[Tigers] My Opttima Battery

[csx2282]

Thought I'd pass along my battery tale.

Over the years I've purchased numerous new batteries for my car which doesn't
get driven much.  None
of them lasted more than two or three years so I kept trying different brands
and finally purchased a Red
Top Optima at a Pep Boys' store.   A few weeks after the purchase I turned the
key to the start position, but no
cranking sound; in fact no sound at all.  The battery connections were all
snug and clean, so I measured
the voltage across the battery terminals- 1.5V.  Had my multimeter died?  I
measured the voltage across
the terminals of one of my other cars- 12.6V.  Sigh.

I eventually tracked the problem to a short in a solid state voltage regulator
I had installed a year or
so earlier in place of the original electro-mechanical unit.  Much to my
surprise, I found a Borg Warner
electro-mechanical regulator at Pep Boys which, except for the color of the
cover, looked like the original.
So at least that problem was taken care of.

I asked around about the likelihood of the Optima being resurrected.  The
general consensus was that it was
a total goner.  Figuring I had nothing to lose, I connected an el cheapo
Midlands trickle charger to it that I
had bought at a Whitefront store in the '70s.  After several days of charging
it was up to about 11V.
Initially I was charging in stages because the charger got really hot after
half hour or so.  But at this point it
seemed to be maintaining a reasonable temperature so I left it connected full
time.  The good news was that
the charge was holding.  Eventually it reached a high enough voltage that I
felt it was worth a trying to crank
the engine.  The car started right up and I let the alternator do the rest of
the charging.

That was at least 5 years ago and the Optima still cranks the starter faster
than any other battery I've ever had in
the car.  I do use a Battery Tender Junior to maintain the charge between
drives.

I still see Optimas at Pep Boys stores and also some COSTCO stores.  Batteries
Plus sell Battery Tenders,
though they're probably a bit cheaper on-line.

Roland