The 150 series Dual Battery Guide

[craigm Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close craigm]

Hopefully I'll get the same result outta my Optima Symo. Battery totally dead after leaving an internal map light on whilst being away on holiday...

[Symo Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Symo]

Hopefully I'll get the same result outta my Optima Symo. Battery totally dead after leaving an internal map light on whilst being away on holiday...

Make sure to put it on a descent 3 or 6 stage charger when home.

[AussieAndy Find all posts View Profile Close AussieAndy]

Hmmmmm......
Good info MelbournePark. So you would recommend a good AGM over the optima then? I have had a look at the full river batteries and they appeared to be good. Might have to rethink the direction I was heading, although the optima's can accept charge alot quicker than the full river, so I guess it depends on how you want to use it.

[Symo Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Symo]

Hmmmmm......
Good info MelbournePark. So you would recommend a good AGM over the optima then? I have had a look at the full river batteries and they appeared to be good. Might have to rethink the direction I was heading, although the optima's can accept charge alot quicker than the full river, so I guess it depends on how you want to use it.

I have both, use the 120a full river in a box in the trailer or where ever, I don't charge it except at home. Last ages running a fridge, good week.

The optima in the car is for everything else, including the fridge, lights charging I devices.

[MelbournePark Member Find all posts View Profile Close MelbournePark]

Hmmmmm......
... So you would recommend a good AGM over the optima then? I have had a look at the full river batteries and they appeared to be good. Might have to rethink the direction I was heading, although the optima's can accept charge alot quicker than the full river, so I guess it depends on how you want to use it.

As said, I am unsure of the quality of the Mexican made Optima, but perhaps its not an issue. I find it strange I cannot see warranty issues either, although many batteries warranties seem short.

The Optima does re-charge quickly, and that is important. But all the AGMs vary on that issue. AGMs typically recharge several times quicker than normal wet open or sealed vented units.

Quick re-charge is not an Optima exclusive. One has to check on how many amps they can accept too, and also consider your vehicle's setup for charging your batteries (including for many a trailer I guess). ie some people have a DC DC setup and go to a trailer ... IMO a DC DC will establish an ampage bottleneck that may diminish the advantage of an AGM's quick charge ability.

The Optima though for a second battery falls short IMO because its orientated for starting which for me seems a negative; and also for its size, it has less capacity.

Leigh W has been recommending a Marine Pro battery, which is likely mostly an AGM battery - with lots of fibreglass supports to make it tough. Its cheap, light, and has lots of AH. Its a good dual battery. I've said to Leigh W, I'd rather have fast re-charge - which is an AGM advantage. But - if for the same weight and size, you have much greater AH, then perhaps you don't need to recharge? Where is your sweet spot?

It seems to me that for a second battery, a dual is a waste of weight and has less life than a bigger capacity in amp hour battery. And more amp hours puts less recharge and hence greater life for your battery too. So, I think an Optima is not a good second battery - I'd rather have more Amp Hours for the same weight.

We left a light on in my wife's Lexus, for four days, and the computer should've turned it off, but it did not. But the car started no worries with its Optima - but it was a new one.

Symo reports how quickly his Optima recovered from running flat. But that Optima was I presume a 66 AH optima, or possibly the more powerful one? But, for its weight, another battery might not have run flat. Because the Optima does not have much capacity in AH IMO, for its size and weight. That it takes a high charge is great. However, the more often you run them down, the lower their life. And a battery that is orientated for dual usage will be hurt more IMO. Nonethless, Optima claim their battery will take many recharges compared to many other AGM's statistics. But for me, plate thickness is a key issue.

But on another issue, the statistics we get provided are perhaps not so reliable. And the information we are provided is perhaps not reliable.

Here is an example: The Exide ED2S battery, is likely a 6V battery. But Exide say its 12V. It even has a CCA rating (usually only supplied to a 12V battery). Its a wet battery, but semi industrial, and is described as being toughened for rough treatment. Its warranty is small though - which is typical of industrial batteries that can be used continually. Anyway, that battery weighs just 23Kg, and it has 150AH, and is deep cycle. So I rang Exide, for three days in a row, and still, they have not contacted me. I also got a dealer who I know who services my cars, to get details. Exide support just have a girl to read out the same data I get, and they don't have an engineer who knows their technology to provide support. The person who shall ring me is an sales guy, and that its taken days so far, indicates to me that whoever it is doesn't know a mistake in their publications (I jsut don't think a deep cycle can weigh 23kg, be 12V and have 150AH). But they seem to think their data is true?

So we are in an era where middle management have all been sacked, and knowledge is thin on the ground. The brochures and data are published by marketing personnel who write well but do not understand much about what they are expressing. I could go on - but Exide also had nonesense describing their top battery technology, due to an ignorant writer not knowing their technology.

What always happens with mature technology, is that companies try to confuse us. Like when buying a phone contract a few years ago, it was designed to confuse the user. Same too with batteries IMO ... an example for Optima fans, is the marine product. The blue top has four posts, is the same battery as the yellow, yet its cheaper. And we all seem to buy - like I did - the yellow top.

