Any car battery gurus in the house?

Went to pick up kid at school in the lambo the other day... I was about 5 minutes early and it was hot so I popped the doors, turned the engine off and turned the key to "on" so the radiator fans, radio, and A/C were all running... When it was time to start the car nada.... Not a chance. So I jump out, call tripple A and endure the laughter of moms in minivans and hondas....

 

Starts right up with a jump... Get home and test it all:

 

 

Battery is an Optima Yellow top Deep Cycle about 5 or 6 years old.

 

 

Put it on the trickle charger all night.

 

Next morning pull the charger and test it, it has 12.5 volts...

 

Start car- Starts fine. Test at battery with engine on Im getting 13.5 at idle... Assume its giving me some more at higher RPMs. =Alternator/VR should be GTG.

 

Turn off engine. Still 12.5 or so...

 

Leave sitting overnight OFF charger- Next morning STILL 12.5. No passive current drain.

 

 

Turn key to ON, (engine off) turn radio on (A/C fans are humming but not compressor). 15 minutes later test again.= 9.0v. That bitch is DEAD. It SHOULDN'T DRAIN THAT FAST!!!!

 

Hook up trickle charger (this should take hours to charge from previous experience) 5 minutes later trickle charger is flashing green = 90% done - battery read 12.5 again....

 

 

So... Its draining really fast and recharging even faster... What do I have? Dead cell(s)?

Dear Lamborghinisti,

 

By your tests, it's holding the static charge of 12.5 volts. When you crank it up, it shows 13.5. This test shows that your alternator /regulator is working as it should...charging the battery.

 

When it ran after the jump, the alternator was working hard to keep the battery up. Even after you placed the trickle charger, the battery died pretty quickly. It could be a dead cell but at the 5-6 year mark, you are due for a replacement.

 

I thought the yellow top was a deep cycle marine battery? Basically for very intermittent use.

 

I have very good results with the Optima redtop in my Ferrari Testarossa, while Interstate seems to be the choice for Lamborghini. I have one in my Diablo VT Roadster. It's actually due for a change as we speak...lol 7 years and the cranking is just starting to turn at a ever so slightly lower pitch.

 

 

Shamile

Dead cell most likely

 

Dear Lamborghinisti,

 

By your tests, it's holding the static charge of 12.5 volts. When you crank it up, it shows 13.5. This test shows that your alternator /regulator is working as it should...charging the battery.

 

When it ran after the jump, the alternator was working hard to keep the battery up. Even after you placed the trickle charger, the battery died pretty quickly. It could be a dead cell but at the 5-6 year mark, you are due for a replacement.

 

I thought the yellow top was a deep cycle marine battery? Basically for very intermittent use.

 

I have very good results with the Optima redtop in my Ferrari Testarossa, while Interstate seems to be the choice for Lamborghini. I have one in my Diablo VT Roadster. It's actually due for a change as we speak...lol 7 years and the cranking is just starting to turn at a ever so slightly lower pitch.

 

 

Shamile

 

Thanks... Dead cell is what I suspected....

 

Blue is the Deep Cycle Marine- Yellow is the Starter/Deep cycle... I like the yellow because I have it on a charger ALL the TIME... And I often sit it at car shows with the doors open and interior lights on... And it ALWAYS starts for me...

 

I just looked up my records... Bought this battery on 9/30/06.0 So its just shy of 6 years old... Guess I cant complain about that.

Thanks... Dead cell is what I suspected....

 

Blue is the Deep Cycle Marine- Yellow is the Starter/Deep cycle... I like the yellow because I have it on a charger ALL the TIME... And I often sit it at car shows with the doors open and interior lights on... And it ALWAYS starts for me...

 

I just looked up my records... Bought this battery on 9/30/06.0 So its just shy of 6 years old... Guess I cant complain about that.

 

From my experience, once these high end batteries go dead just once it's no longer the same.

 

Something that happened to me once was one of the battery leads was rubbing against a metal part (I think the battery enclosure itself) and was draining the battery faster than normal. It was very subtle and not obvious.

 

I have the yellow top too after years of Stinger SP1700s (excellent batteries but cost so damn much). Almost two years, so far so good, and I have a high powered stereo which sometimes is used with the engine off for minutes at a time.

 

 

Sounds like your battery is toast. From my experiences, optimas today are not as good as years past. After a few failed on me I have given up on them.

 

Best luck I have had so far is with Deka flooded batteries. You'll have to find a local dealer but after talking to a few guys who run fleet operations its the only battery they will use.

Wow... Id almost forgotten what a complete pain in the ass it is to lift a heavy ass car battery out of the dead ass middle of a Countach.

My 6.0 still has original battery . Know I will need a replacement soon; looking at Deka and Interstate

Being an installation technician for car audio in my younger years I know a thing or two about batteries. The yellow cap optima is a deep cycle battery. Not a lead acid. Lead acid batteries, once discharged all the way, have half a life instanly. Yellow cap optima is made to go all the way dead and charge all the way back up countless times. They are kind of like a capacitor. Sadly you have a bad battery, but for all fairness the yellow cap optima is the best battery in the market hands down. In every test thrown at the damn things again and again against batteries 3 times the cost, they still come out ahead. I would recommend another yellow cap and keep the receipt for warranty issues.

