Question about my battery tender and optima

[sblake01]

So to further the poking .....

Optimajim , can you say that the above people / person using the bypass

trick and ''charging'' batteries this way with a .75 amp unit is a good / proper

way of doing business , or are you simply an Optima salesman seeing an

opportunity to '' slightly advise , advertise , and leave " ?

Here's a chance to help a 21 year old ( and all of us ) make safe practices !

Hard to say but based on the fact that he has 3 posts in 5 months on one of the GTO sites I go to (one was to advertise an event sponsored by Optima) and 6 posts in 8 months (one advertising the same event) on another, and hasn't been back in over 3 months on either one, I'd lean toward the latter........ Edited July 28, 2010 by sblake01

[wa5ngp]

I've fooled around with lots of batteries in boats, rv's etc. On my RV it has a continous charger (like a tender I guess but more oomph if necessary) it charges to like to 13.2 and holds it there.

If I disconnect the charger in a few hours the battery voltage will drop to about 12.75 volts. If the battery is on its last legs it will show like 12.5v. However, the real way to find out is to l hook up a headlight for 30 minutes. If it runs down to less than 12 v then you know that battery is on its last legs.

For trickle charging on my boat I just picked up a wal wart that says 12vdc. Open circuit it may be 16V. Then I hook it to the boat and it will slowly bring up the voltage to like 14v. To keep it from going too high I put some diodes in series with the lead. Each diode drops it about .6V so you can customize it. The charging current is probably only about 200ma.

I've been using something similar on the Z as the 73 alternator doesn't charge it all the way up. Once I switch to my old rust bucket zx alternator I'll probably not need the trickle charger anymore.

Don

[Zed Head]

Zedyone already covered it...

Edited July 28, 2010 by Zed Head

[MikeW]

So to further the poking .....

Optimajim , can you say that the above people / person using the bypass

trick and ''charging'' batteries this way with a .75 amp unit is a good / proper

way of doing business , or are you simply an Optima salesman seeing an

opportunity to '' slightly advise , advertise , and leave " ?

I read the post as saying, sure, you can charge a battery at low amperage (not specifically "good" or "proper") it's just going to take a long time. If the clock draws 10 mA and will drain the battery in 3 months then it stands to reason that it would take at least 3 months to recharge the battery at 10 mA. While OptimaJim did not specifically answer the safety question I believe that the earlier speculation of doing damage by tricking the charger would in no way harm the battery and burn down your garage. It might damage the charger and burn down your garage but in that case we'd need a representative from the charger company to post. In the Optima tech videos they say they don't specifically endorse any particular brand of charger which is clearly the safe approach for any business.

I also think the advise posted about sulfation due to low voltage could well be the problem that started this thread.

I actually don't see OptimaJim's post as that of a salesman. It actually seems like an impressive case of customer service to me: joining a forum just to specifically answer questions that an existing customer posted. Admittedly good customer service does and should drive more sales and in this case I don't see that as a bad thing. If he joined the forum just to advertise some event I'd be the first person to be yelling about a spammer.

[Unkle]

I get that .

But , ''batteries'' are a different topic.

''Safely'' charging and maintaining a charge using cheap stuff made in China

is another , and ''hot'' to the touch transformer type units illustrates the need for real time advice

by a pro ( not me ) or someone really familiar with safe techniques .

The bull in a china shop methods reflect unsafe household methods , no?

Even offering constant RV charging at over 13v advice leads to boil over

at some point with wet cell ''no maintenance'' batteries , and again fire risk.

My take and 2 cents anyway !

[OptimaJim]

Hi Unkle, I’m not in sales, I serve more of a pro-active customer service role for Optima. We do have a toll-free number on every battery we make, a website and an e-mail address, where people can contact us if they have any questions or concerns about our products, but we’ve found that quite a few folks prefer to come to forums like this one to ask questions. Sometimes the answers and advice are great, sometimes they need some assistance.