[craigm Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close craigm]

Make sure to put it on a descent 3 or 6 stage charger when home.

Just put a meter across the terminals of my 6mth old Optima - 5.8V.... Not good. Lets see if the warranty is honored from the retailer I purchased it from. I'm heading down to Repco now though to by a 7 stage charger as they're on special. Dont think it's going to recover this unit however...

[MelbournePark Member Find all posts View Profile Close MelbournePark]

Just put a meter across the terminals of my 6mth old Optima - 5.8V.... Not good. Lets see if the warranty is honored from the retailer I purchased it from. I'm heading down to Repco now though to by a 7 stage charger as they're on special. Dont think it's going to recover this unit however...

You would be covered for sure with just six months. Even by Australian law. I do not think they have grey market batteries - because it would be to expensive for grey marketers to ship them, due to their high weight. Hence it would be sourced from the Australian distributor, so you wouldn't have an issue.
, and my
In the USA though, Amazon sold Optima batteries do not seem to be covered ... I think if one bought one here through Amazon, Australian law would protect you though ...

I bought my first Optima from Goodyear Autocare Mentone, and the second one - which was delivered the next day with brilliant service - was from http://www.nqwholesaletechtraders.com who also advised me. They have a great database too for batteries and a wide range. I was keen to buy it from a person who services for me but he said my buy price was lower than his!

[Symo Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Symo]

Just put a meter across the terminals of my 6mth old Optima - 5.8V.... Not good. Lets see if the warranty is honored from the retailer I purchased it from. I'm heading down to Repco now though to by a 7 stage charger as they're on special. Dont think it's going to recover this unit however...

Give the recovery mode a go, I bought a no name 15ah AGM back to life after six months of 6v status, took 24 hours for the recovery procedure to complete but it holds 12.9v on the shelf and runs a 30watt radio repeater all day no probs. I have 4A projecta 6 stage for the job at work, got one for home too now.

[craigm Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close craigm]

Cheers Symo. Picked up a Repco 16Amp 7 stage charger today. Fingers crossed... Thankfully I have a dual batt setup which allowed me to swap over the Aux. (trying to get the thread back on topic )

[drivesafe Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close drivesafe]

Hi craigm and I would not be surprised if your battery comes back to a fully charged state.

Optimas take a pounding and even when discharged that low, and I have seen lower, they still can be recharged back to their normal level.

One thing to watch for, most battery chargers have a minimum battery voltage level, and any battery with a voltage level below it, the charger will not charge.

This is a safety procedure but if this happens, you can “trick” the charger into charging the battery by connecting your low battery to an other charged battery and then turn on the battery charger.

Once the charger is operating, just remove the good battery and the charger should continue to charge the low battery.

[craigm Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close craigm]

Thanks for the info drive safe and a good suggestion on how to trick the charger. Thankfully, the Repco unit does charge from 0 volts. I've had on for over 24 hrs now and it passed the batt test mode ( tells you if it's a dud) so it's in float mode at present sitting on 13.89v
I'll take a reading after disconnecting it overnight and take a reading again in the morning. If it holds it's state I'll pop it back in the Prado tomorrow night...

[MelbournePark Member Find all posts View Profile Close MelbournePark]

One thing I have learn't from investigating battery technology is that full re-charging is essential. Hence if you don't fully re-charge, then there is IMO little point in buying a "better battery". If thorough re-charging of all batteries is not assured, then its best to buy cheap IMO. Because if its AGM or valved wet etc, if the re-charging is not complete, then the battery will significantly degrade.

The complex bit for me now, is if I buy a trailer, and have a spare in my car for the fridge, then the car will be charging probably four batteries. If I shoved in an AGM as the spare battery in the vehicle, and had two valved wet deep cycles in the trailer, and a wet starter factory battery - the really important issue is likely how well all that is thoroughly re-charged. I have to say too, the idea of pulling batteries out to charge them properly has no appeal. I want something that is easy.

[Guest Close Guest]

I use a 240VAC 7 stage charger to achieve a full charge after and before a trip.

[craigm Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close craigm]

Thanks for the info drive safe and a good suggestion on how to trick the charger. Thankfully, the Repco unit does charge from 0 volts. I've had on for over 24 hrs now and it passed the batt test mode ( tells you if it's a dud) so it's in float mode at present sitting on 13.89v
I'll take a reading after disconnecting it overnight and take a reading again in the morning. If it holds it's state I'll pop it back in the Prado tomorrow night...

Voltage 1hr after disconnecting Batt charger - 12.89V -
Voltage 9hr after disconnecting Batt Charger - 12.79V

(Battery not in car so 0 load on battery)

[Symo Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Symo]

Voltage 1hr after disconnecting Batt charger - 12.89V -
Voltage 9hr after disconnecting Batt Charger - 12.79V

(Battery not in car so 0 load on battery)

Could still have no capacity. That could be a surface charge, only way to tell is with a hydrometer.