Cali,68,L-79

Not sure how old the orignal battery is

from the PO but I know the regulator puts out 14V and the battery sits at 12.30 when the car is running but give it 12 hours sitting and the battery is at 10V. Leave the sterio on for greater than 20 minutes and you'll need a jump, ask me how I know. Anyway I put the Optima in ($119.99) and I swear the engine cranks over at 4 times the speed and fires up within 2 seconds versus 10 seconds. I highly suggest these batteries.


Here's that in line fuse (lower right)

RHD '68 L89

that's not going to fix the radiator leak David



Hope you had a great time on your honeymoon. Does your wife have a sister and is she single?

Cali,68,L-79

Yes, yes and yes but she has the personality of a rock. I wouldn't wish her on my worst enemy.

Cali,68,L-79

P.S. I spoke to soon I just checked the battery 10 mintes ago and it read 10.71V. Started the car and the battery read 12.31. I must have a current draw somewhere. Just wasted $119.

Sigforty

My Optima had enough power in it to drive my 71 at night 40 miles home from work one day when the alternator went out. It is a strong battery.

danboback

I just installed a safety disconnect on my battery because I have a bad drain. It seems to work, so far..

Techno

Jump start a manual?

A C

I wouldn't call it a waste. The Optima is better than most batteries. The best thing about it is that it can take a lot of cycles of discharging/charging before it doesn't hold a charge very well. This is good when you have something discharging it. A regular battery would be junk after a few times of losing all of it's charge. I kinda had the same problem as you with my 69. Get an amp clamp and start clamping it around individual wires. You'll find out which ones are drawing electricity real quick.

LiveandLetDrive

From my experience (at work, not personal) not a waste at all. No pesky explosive fumes either. There's no reason the old battery should've dropped so much while just sitting. Pull one side off the battery and stick the multimeter in there set on amps to see how much current draw you have with the car off. Or use the inductive thing A C mentions that I apparently don't own

-Chris

Empatho

same here and they help so the car wont start on fire because of an electrical problem

vettfixr

I don't want to rain on anybody's parade here but I just had to replace my Optima Red Top after only 9 months. This battery was installed and kept on a battery maintainer so it was never run down. After about 5 months the car became increasingly harder to start and eventually the battery wouldn't hold enough charge to kick in the solenoid on the starter. I got a free replacement last week and installed it and all is well so far. I posted about this and quite a few people mentioned having problems with this battery so keep a close eye on it. I may have just gotten one of a bad bunch but it's the first battery that's ever failed so soon in my 40+ years of driving.

LiveandLetDrive

Haven't heard of that before, thanks.

Techno

I've heard optimas require special chargers, I don't get that since all of them ultimately are charged by the alt.

Cali,68,L-79

Well I'd better find that current draw first. Yes I do have a quick disconnect on the + terminal with a inline 10amp fuse so I can turn the **** and no one can steal the car yet keep all my radio presets/ head unit settings. The 10 amp fuse blows if you try to start the car with the **** off or turned, 100amp to turn over the starter. But a current draw with the fuse will still draw down the battery. I'll try the driver's door pin switches first since they just stopped working last month, both the interior lights and factory alarm pin switches don't work on the driver's side. I'll order those pin switches first. Thanks for the advice.

shoptek

I'll stick to my Costco "never ever ever need to purchase after the initial purchase" battery. Buy it once for $45 and that is the last time you will be out any $$$ until you either sell the car or heaven forbid it gets stolen or burns up (should have a disconnect anyway).

BLACKHORSEVET

I am thinking about buying a red top.I was checking out the battery tender plus charger model#021-0128.It states that it will work with all types of batteries,including the gel.Now at batterymart.com they list a battery tender made just for the gel type battery.Kind of confusing,but maybe the gel type only would be the way to go.I will give these guys a call tomorrow,and see what's up.

Cali,68,L-79

Well I found one culprit of the power draw. The driver's door pin had the power wire ununsheathed in other words no wire insulation around the tip which was in contact with the inner door body which is metal but pulling the driver's door alram pin switch resulted in the samething so I don't know if this is the way it's supposed to be but usually there is a clear plastic cover over the positive connection to the pin switch as in the case of my old 77. Hmmmmmmmmmmm.?

Corey_68

LOVE my Red Top

Jim Martley2

I have been running the same one in my 82 since 1997.

MN-Brent

Cali
Does this wire have power with the key out?

A direct short of this door 12V power wire should theoretically draw more than 10 amps and would blow your battery mounted 10A bypass fuse with the disconnect switch opened and key set to run (not start).

Keep your eye open for possible further drawdown problems.

Something else, your battery terminals should be sitting at 14V+ with the car running-that is voltmeter on both battery terminals. How good is the wiring between the Alternator and the Battery? A full charged 12V SLA battery just sitting without a charger rests at ~12.3VDC.

Brent.....