Optima Battery

hornet53

For those of you with the 6V Optima battery...

I've had mine for about 6 years now and I love it! Only question I have for you guys is, how long do they last? My Hornet has always started hard but lately (since the move to NC) it doesn't seem to hold the charge as long as it used to. It has been cold, and I now use a cheap little charger when it won't start instead of the big one I used to have access to. It came with an 8 year warranty, should I trust it to go that far? I know it's kinda subjective but I was wondering about your expirience.

Jon B

You sure your battery cable / strap / terminals are clean and make good contact? Possibly you've moved to an area of some humidity and it's caused some corrosion at the battery terminals, or ground connections on the body.

rambos_ride

Remember your 8 year warranty is pro-rated,

I think the gel-cell technology is tops and I'd say you're getting nearer the end of the life of the battery...I've also noticed with at least 1 optima battery I have had in the past - they don't like being drained completey and re-charged...anyone else have a problem with this?

hornet53

Another question, has anyone been able to take a 6 volt battery into be load tested? Stores like AutoZone will test batterys, starters, and alternators, but do they have the equipment (or know-how) to test 6V stuff? What kind of load should I test the battery at?

SamJ

rambos_ride wrote:

Remember your 8 year warranty is pro-rated,



I think the gel-cell technology is tops and I'd say you're getting nearer the end of the life of the battery...I've also noticed with at least 1 optima battery I have had in the past - they don't like being drained completey and re-charged...anyone else have a problem with this?

I have a 6V "Yellow Top" Optima in my '40, which they don't make any more. It is the best thing I've ever done for the car's driveability. It's especially great for flip fronts, because they take a low-profile battery which is not made any more and regular batteries that will fit (like 6V Volkswagen battery) are useless. I drained my Optima battery completely by accident, and I thought the it had had it. The generator in my car wasn't charging it. I put it on a my deep-cycle 6v charger for 3 days before it came fully back, and I've had no problem since. I would recommend taking the battery out of the car and putting it on a charger for a long spell whilst, as Jon suggests, checking all the connections, wire sizes, ground, etc.

[Deleted User]

During winter I keep my Optima on the bench. I charge it for a whole day once a month and it is fine.

SamJ

51hornetA wrote:

During winter I keep my Optima on the bench. I charge it for a whole day once a month and it is fine.

Winter, Sean? What's winter? LOL

[Deleted User]

Your right Sam used to be 6 months of winter nows its 6 weeks. Was out for a walk in a t-shirt today. Very scary......

SamJ

51hornetA wrote:

Your right Sam used to be 6 months of winter nows its 6 weeks. Was out for a walk in a t-shirt today. Very scary......

I assumed it was still 10 C below in your part of the GWN...used to be, if you asked an Edmontonian what his plans were for the summer, the answer was "If it falls on a Saturday, we're having a picnic."

Unknown

Normally it seems, at least from what I've seen, 6v batteries don't last as long as a 12v battery. I'd say 6 years is long enough and it's probably getting near the end of it's life.



I throw the battery charger on the Model A's battery if I can't get it to start. I like to run it once a month at least, even in this cold, just to keep everything moving. Only had trouble once, but it was a week or two over due, threw the battery charger on it for 30min and it fired up. Let it warm up, ran it at a fast idle then for 10min, then took it for a couple mile drive (in 30 degree weather, that was chilly with no windows). A month later it was fine and started up with out too much trouble. Just had to crank it for a bit, rest for a min, then it started on the first turn over. The generator just does a better job at charging than a battery charger can from my experience, so running your Hudson might give you better results than using a battery charger.



Jesse

[Deleted User]

Yup, used to be cold in Edmonton in winter you could count on the snow and farmers could count on the snow to provide water for the ground. Not anymore. Now we have pine beetle moving in because its warmer and they can migrate. Loads of cool stuff like that now its getting warmer in winter. When we do have storms they are crazy. Drop 4 feet of snow overnight then melt two days later..