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EFV-8 Club Forum / General Ford Discussion / 6 volt optima battery.

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Discussion Topic: 6 volt optima battery. -- page: 1 2

TomO

01-09-2022 @ 8:54 AM

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The current "smart" chargers won't charge a battery that has less than 1.5V per cell (4.5v for a 6 V battery, 9V for a 12v battery). If you have an old fashioned "dumb" charger, it will charge the battery if it is not damaged or worn out.

Connecting another battery in series with your "dead battery" will provide the voltage that the smart charger needs to recognize that it is connected to a battery and to start charging.

Alan, you can try charging your Optima with Noco charger, but I doubt that it will take a charge after being dead for a long time. The plates have probably sulfated or been damaged by being discharged fro so long.

If you don't need a charger, I would just take the battery to a battery store like Batteries Plus nad have them try to charge your Optima. They have chargers that will try to recover a sulfated battery and the store near me doesn't charg you if they cannot charge the battery.

Tom

ford38v8

01-08-2022 @ 11:44 AM

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Good info, gives me hope on reviving mine. About hooking a good battery to a dead one to charge, the Noco 10 has an overide button to allow a charge to begin. I’m gonna buy one, give it a try.

Alan

Robert/Texas

01-08-2022 @ 9:03 AM

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Early last spring, I accidently shorted out an almost new 6-volt Optima battery in my Model A. I tried to charge it with my multi voltage battery charger. It gave me an error code and would not charge it. I checked it with my voltmeter, and it showed a little over one volt. I charged up a 6-volt wet cell battery until it was fully charged and then hooked the two batteries together with jumper cables for about a half hour. Then I connected the charger and then left both batteries together until the charger indicated that they were both fully charged. The Optima battery is still working in my Model A and cranks the engine a bit faster than the wet cell battery did.

fenbach

01-07-2022 @ 9:51 PM

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frank scheidt wrote an article in 2018 about how to charge a dead optima. i think you put a traditional battery in series with the dead one and the charger. i don't remember where the article appeared, but likely the V8Times, maybe the foundation newsletter.

kirkstad

01-07-2022 @ 12:01 PM

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Thank you Tom, I appreciate your response and the information.
Frank

TomO

01-07-2022 @ 8:38 AM

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The Battery Tender Plus is recommended for AGM batteries. I have been using the Battery Tender and the Battery Tender Junior to maintain my Optima batteries since 2014.

Tom

kirkstad

01-06-2022 @ 4:49 PM

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Thank you for that information Alan.
Frank

ford38v8

01-06-2022 @ 4:14 PM

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kirkstad, One of the advantages of the Optima battery is that it doesn't self discharge. A seasonal storage should retain its charge till driving season again. It is advised, however, that for that storage period, you at least disconnect the battery cables.

Alan

kirkstad

01-06-2022 @ 1:13 PM

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My optima is only a year old and is fine, I just want to keep it up to par when not in use during the winter. perhaps I should remove it from my car and keep in in the house. My garage is not heated and gets pretty cold during the winter months. The Noco genius charger, that Jacques1960 mentioned, is out of stock right now.
Thanks. Frank

kubes40

01-06-2022 @ 12:51 PM

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Alan, I have never been able to revive an Optima. However, I believe it's always worth a try. Not much to lose by trying.

Mike "Kube" Kubarth

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