Hello, I'm currently on my second Optima brand battery, these are a little pricey, and are supposed to be a real good batt. however right now I tested the Batt. yesterday at 11.80 volts and put a charger on at 15 amps for an hr. then to 2 amps over night. tested the Batt. this morning and only had 11.86 volts. I pulled the alternator and had it tested, it was working just fine. approx. 14.45 volts, the batt. is located in the trunk, and I used 0 guage wire for the entire system front to back, and installed a 6 guage wire from the one wire alt. to the battery, for direct charging. I load tested the battery, and it was at just under 10, real close to the red zone, does anyone have any experince with these batteries? as mine has not been that good, this batt. is just over one year old and I'm affraid it may be a goner as well. any help, suggestions,or thoughts on this is appreciated. Bruce
charging system bruce, the first thing i would do is check for a short that might be draining the battery. get a 12volt test light, unhook the negative battery cable, place the clip of the test light on the negative cable, place the other end of the test light on the negative battery post. if the test light lites up then you have a short somewhere.which car are you having the problem on? also make sure your battery cables are clean on both ends to eliminate any voltage drop. hope this helps!
I know that you can get bad pieces from just about anybody, but I have yet to have one with an Optima. Are you using the small 670 cca guy or the larger 800 cca? Between my dad and I we have 7 Optimas and just had our first failure this spring. The date punch on the battery was #1 but not 2001, 1991. Yes, the battery was that old and it finally puked. The one in my Riv is 6 years old now and no problems what-so-ever. Just some food for thought here, that's all. Good luck. -----------Mark D.
Hey Bruce, My first optima lasted me just over 4 years. It died from me draining it leaving the door open . It was never the same after that. I just got a new one from Costco they stock them now for 99.00 bucks. The optima should have a 36 month FREE replacment. I'd take it to an authorized dealer and get a new one. Your's doesn't sound like it's right.
thanks guy's, Yes I also did the battery test as you described, no drain on the system, I should have mentioned that I have dual electric fans that pull about 19 amps, and a Mezierre electric water pump that I leave on for approx. five minutes in the pits after a pass down the ol' 1320'. could this be draining the batt. to quickly? in Morocco last weekend I had to jump the car, three different times. After that I pulled out the Generator and put the Battery charger on the car after every pass and it was fine, this dilema is on the 71 GS, I just looked at the batt. a few minutes ago and was still at 11.85 volts, it does not seem to take on any more of a charge, what should the "full charge be"? What is the lowest voltage that the car will run properly at? I also am running a Mallory hifire 1V system. puzzled in Ohio? Bruce
Bruce, I have one of the big optimas in my 64'. Saw your post and just walked out and checked it.....13.2 on my handheld tester and its been sitting a couple weeks now. Not sure what the deal is with yours but sounds like your due for a free replacement. Mine is almost 5 years old now and I still turn the alt.(the gauge shows about 30 amps if it starts to get low, and I head for a charger).And I have a elec. fan and a moroso elec. water pump kit that I turn over in the pits for a few minutes also. Not sure, but I am seeing a bad battery here in your case. Never had any bad luck myself with them, but ya never know. Good Luck. later.....................
if you were to totally unhook the battery from your car and charge it over night and the static voltage still sucks ..... it would be obvious that you have a bad battery.
Bruce, I have, I suspect, the same Optima battery as you. Mine only takes the same charge. Not quite 12 volts. My battery charger (Schumacher) doesn't like this battery either. If left in automatic charge mode the charger says I have a bad battery and won't charge it. Pretty wierd. Anyway I switch the charger to manual mode and charge at the 2 amp rate - charger seems to overheat at 12 amps and blows its breaker. These batteries seem to be a different animal. Don't know if good or bad.
Bruce, If a good one gives 13.2 volts and you are only seeing 10.8 you have a dead cell. 2.2 volts times 6 is 13.2, 2.2 volts times 5 is 11 volts. Time for a freebie from Optima.
Dave, You prolly have a little surface charge built up on your battery.. a fully charged 12 V battery is 12.8 volts.. Bruce.. Here is what I want you to do... Three minute charge test. Charge the battery at the 20 Amp setting on your charger, for 3 minutes.. monitor the voltage with a digital volt meter. At the end of 3 minutes, the voltage cannot exceed 15V. You should see the battery go to around 12.8- 13.5 volts, taking 20 Amps, and it should just sit there. If it does that, then the battery is just fine. Give it a good charge. We have a brand new 800 amp Optima in George's tube car, and it did take a while on the charger to get it up to snuff. And you will have to charge between rounds.. even if you alt is work fine, it simply does not run long enough in a race car, to replenish the battery, considering all the loads placed on it, with electric fans and water pumps in the pits.. You will also find that your car runs quicker, and much more conistantly, with a fully charged battery every time. Welcome to drag racing, at the level your at now.. it's not a "minimum labor" deal anymore.. JW
Ok Jim, I believe ya cause I just don't know,lol. I have no idea what it would read with the cables hooked up, I took them off when I parked it(never know about the kids,lol). Maybe if I had them hooked and a little draw that would make the 12.8, but there again, no idea. Just checked it again and it's 13.2, but all I have is one of those little hand held tester things. Not a real nice one by any means, just a little cheapy for personal use. later.........................
Its also very important to charge the battery when done, i.e., do not leave a battery in any kind of discharged state for any period of time. This alone will kill a battery I've been running the same RED Optima in my GS for 5 years now....never a problem. Also had one in another car which got front-ended. Couldn't open the hood to disconnect the battery. It sat for 17 months that way until I got motivated. It started the car Right Up !!!! That alone Impressed me
Testing Hey JW, I did the test as you suggested, however I only had a 15 amp charger, the battery was at 11.8 volts before I started, then put the charger on and it went up to 13.96 after approx thirty seconds it dropped right down to 12.8 then stedily dropped off to 11.95 at the three minute mark. what do ya make of that? I called the company direct and told them the scenerio, and the testing I have done, they told me their is prolly something wrong internally, they did however say that it is still under full FREE replacement warranty. so it looks like I'm off to Summit Racing equip. in the next couple days, only trouble with going their is you allways ending up buying more stuff than you went there for! Optima did say the battery fully charged should sit at 12.8 v I like dealing with quality Co.s that stand up for there products, I think I may have Just found another one. Bruce
Yep Bruce, I would replace that battery. Love that 3 year free replacement on those things, and then 3 years pro-rated.. JW
Here's a wierd one I never figured out. I had an optima, and it would work fine until you popped the hood (hood light on), or put it on accessory to play the radio for even a half-hour. Then it wouldn't even crank the engine. But, under normal circumstances you could crank the engine quite a bit and it would be just fine. Load testing said it was OK too(barely) o No:
I put an optima in my 37 ,and had trouble almost at once! I switched with my GS and the GS had trouble. I took the Optima back to the dealer and he told me they had never had a bad one. He hooked it to his checker, and started to show me that there was nothing wrong, when the battery went stone cold DEAD he decided that "Maybe it was the battery" !! The next one I got has been in the 37 for almost three years and is working fine. :beer :beer
battery drain I've heard that some optima batteries are bad from delivery,My cousin had a bad one in his honda.I work for car dealers and every dealer Ive worked for there has to at least be one bad battery when new cars are dropped off of the truck once a year,maybe even more. If they test it and it passes when you try to return it,just drain the hell out of it and have them reest it.They'll take it back.:Brow:
