Batteries draining - Lateral-g Forums

rockdogz · #1 03-03-2007, 05:09 PM

Well I went out this morning and found both my batteries dead. I'm not sure, but I might have left the switch on to connect them together while the ignition is off. I have the painless switch that lets you combine the two either when the ignition is on or off.

Anyhow, I charged the main battery back up and was able to drive, and everything seemed ok. When I got back home, I went to investigate, and put a voltmeter on the auxillary battery. I could see the voltage drop... 10.75...10.74....10.73.... I thought maybe something was shorting, so I pulled off the cables. Well, the battery kept dropping voltage, with nothing else connected. It's an Optima Yellow Top. This doesn't sound right, does it? Could the battery have a problem?

philofab · #2 03-03-2007, 05:23 PM

Let the battery sit for a few days and then charge it with a heavy duty charger for about 6 hours. Then let it sit for another day and check voltage. If it's below 12 volts its no good. I can usally get redtops to come back this way.

philofab · #3 03-03-2007, 05:24 PM

Oh, that switch shouldn't discharge your battery in any position.

Tim Baillie · #4 03-03-2007, 11:48 PM

Look into a charger/maintenance from www.ctek.de

71Nova · #5 03-13-2007, 01:54 AM

Tom I had a red top go bad after forgetting that the key was on for about a week. It refused to take a charge and the charger acually said the battery was no good. After a few failed attempts at charging I switched the charger to jump start mode for about 5 min. Shocks the crap out of the battery. I guess it taught it a lesson because it charged fine after that and I have been using the same battery for about a year now with no more problems. I heard that if you have a cell reverse giving it a high current shock can flip the cell back. Yours sounds like a different problem considering it is charging, but slowly discharging itself. Sounds like it eather did not charge fully when you charged it, or the battery is just bad.

rockdogz · #6 03-13-2007, 10:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 71Nova

Tom I had a red top go bad after forgetting that the key was on for about a week. It refused to take a charge and the charger acually said the battery was no good. After a few failed attempts at charging I switched the charger to jump start mode for about 5 min. Shocks the crap out of the battery. I guess it taught it a lesson because it charged fine after that and I have been using the same battery for about a year now with no more problems. I heard that if you have a cell reverse giving it a high current shock can flip the cell back. Yours sounds like a different problem considering it is charging, but slowly discharging itself. Sounds like it eather did not charge fully when you charged it, or the battery is just bad.

I got the yellow top replaced at Costco, and so far so good...