Is this battery toast?

[Anonymous_User]

My old truck has been getting harder to start the colder it gets so yesterday I decided to ditch the little unknown battery and put my Red Top in it from my old Ford.

Now, my Old Ford has been sitting for 24 months untouched. It has a battery disconnect switch, so the Optima has been sitting, basically disconnected for 2 years.

As expected, when I put the Redtop in my truck, it wouldn't start. I jumped the truck and let it idle for 1/2 an hour. After that, I shut it off and the truck started, albeit slowly.

I then drove home about 4 miles down the highway. I then shut the truck off and tried to restart. It turned over fast and started right away.

10 hours later I was leaving for work. The outside temperature was 17F. I jumped in the truck and it barely turned over with no chance of starting.

I don't have one of those battery load test thingy's so about all I can do is slap the charger (battery, not shelby) on the battery for a few hours.

Any chance I can bring this Optima back to life or is it pretty much toast?

[black86glhs]

I would say slow charge it for 6-8 hours minumum. It doesn't sound like it is dead, just undercharged from sitting.

[Tony Hanna]

I agree with Bryan. Do a slow charge. Carry a spare battery for a few days just in case so it doesn't leave you stranded. I'd be surprised if it doesn't bounce back ok. I've used an Optima red top that had a cell burned half way through from laying against a header tube. Plugged the hole with long strand fiberglass body filler. The battery worked great. I've got another one that's gone completely dead a couple times from sitting on an unused vehicle. It's at least 5 years old. John has it on his truck right now and it's still handling cold weather daily driver duty just fine. They're pretty resilient as batteries go.

[shelbydave]

I asked about the Optima batteries at the parts store when I was in to get one for my Intrepid. I told him it would be going into a 3rd car that wouldn't be driven on a daily basis. He told me that the Optimas don't like to sit for extended periods of time as the lose charge, and recommended a regular Lead Acid for that type of use.

For future reference: :)

Battery-
http://www.optimabatteries.com/_media/images/optima_products/red.gif

Toast -
http://festivals.iloveindia.com/images/french-toast.jpg

[Anonymous_User]

Well, got the jumper cables on it right now. Gotta get it fired up so I can pull it up to the shed and put the charger on it. *keeps fingers crossed*



Otherwise, the old battery goes back in and I bought a new battery for my daughters POS that never did run. Maybe I'll double them up.


For future reference:

Battery-


Toast -


Damn, now I'm hungry.

[Anonymous_User]

20 minutes on the cables and still no start. Yanked the optima out and put the old battery back in. Truck with old battery on charger now. Will put Optima on a trickle for 10-12 hours and see what happens. :(

[thefitisgay]

my neighbor gave me a red top cuz he left it sit till it went dead and just didnt wanna mess with it so i left it sit for like idk a year? on my garage floor... then i trickle charged it for a looong time... and it took a charge as far as voltage goes... i cant say for sure if it wants to give that charge... or even give up some amperes but it did take a charge...

[turbovanman²]

You can't use a cars charging system to charge up a dead battery, you just end up killing the alternator.

I also found Optima's don't like to sit, I had my van sit for 5-6 months last year and it was done, got a new one under warranty, :clap: :thumb:

[Tony Hanna]

That's odd. I must have just ended up with extraordinarily good ones.

On the old battery, assuming it's a regular flooded lead acid and not AGM or maintenance free, pop the cell caps off and be sure it's not low on electrolyte. If it is, add distilled water to bring the levels back up. I've seen a lot of batteries written of as bad when they just needed some water added.

[Anonymous_User]

That's odd. I must have just ended up with extraordinarily good ones.

On the old battery, assuming it's a regular flooded lead acid and not AGM or maintenance free, pop the cell caps off and be sure it's not low on electrolyte. If it is, add distilled water to bring the levels back up. I've seen a lot of batteries written of as bad when they just needed some water added.

It's not that the old battery is bad, I'm sure it would work great on a 4cyl. It's just undersized for a V8 in cold weather.



Had the Optima on trickle for 10 hours today. Unplugged when I came to work. Will check voltage in the morning. . . if I can find my DMM.


You can't use a cars charging system to charge up a dead battery, you just end up killing the alternator.

Do you know how many times I've left my lights on until the battery was D.E.A.D. in any myriad of vehicles? Simply jump starting and allowing the alt. to charge the battery up has always worked.

[butchsuppe]

Using old batteries is just gambling, no matter what brand.:nod:

[mboyek]

20 minutes on the cables and still no start. Yanked the optima out and put the old battery back in. Truck with old battery on charger now. Will put Optima on a trickle for 10-12 hours and see what happens. :(

Optima battery will not take a charge properly from a normal charger, the trickle charger is the only way to re-charge them.

A "trick" from a optima rep: after the battery has been at room temp for a while (do you have it in your garage/basement on the charger?) hold it about 2-3 feet off the ground and drop it on a hard level surface. Drop it level so it lands flat and then put it back on the trickle charger over night. Apparently it knocks off some type of scaling or corrosion. I don't know, but it did bring back a yellow top to life for me.

And they don't like to sit, as was mentioned!

[Tony Hanna]

Optima battery will not take a charge properly from a normal charger, the trickle charger is the only way to re-charge them.

A "trick" from a optima rep: after the battery has been at room temp for a while (do you have it in your garage/basement on the charger?) hold it about 2-3 feet off the ground and drop it on a hard level surface. Drop it level so it lands flat and then put it back on the trickle charger over night. Apparently it knocks off some type of scaling or corrosion. I don't know, but it did bring back a yellow top to life for me.

And they don't like to sit, as was mentioned!

I've heard of that trick for FLA batteries too. Knocks the sulfation off the plates. You can do that electrically with a pulse charger too.:thumb:

[thefitisgay]

the cases dont crack?

now whats a hard surface a board or concrete? lol

[mboyek]

the cases dont crack?

now whats a hard surface a board or concrete? lol

I have dropped them repeatedly on a concrete floor. I'm sure if you dropped it on a corner it might crack, but you try to make it land flat.