Optima Red Top

[Doofy]

My Optima Red Top 12 volt battery just became a 6 volt battery! Forgot to use the Master Disconnect and the battery discharged on my infrequently run Ranger. Slapped on the "Smart Charger" on slow for 6 hours, went back out and I now have a 6 volt battery sitting at 100%!

WTF! Did my charger malfunction or the battery? Going to put on a conventional charger for a couple hours to see. Battery tested perfectly fine a couple months ago.

 

[Doofy]

Update: Brought the battery back up to normal with a conventional charger. It passes all the battery tester tests and is good to go. Just realized this battery is going on 8 years old so it is being repurposed as a Booster battery.

My Smart Charger had a Blond Moment!

 

[Mark_88]

Good to hear...I was going to reply but got sidetracked...I would have suggested an alternate charger because that happened to me with a smart charger...I was charging through the lighter socket and things went crazy but it turned out to be the ground wire on the starter was damaged so I was not getting a proper ground.

If you find the battery drains or sporadic power loss or even fluctuating output voltages at the alternator...check the main ground from the starter relay and that whole circuit...

Unless you've replaced it all recently and the issue disappears...

 

[Doofy]

That info is good to know, Mark_88. I never positively found my parasitic drain but I traced it to the battery saver circuit. First, I installed a toggle switch across the fuse for that circuit and then decided to just mount a master disconnect switch for all power. Doesn't help at all when you forget to use it.