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of special ways they need to be re-charged to be brought back to life....... [ http://www.hotrod.com/how-to/interior-electrical/hrdp-1210-optima-battery-charger-brings-em-back-alive/ ] [ http://www.optimabatteries.com/en-us/support/faqs ] How do I charge a deeply discharged battery? If an OPTIMA battery is deeply discharged (below 10.5 volts), most basic chargers will not supply a charge. Also keep in mind that an OPTIMA battery will not recharge properly if treated as a regular flooded or gel battery. To charge the battery, you can wire a second fully charged automotive battery (12+volts) to the discharged AGM in parallel (+ to + and – to –). Then hook up the charger to the deeply discharged battery, setting the charger at 10 parallel_charging_illustration_edit.gifamps. Leave for two hours, monitoring frequently. During this process, if the discharged battery gets very hot or if it is venting (hissing sound from vents), then stop this process immediately. When the discharged battery reaches 10.5 volts or more, remove the standard battery and continue charging the AGM until fully charged. For normal charging, a relatively low current, such as one or two amps, can work well, but when the battery has been deeply discharged, some sulfation of the battery plates may have occurred. If you charge at 10 amps, the higher current will help to break up this sulfation. If you have an automatic charger, let it run until the charger indicates charging is complete. If you have a manual charger, you can get a rough estimate of the charging time in hours of a completely discharged battery (11.2 volts) by multiplying the capacity (amp hours or Ah) of the battery by 1.2. If your battery is not completely discharged, the time would be less. In most cases these steps will recover an AGM battery. It’s OK for the AGM battery to get slightly warm during the charging process. If it’s hot to the touch, it means there’s a short and the process should be discontinued. Why is my battery dead? (troubleshooting battery/electrical issues)
Fully charged, engine not running, starting batteries (all REDTOP® or BLUETOP® 34M) should measure about 12.6 volts to 12.8 volts. Deep-cycle batteries (all YELLOWTOP® and dual-purpose BLUETOP®) should measure approximately 12.8 volts and 13.0 volts. Voltage measurements of the battery when the engine is running are the output of your alternator. This measurement should be about 13.3-15.0 volts, which may differ due to temperature. At average operating temperatures of 50° to 80°F, your alternator output voltage should be about 14 volts to 14.8 volts. If you don’t have a multimeter, you can test the output of your alternator by starting the car and turning on the headlights. If they are dim, it indicates the lights are running off the battery and that little or no power is being produced by the alternator. If the lights get brighter as you rev the engine, it means the alternator is producing some current, but may not be producing enough at idle to keep the battery properly charged. If the lights have normal brightness and don't change intensity as the engine is revved, your charging system is probably functioning normally. If this checks out, you should determine whether or not the battery is holding a charge, or if something on the vehicle is discharging the battery. There are three likely scenarios to explain the problems you're having:
A high parasitic draw (key-off load).This can quickly discharge a battery and decrease its service life. This may be caused by a trunk light, cigarette lighter, clock/radio, alarm system or any other electrical device. Current drain on the battery can be checked with an ammeter. With the ignition off, disconnect one of the battery cables. Connect one ammeter lead to the battery and the other to the cable. The normal current drain on most vehicles should be about 25 milliamps or less. If the key-off drain exceeds 100 milliamps, there's an electrical problem that requires further diagnosis. If you don’t want to take your car to a mechanic, the easiest way to isolate the problem is to pull one fuse at a time from the fuse panel until the ammeter reading drops.
A problem with your battery is causing it to not hold a charge. To check this, remove the battery from the vehicle, charge it to the full voltage, wait 12 to 24 hours then measure its voltage. Another faster, but less preferable way to do this is to turn on the high-beam headlights for 15 seconds, turn them off, wait 5 to 10 minutes, then check the voltage. If you measure the voltage of the battery the next day, week or even a month later, the voltage should be close to the max voltages listed above. If the voltage holds when not installed in your vehicle but drops when it is in your vehicle, see #1 above.
The battery was somehow discharged, and your maintenance charger is not able to properly charge your deeply discharged battery. Please see the directions for charging a deeply discharged battery.
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22:38:14 03/21/15