Many modern chargers will charge a deeply-discharged battery, even if the voltage has dropped significantly. The parallel charging technique is not needed for those chargers, but many other chargers do have voltage thresholds that will prevent them from charging a deeply-discharged battery. If Optima didn’t feel the parallel charging technique was both safe and worthwhile, they wouldn’t have created a YouTube video to promote it. Hot Rod Magazine probably wouldn’t have written on a story on it in their September 2010 issue either. That’s not to say that care should not be taken whenever someone is dealing with batteries or electricity in general, so we do warn people that if the battery gets hot to the touch or starts to hiss or vent, charging should be discontinued immediately (wear safety glasses too).

MikeW, as you suggested, I cannot comment or speculate as to what might happen with someone’s charger, as that falls outside my specific role as a representative of Optima. At some point, perhaps all manufacturers will have a presence on Internet message boards. Until then, I can only recommend that people contact a specific company if they have questions or concerns about their products.

sblake01, if my purpose was to advertise for Optima, I would certainly post more often on all of the 300+ message boards where I am registered. The fact that I registered on this site last year, but didn’t post until Zedyone Kenobi started this thread should also speak to that effect.

The event you referenced, which we put on at Road America was a phenomenal opportunity for anyone to get track time on one of the premiere road courses in the world. For the $325 entry fee, all competitors received an Optima battery of their choice, several meals, shirts, duffel bags and all the track time their cars could handle. I only posted information on that event on a few sites that I thought might have some interest in it. I wish just one of the GTO guys would’ve participated (we did have one GTO participate, but it was owned by an Optima exec). A G8 owner named Andy Quaas did compete and ended up winning the Baer Brakes Speed/Stop Challenge, which basically covered his expenses for the weekend and then some. Several other competitors also won cash contingency awards and two were invited to SEMA and our year-end event at Spring Mountain.

If you can get more track time at Road America for less money, with no club membership requirement or other barriers to entry, please let me know. I’m at Road America most weekends anyway and I’m always looking for more opportunities to get out on the track.

I only have one set of eyes, but if I notice someone on one of the GTO boards that has a question or concern about their Optima, I’ll probably try to help them, just like I have in the past and just like I did here- no hidden agenda, just help. If you notice a thread where I can be of assistance, please don't hesitate to give me a heads-up.

If anyone has any other questions about our batteries, please don’t hesitate to ask. Zedyone kenobi, good luck with your battery and please keep me posted on your outcome. Thanks!

Jim McIlvaine

eCare Manager, OPTIMA Batteries, Inc.

www.facebook.com/optimabatteries

[sblake01]

sblake01, if my purpose was to advertise for Optima, I would certainly post more often on all of the 300+ message boards where I am registered. The fact that I registered on this site last year, but didn’t post until Zedyone Kenobi started this thread should also speak to that effect.

The event you referenced, which we put on at Road America was a phenomenal opportunity for anyone to get track time on one of the premiere road courses in the world. For the $325 entry fee, all competitors received an Optima battery of their choice, several meals, shirts, duffel bags and all the track time their cars could handle. I only posted information on that event on a few sites that I thought might have some interest in it. I wish just one of the GTO guys would’ve participated (we did have one GTO participate, but it was owned by an Optima exec). A G8 owner named Andy Quaas did compete and ended up winning the Baer Brakes Speed/Stop Challenge, which basically covered his expenses for the weekend and then some. Several other competitors also won cash contingency awards and two were invited to SEMA and our year-end event at Spring Mountain.

If you can get more track time at Road America for less money, with no club membership requirement or other barriers to entry, please let me know. I’m at Road America most weekends anyway and I’m always looking for more opportunities to get out on the track.

I only have one set of eyes, but if I notice someone on one of the GTO boards that has a question or concern about their Optima, I’ll probably try to help them, just like I have in the past and just like I did here- no hidden agenda, just help. If you notice a thread where I can be of assistance, please don't hesitate to give me a heads-up.

Fair enough.