Red Top Optima

[srd150 8]

I took my red top out an put in my yellow top( got it for 50 bucks). I thought maybe my red one was going bad. Buddy of mine put his meter on it. It showed 12.63v ( that was about 15 min after shut off). I took it out ( a day later) and measured again 12.63v. So, i wait one more day 12.63v . My buddy said that 12.63 was low for those ( should be around 13.3 according to him). what do you think? Is it going bad, should i wait a bit longer and see if it drops or just run it with the yellow top (parallel)? thanks

[Sir-Lancelot 216]

Put it on a charger and condition it.

Does not sound bad to me, just needs some TLC.

[Ohjay 116]

Sounds fine, give 'er a charge.

[Julian 641]

That's normal, my dekas run around there. Not many batteries run around 13v resting especially if it's an older battery.

[srd150 8]

That's normal, my dekas run around there. Not many batteries run around 13v resting especially if it's an older battery.

yeah its a couple years old. i bought the yellow so i could run with the red. i'll put in on charger with the trickle charger. til i get off in the morning ( 3rd shift). then i'll see where its at and hopefully by friday i can have two batts wired up. thanks!!!

[jonbearsmt 919]

what you need to do is two things,

1 charge it... then take the charger off... leave it for 24 hours, then come back and check the voltage..

2 after resting for 24 hours, and checking voltage.. you need to perform a load test...

vatozone can do this for you , or if you have a friend with a load charger.

resting voltage after sitting for 15 mins tells very little

[Sir-Lancelot 216]

Don't trickle charge it. Give it some amps Bro.

[jonbearsmt 919]

Don't trickle charge it. Give it some amps Bro.

the best way to bring a dead cell back to life is to trickle it for days...

if your going to charge a battery with high amps then you need to insure its on a timer,,....

and when charging a AGM or a gell cell is to use a digital charger that is made for such batteries.

they will charge at a 2 ,8 or 12 amp also chut off when charged fully, and they cycle for AGM and gell cells.

you can pick one up at walmart..for cheap.. or if you have lots of money powermaster sells one thats pretty fancy

[srd150 8]

Dads got on that starts high, then drops off then shuts off. Not digital but works great

[Robert 9]

Lance is correct there alot of AGM chargers out there that don't cost much. The one I have goes high into 15v for around 5 min to stimulate battery BUT it doesn't stay that high for longer than 4 minutes. I charge mine every other day just out of habit. Around 4 minutes it automatically drops charge into mid 13v range and doesn't take longer than 10 minutes. As soon as batteries are full the charger goes into a float charge mode around 13.2v.

Onto your resting voltage looks pretty good. If you charge it let it sit over night then check voltage to see if the voltage has dropped. That redtop sitting pretty good though IMO.

[srd150 8]

It's been on charge since about 6 pm yesterday. ( charger will kick off when its done), ill pull it off when I get off work. Test it ( for a base), then test it again tomorrow morning. Thanks for all the help.