Optima battery

[EdB]

6 volt, + ground.
I notice that Optima offers their own brand of charger.
Is it correct to infer that a wet cell battery charger may harm an Optima unit?

[tubman]

I have used regular chargers and maintainers on the two Optimas I have had the last 19 years (the first went 13 year, and I have 6 years on it's replacement). I have never had any problems. This story probably comes from the fact that, if an Optima goes all the way down, you can't bring it back with a regular charger. You either have to use a special charger that will put out sufficient voltage when there is little or none in the battery, or you have to interpose a fully charged battery in parallel with the Optima to supply enough voltage to get it going. I have never run an Optima down far enough to have to try this. Although I've never looked, I'm sure their proprietary chargers are relatively expensive.

[expavr]

This Optima video may answer your question. A wet cell charger won’t harm your Optima, but it won’t recharge an Optima battery if the voltage drops below a specified level. https://www.optimabatteries.com/en-u...optima-battery

I had a 6 V Optima battery that was being maintained on a float charger. For whatever reason the charger failed to maintain the charge and the Optima discharged to the point that it wouldn’t hold a charge. I invested in the Optima charger which has a float feature that analyzes and maintains the charge as well as charging the dead Optima battery. It was a pricey investment but not as pricey as buying a new Optima battery.

[Mike in AZ]

I emailed optima about their chargers. Both are 12V only, according to them. They don't sell a charger for use on the 6V. Mike

[V8 Bob]

I also use a regular (old) Sears and Schumacher charger on my 6V and 12V Optimas with no problems, but I keep the charge rate low at 2 amps.

[48fordnut]

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I have a 19 y/o Optima that I use a reg charger on. Never has it been down that it would not charge.

[JM 35 Sedan]

I have five Optima batteries, (3) 6V, (2) 12V. I normally don't need to change them with any type of charger, except for the charge they get when I'm running the engine or driving the vehicle. If/when I do need to charge them outside the vehicle, I do not use a wall mount trickle charger.

[1948F-1Pickup]

tubman and expavr have it exactly correct.
I used to work for Douglas Battery (which got
absorbed by Deka-East Penn). We sold Optima
and on a deeply discharged battery or a sulfated
one we would recommend the "special" AGM
charger. Over the years folks have figured out
the parallel trick tubman mentioned. It, however,
will generally not do anything to permanently
remedy things if the battery is sulfated.

[tubman]

Originally Posted by Mike in AZ

I emailed optima about their chargers. Both are 12V only, according to them. They don't sell a charger for use on the 6V. Mike

This, by the way, tells you everything you need to know about proprietary (read : expensive) chargers for Optima batteries.

[KGS]

Originally Posted by JM 35 Sedan

I have five Optima batteries, (3) 6V, (2) 12V. I normally don't need to change them with any type of charger, except for the charge the get when I'm running the engine or driving the vehicle. If/when I do need to charge them outside the vehicle, I do not use a wall mount trickle charger.

I'm with JM on this one. I've had two 6V Optimas for 20 plus years that sit 3 to 4 months over the winter. I've never had to charge them and they still have plenty of power to start the cars in the Spring. They get recharged by the generator after the car starts.

[Kurt in NJ]

The original generator has recharged my optima from flat dead 0 volts---- same for the 6Vonly charger I found in the trash in 1963--- old chargers with no automatic, polarity safeguards don't care it's agm--- same as 3 brush generator doesn't care

[slowforty]

Amazon has the best price so far on Optima batteries. The customer service leaves a lot to be desired. Wal-Mart has An AGM battery charger for $20.
Read the label first.

[FrankWest]

This cheapo from Homedepo works great with my 6 volt Optima Battery

[35fordtn]

In my opinion this is the best charger out there...

https://www.amazon.com/NOCO-G3500-Ul...o+genius&psc=1

[FlatheadTed]

Recently I had a dischard Optima I usually wire another charged Optima in parallel ,this time I did the same but just hooked up my regular charger as well.by the morning it was well up .Ted

[GB SISSON]

I think I read somewhere, (maybe here) that the optimas for sale today do not measure up to the ones sold two decades ago that are still going strong. Any truth to this? I have still never owned one, but I have more old fords now than in the past and unfortunately they seem to get driven less. I have heard that the optimas shine in that department.

[tubman]

There was a time when there was a problem with Optima's. I believe that is behind us now. Here is my post from an earlier thread :

"Re : Optima's. The word is that they moved their manufacturing operation to Mexico about 20 years ago. There were problems that arose from the move that caused some of the batteries to be defective. From what I know, the batteries now are as good as they used to be. I have had two over the last 15 or so years; the first lasted about 12 years and I'm on my fourth or fifth year on my current one. One thing that did impress me is that a representative from Johnson Controls was on the H.A.M.B. when they had problems who tried to field complaints and explain the company's position. The guy took a lot of heat and handled it well. The only other problem is that the U.S. Military uses them and they were in short supply during the Iraq "conflagration". Because of the requirements of the military, the 6 volt batteries grew a little taller and are harder to fit into the faux Ford cases we love to use.