TheSnakeJake

so i wanted to go out for a drive last night and went to start the car and the battery was COMPLETELY dead. i hadn't driven the car in about 6 weeks and the battery is an optima red top. is this normal on these cars or is something wrong causing the battery to drain? i jumped the car and took it for a drive. this is the first time i have owned an optima battery and need some advice for storage. my car is likely parked for the winter now and i need to know how to preserve this battery. should i pull it out of the car completely? or just get a battery tender of some sort? any help is much appreciated...

-jake

Marcs c5

keep your vette hooked up to a battery tender when your not using it much (2 weeks or more) and it won't be a problem anymore. If your battery holds a charge still you should be ok.

RW Foster

That will be the key, but if it was completely discharged and froze, you'll probably need to replace it.

I have a Battery Tender but have never owned an Optima Red Top, so I don't know if you can use one with the other. You can pull the battery out and store it, or at the very least, disconnect the negative cable.

rbartick

An Optima isn't better than any other battery. You still need to provide a charge once or twice a month.

Quick Silver Z

I think AGM's are even worse as far as being discharged.

http://www.batterystuff.com/tutorial_battery.html

rbartick

My OEM AGM lasted 6 years, my car only has 11k miles, and I rarely charged it. I would not bother with an Optima in this car.

siffert

You need an Optima YELLOW Top which is a DEEP Discharge battery for all the electronic goings on that drains your battery. I can be away for 3 months without a tender and my C6 will start up right away. Try that with any other non-deep charge battery (including the oem and Red Top) and you'll have a drop dead discharged battery. And if mine should drop dead, it can be recharged many times unlike the non-deep charge batteries.

Not cheap, but it does what you need. I only use a Battery Minder tender with my Yellow Top about twice a year for two weeks each time to desulphate the battery.

TheSnakeJake

i don't know if the battery will hold a charge or not... i don't plan to start the car anytime soon, and probably not until spring. so should i pull the battery out and just leave a tender on it for the winter?

slong

Our Vette's are power hungry sitting in the garage and will beat-up older batteries. Most tenders come with all the goodies you need for easy connection and will keep your battery in good condition. He are three favorites and comparisons.

http://www.battery-sentinel.com/comp..._chargers.html

siffert

That comparison does not have a desulphate category. I know the
Battery Minder and Sentinel do that and the Battery Tender does not. Having a tender desulphate your battery is critical if you wish to maximize its life.

ztheusa

Best kind are desulfating type.

http://tinyurl.com/6zp5cl

slong

Just trying to help....
I'm sure that comparison is one sided also.
Now I know why I stopped posting.

briann510

My original AGM is 5.5 years old now and I have never had to tender it even when it sits for 4-6 weeks. I don't care what car anyone has a battery should NOT have to be kept on a tender if sitting for a couple weeks or even a month.

I have 8 vehicles and every one of them has sat for a month or more at a time and ALWAYS started up with never needing a tender on them (none of them Optimas of course).

siffert

Good for you. However, I think you would find a lot of C6 owners would disagree with that statement. I have read many instances on these forums where they discharge after sitting for just two weeks. In fact, my original battery actually died after a few months and I replaced it with an Optima Deep Discharge Yellow Top with no problems since.

Z06_BluByU

have you considered driving the car more often?!? or at least sitting in it and revving it up in the garage from time to time?!?!

TheSnakeJake

yeah, i know... it is a garage queen. it only comes out on nice days and weekends. i would start it up and rev it, but that is really bad to do unless you are going to drive it.

Eddie 70

I went through a couple of Red Top Optimas in my 70 before I gave up on them and bought a conventional battery. So far so good with this one.
When the battery finally gave up the ghost in my Z06, I did not even give thought to an Optima after my experience with the 70.

Z06_BluByU

Time for some Snow Rally Racing.... that'll keep it fresh... besides plastic composite and fiberglass dont rust...

no problema..

briann510

Yes its a flip of a coin of you got a good battery or bad one that discharges often.
I dont think it matters what brand it is, you either get lucky or you dont. I have no battery preferences in all my cars. I buy whatever is on sale with my sons discount from their parts warehouse.

Quick Silver Z

My OE AGM dropped dead after 5 years of service. I replaced it with an Exide 60 that sits atop an acid absorptive mat. Now that is December, it gets charged overnight twice a week with a CTEK MULTI US 3300. This economical combination has worked perfectly the last two years.