use a intermediary battery. Hook your optima to the regular lead acid battery then your regular charger to the lead battery. That's by no means complete, look for it and you will find that theory.
ive had a optima battery for 5 yrs now and its sat for long periods of time and run down. charged it up with a standard charger. ive never had any problems with it.
Here's how to do it: http://www.hotrod.com/techarticles/general/hrdp_1009_how_to_charge_a_agm_battery/viewall.html I've had good luck using a CTEK charger bringing back Optimas that are pretty well discharged.
My advice is to use the money that you would spend on a charger to buy a non-Optima battery. I didn't have any luck with them and the parts store that I bought it from, quit handling them because of warranty problems. They said they had way more problems with Optima than any battery they have ever sold. Optima required special battery chargers and denied a lot of claims.
Rick, I printed the HOT ROD article. Good info. The Optima has been an excellent battery for the past two years. I was concerned about not driving the car much. Visited your album. Very nice Healy. I've owned/enjoyed a '61 3000 and a 100-6. Also had a '64 XKE 2-seat coupe with a sbf 302 and C4.
I've been selling Optimas for years. You can use a standard charger but you need to hit it with 40 amps, just keep an eye on it if it gets really hot to the touch then it has a bed cell. once you get it up to 100% get yourself a battery tender. Last optima I had in my race car was 7 years old when it failed.
We've run them in our race cars for years. We never use anything but the old style Schumaker style charger set on 2 amps. Leave it overnight and it's never caused a problem. They sit all winter without being touched. We do it every week between races. We got 8 years out of our first one. 2nd one is still going and just put one in our new car. Don't worry so much. JMO, SPark
I've got an Optima Yellow Top battery thats about 9 years old now. I've always charged it with a Schumacher "Ship & Shore" 10 ampere charger designed for deep cycle/marine batteries. Used it primarily for a 12V cooler for camping trips, but for the last year or so, its been installed in my 1948 Plymouth Street Rod. Its still going strong and shows no sign of weakening. (Oh, I know...that's a long time for a battery to last, but so far, so good.)
Use either 2 amp charger overnight. What is important is the charging current stay below 5 amps, and the voltage stay below 17v Your tax dollars paid for the following testing. They managed to extend the life of an Optima battery by about 2x http://www.nrel.gov/vehiclesandfuels/energystorage/pdfs/evs17pres.pdf Optima & Kinetik batteries actually need a higher charging voltage for best service life. B.
There are valid technical reasons why a special charger is recommended for Optima-type batteries. But in the real world, in your car, the battery gets charged by a "regular" charging system intended for "regular" batteries. This appears to be a case where deviating from the ideal isn't the end of the world.
Bingo. My Son has an Optima in his T bucket and also his Vette and only charges them with a regular charger and has had zero problems. The main thing about agm batteries is that they don't like over 13.8 volts, so if you keep it below that you will be fine. Don
You can charge with any charger,A smart charger is better if you want to leave it on.Just dont go over 10 amps on any amg,mantenance free battery.
Test data in the link I posted indicates charging over 14.8 actually extends the life of Optima batteries. B.
Ive got three yellow tops and 3 Battery tender "minis" they put out 3/4 of a amp and go into float/maintain after charging..they work great. Says right in the literature that they are fine for agm Batts.
I have an Optima and a CTEK...swear by both of them. I do have a computer controlled AGM charger as well but it will not start charging a battery that has been severely discharged. In that case I have to put another battery in parallel with the dead one so that the control circuitry in the charger can detect that a battery is in fact connected. This "feature" applies to wet batteries as well as AGMs.
I have over 5 years on my red top... When it does not get much use I use a Harbor Frieght float battery charger to keep it charged... Get it on sale for $6... I have never had any issue doing it this way...
On my last deployment my wife let my DD die which has a red top. It sat dead for around 4 month's. When I got back I used the same method hooking up a good battery to the Optima and used a 2/10/50 charger and brought it back to life. It took a little while but its still going strong.
You guys are right, I stand corrected. I should have said GEL batteries don't like more than 13.8, but the Optimas are AGM and do like a higher charge rate. Don
I recently took an Optima battery that has set, dead, for 5 years, hooked a lead acid battery to it, and succesfully brought it back up to full charge. It would not take a charge by itself.
I use an Odyssey battery along with a trickle charger as the car sits during the week and only gets driven on weekend. Hasn't let me down at all.
Regular chargers work just fine. But if you do let it get to far down another battery will help get it charging again.
Sears sell chargers specifically for AGM (Optima) batteries. Optima now sells a battery charger too. AGM's do require special charging methods if the voltage is below ~12.4 volts. Talked to the Optima reps at Goodguys Pleasanton last month and they said keeping a maintainer on an Optima is OK and recommended but I have seen some maintainers that say 'do not use with AGM batteries' - that is confusing!
I left the ignition on a coupke times and ran my Red Top completely flat. Not knowing any better I just hooked my standard charger and charged it. I believe its about 5 years old now. No problems at all.
10 year old optima, I trickle charge at 2 amps for a few hours every two years. I drive my chevelle once a month.
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