Optima batteries?..
Cycle For Fun and Health
Joined: Jan 2013
Posts: 3,026
Likes: 499
From: Toledo
Ive had (red & yellow)top optimas for years, on several vehicles, *mostly* like them. I put a YT in my f150 2 years ago, last fall it went dead, 11V, all of a sudden. AdvanceAuto prorated a replacement - this time with a Redtop. The redtop has been fine, BUT, this past weekend for yux I put the charger on it and it was at 50% charge but still 12.4V. It charged right back up in 5 minutes, but I am wondering if this one is no going too. The next morning (~12 hours of sitting) it was back down to 60% 12.2V again. I know there are a lot of electronics always active, but that seems excessive. This may be a characteristic of this battery and the charger not accurately measuring it. I was on a business trip a few weeks back, truck sat for a week and had no issues starting.
I use a smart charger and also battery tender for my batteries that are not used frequently. It seems like the battery tender does bring some "bad" batteries back to useful life. The tender will not charge a dead battery. You must first get the battery up to a certain voltage and then ust the tender.
A small battery tender for $20 to $30 seems like a good investment if you have vehicles or toys that are not used enough to maintain the batteries.