 

 

Being an installation technician for car audio in my younger years I know a thing or two about batteries. The yellow cap optima is a deep cycle battery. Not a lead acid. Lead acid batteries, once discharged all the way, have half a life instanly. Yellow cap optima is made to go all the way dead and charge all the way back up countless times. They are kind of like a capacitor. Sadly you have a bad battery, but for all fairness the yellow cap optima is the best battery in the market hands down. In every test thrown at the damn things again and again against batteries 3 times the cost, they still come out ahead. I would recommend another yellow cap and keep the receipt for warranty issues.

 

 

Thats what I did.... I cant complain.... It had 6 years on it, and was on a CHARGER for every second of its life that it wasnt running on alternator...

Sorry for my 2 cents but I HATE Optimas. I know some people swear by them but I've gone through 3 of them (one was only 3 months old) in 3 years and they have always failed me at the worst times. I've switched to Sears 3 years ago and never had an issue.

Sorry for my 2 cents but I HATE Optimas. I know some people swear by them but I've gone through 3 of them (one was only 3 months old) in 3 years and they have always failed me at the worst times. I've switched to Sears 3 years ago and never had an issue.

Delete your post now before you are banned.

Sorry for my 2 cents but I HATE Optimas. I know some people swear by them but I've gone through 3 of them (one was only 3 months old) in 3 years and they have always failed me at the worst times. I've switched to Sears 3 years ago and never had an issue.

 

Second that. Had a Yellow top in my Esprit, wouldn't go even a week without driving or charging. Optima's require special chargers, a normal CTEK will not work on them. You need the $100+ model CTEK charger to work on them. They are also very heavy.

 

Bought a Walmart battery for the Esprit, never had an issue after that.

 

Just FYI, I would roll the windows down next time, you are asking for trouble leaving all the accessories running full blast with the car turned off, hopefully you learned you lesson, will save you further embarrasment.

Just FYI, I would roll the windows down next time, you are asking for trouble leaving all the accessories running full blast with the car turned off, hopefully you learned you lesson, will save you further embarrasment.

 

Not that I disagree with this

 

you are asking for trouble leaving all the accessories running full blast with the car turned off

 

However Rolling the window down on a Countach ain't going to do shit.

Turn the car off, leave the door up and sit on the door sill.

My last Yellow top went for nearly 7 years in the Esprit with nothing more than a $6 harbor Freight float charger (worked like a charm). Replaced it 12 months ago with a new Yellow top and the same $6 charger and all works great.

 

 

Second that. Had a Yellow top in my Esprit, wouldn't go even a week without driving or charging. Optima's require special chargers, a normal CTEK will not work on them. You need the $100+ model CTEK charger to work on them. They are also very heavy.

 

Bought a Walmart battery for the Esprit, never had an issue after that.

 

Just FYI, I would roll the windows down next time, you are asking for trouble leaving all the accessories running full blast with the car turned off, hopefully you learned you lesson, will save you further embarrasment.

 

Im wondering if the alternator might be the culprit? I know under hot weather, the alternator does not do well to keep charging up the battery...

I have had great luck w/Braille!

The yellow cap optima is a deep cycle battery. Not a lead acid.

 

Yellow cap is a lead acid battery, it's just constructed differently than regular starter batteries. They use thicker lead plates and space the plates farther apart so they're less likely to short a cell

 

Deep cycle batteries are meant for boats, forklifts, golf carts, or battery abusers (people who leave their headlights on). Basically, things that are deeply discharged before the user recharges. If you're not one of those, a regular starter battery is fine

 

Im wondering if the alternator might be the culprit? I know under hot weather, the alternator does not do well to keep charging up the battery...

No... It was the battery....

 

I charged it fully on the charger, turned on the radio and five minutes later it was under 11 volts.... Its not like I have 1000 Watts in the thing... Charged it back up to where it was showing twelve vots, but there was no conviction behind it.

 

Replaced battery, charged it, turned on the radio, ran radio for 30 minutes with no appreciable voltage loss.... Car fired right up.

Yellow cap is a lead acid battery, it's just constructed differently than regular starter batteries. They use thicker lead plates and space the plates farther apart so they're less likely to short a cell

 

Deep cycle batteries are meant for boats, forklifts, golf carts, or battery abusers (people who leave their headlights on). Basically, things that are deeply discharged before the user recharges. If you're not one of those, a regular starter battery is fine

 

Not sure about Optima, but I know Stinger is a hybrid deep cycle/high crank battery.

 

I know both are aimed primarily towards the car audio circuit which benefits from high current and the ability to play with the engine off.

Nothing but problems with the Optimas on my end - battery goes low once and then it's junk.... been using Diehard Platinum for years now, NO issues. (yes the platinum does cost close to $200 - but the product is unmatched)