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  #1  
Old 12-03-2001, 08:15 AM
glmoy
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Optima Batteries Question

Charging at 13.62 volts. Optima Battery died.
Had only over a year. Just wondering if I am
charging at a high enough rate to charge battery.

Gary

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  #2  
Old 12-03-2001, 10:11 AM
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That's plenty good. It does not sound too high. I don't have the spec in front of me, but it sounds OK. It also looks like the regulator is working. It is not overcharging. I'd take the battery in to any good autoparts supply and have it tested. You may have to put it on a charger first. Is it not holding a charge? Are the battery posts and clamps clean?
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'85 300SD - 317,000 miles (sold)
'98 ML320 - 270,000 miles (sold)
'75 300D - 170,000 miles (sold)
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  #3  
Old 12-03-2001, 03:02 PM
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Optima Batteries were nto designed to be used with a run of the mill battery charger. They were designed to be jumped by a jumper battery, power pack, or another car.

My optima dealer has told me a regular battery charger for a car will kill a cell or more on the battery and it will not function properly.

Alon
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  #4  
Old 12-03-2001, 03:25 PM
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Optima Battery FAQs


Her is a link to the Optima battery site they say the can be charged .This link is for charging info

Last edited by Jim T; 12-03-2001 at 03:34 PM.
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  #5  
Old 12-03-2001, 03:34 PM
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power pack

Can one use a power pack (the rechargable type) to charge a car battery?

I am asking this because I am putting my E320 to rest for a while as I am increasingly enjoying the diesel. I hate to use a battery charge to charge the battery in the car as it could (very small chance though) cause damage to the electronics.
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  #6  
Old 12-03-2001, 03:44 PM
glmoy
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Auto parts store checked battery and it's tester
said "dead battery" they used some type of cycle
tester that measures the recycle rate through
two tests. It suddenly went out in the cold
weather were having. (30 F / warm for some of you)

As for jumping I am very leery since I heard that
you can ruin a overvoltage relay that way. Took
the cables off battery and let my P/U charge it
through jumper cables.

My only gripe is the way they design the posts as the one battery cable barely reaches and stock
MBZ hold down doesn't work. Just wondering what others have done about this problem. Tight
cable and weight of battery holds it in battery compartment snugly.



Will check out OPTIMA site.

Thanks everyone,

Gary

P.S. Store is ordering new battery.
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  #7  
Old 12-03-2001, 04:03 PM
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What you needed to buy is a reverse terminal Optima, thats what I did and the cables fit perfectly.

I used the Mb hold downs. Because the battery is smaller, I trimed a piece of shipping foam{that can`t be seen} and put it bettween the battery and the second hold down. Nice and tight.

John
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  #8  
Old 12-03-2001, 06:04 PM
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Gary- do you have a lot of electronics, esp. ones that run without the engine running (e.g., high-current sound/video system; ham radios; etc.)?

If so, OPTIMA recommends their deep-cycle (yellow) batteries which have enough CCA for starting.

Rather than purchasing the "orange" OPTIMA with the reverse posts, I just turned my OPTIMA 180-degrees and everything firts & reaches, including both battery cables.

:-) neil

PS: check out the pictures. I upgraded from OPTIMA "red" to OPTIMA "yellow/deep-cycle" since I have lots of electronics. Note- Battery turned 180-degrees to reach battery cables.


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  #9  
Old 12-03-2001, 08:47 PM
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Every optima I have ever seent hat had been used on a regular battery charger blew a cell if not more.

I have seen several. My friend is an optima Dealer, and he told me this.

He has had many batteries come back because of this.

I could care less if optima says it works, I have had several go bad because of charging it.

The interstate spiral cell battery which is made by optima that my dad had fried when we charged it with a battery charger. They replaced it and we charged it again and it fried the battery.

Since then we have never charged it only jumped it and it has not been a problem at all.

Talk to an optima dealer, maybe this was an older design and the newer design allows it, but I wouldn't trust a car charger on an optima at all from my experiences.

Alon
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  #10  
Old 12-03-2001, 09:12 PM
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The problem with using the cars charging system to charge a dead battery is that it puts a extreme strain on the charging system . Most car manufactures strongly recommend against doing this as it can damage the alternator and electrical components . If the manufacture of a battery gives charging guidelines and they are followed then that is what the warranty is for . The one thing that has to be remembered as I posted above is that Optima's do not tolerate being discharged to the point where they wont start a car once they discharge this far they just don't seem to recover fully , they are not deep cycle batterys . The reason I like them isn't because they are the best battery out there but because they don't leak any acid and I hate that type of damage to a car it is very difficult to repair . This is the reason I have been only using factory Mercedes batterys or the Optima I have not had either one leak but I have had them go bad over time . I have seen battery acid cause thousands of dollars of damage to a car and all of this can occur in less than two years .
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  #11  
Old 12-03-2001, 09:22 PM
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Jim,
That is exactly why I use it also.

John
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  #12  
Old 12-04-2001, 06:49 AM
glmoy
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Neil and Jim,
Never seen a orange top battery. The only
electronics I have is Alpine Tape Player with
CD changer and Amp. The auto parts store that I
got the Optima Battery from does not stock them.
He does not know much about them. I have reversed the Red top battery and the cables barely reach.
Wish I had longer cables like you do. I have looked at replacement cables but they just don't seem to be built as well as Mercedes stock cables.
Neil nice AMG what are you running that requires a
Yellow top battery?????

Thanks for all the tips everyone.

Gary
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  #13  
Old 12-04-2001, 10:09 AM
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They are pretty nifty looking batteries. But what the h*** good are they if you can't charge them? Sounds pretty cheap to me. I'm not going to jumper another vehicle to the battery and leave the vehicle running for hours while waiting for the battery to charge. Besides, won't another vehicle's charging system only pump more current into the battery than a 15 amp charger. The charging system will easily provide more than 30-35 amps to a dead battery. How can this be safer than the charger.

Are the Optima's just as tempermental to a trickle charger or a bettery tender?

Give me the Die Hard!

In God we trust, all others bring data. Bring me some data.
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'05 E320 CDI - 86,000 miles
'86 300SDL - 360,000 miles
'85 300SD - 150,000 miles (sold)
'89 190D - 120,000 miles (sold)
'85 300SD - 317,000 miles (sold)
'98 ML320 - 270,000 miles (sold)
'75 300D - 170,000 miles (sold)
'83 Harley Davidson FLTC (Broken again) :-(
'61 Plymouth Valiant - 60k mikes
2004 Papillon (Oliver)
2005 Tzitzu (Griffon)
2009 Welsh Corgi (Buba)

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  #14  
Old 12-04-2001, 10:56 AM
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I have an Optima orange top in my 124, so they do exist. It was a perfect replacement for the massive stock battery. It's the same width as the stock battery so fits in the tray and hold down perfectly, though it's shorter and a small bit taller. Battery cable reach is no problem with the reversed terminals.

I'll point out that no standard car battery is a deep cycle battery. They are all designed to deliver a large amount of power for a short period of time. My wife killed the three year old Diehard in our 124 wagon earlier this fall by leaving the headlights on for a few hours. The car would barely take a jumpstart and would never restart. That's what I call dead.

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