Optima Charging

Can I use a CTEK 6volt charger/maintainer with a Optima 6V RedTop battery?

Here is the charging info I have found on line, but I am not sure I can use the CTEK with it. Any help appreciated.

[h=2]OPTIMA^® REDTOP^® Charging Information[/h]The following charging methods are recommended to ensure a long battery life. Always use a voltage-regulated charger, with voltage limits set as described below.

REDTOP^® Type: 6V

These batteries are designed for engine starting applications. They are NOT recommended or warranted for use in deep-cycle applications.

[h=3]Recommended charging information:[/h]Alternator:

• 6.65 to 7.5 volts, no amperage limit.
  

Battery Charger:

• 6.9 to 7.5 volts, 10 amps maximum, approximately for 6-12 hours.
  

Rapid Recharge:

• Maximum 7.8 volts (regulated), no current limit as long as battery temperature remains below 125°F (51.7°C). Charge until current drops below 1 amp.
  

Float Charge:

• 6.6 to 6.9 volts, 1 amp maximum current, time indefinite (at lower voltage).
  

Strictly adhere to all limits.

Safety Information:

• Always wear safety glasses when working with batteries.
  
• Always use a voltage-regulated battery charger with limits set to the above ratings. Overcharging can cause the safety valves to open and battery gasses to escape, resulting in premature failure. These gasses are flammable! You cannot replace water in sealed batteries that have been overcharged. Any battery that becomes very hot or makes a hissing sound while recharging should be disconnected immediately.
  
• Failure to fully charge a battery can result in poor performance and a reduction in capacity.
  
• These guidelines are intended for typical consumer applications. For military, commercial applications, or new equipment design please contact OPTIMA for additional technical information & assistance
  

Nobody knows anything about this topic?

I would think that a CTEK smart charger (charge as needed)

would be better than a float charger (constant Charge)

I would say; Go ahead with the CTEK charger

I use a CTEK for my Optima and both an auto electrician and the battery supplier advised that it is ideal maintenance charger but it will not charge a flat Optimal battery.

Modern chargers won't charge any dead battery, because they don't receive enough voltage back to them for the charger to recognize there's a battery attached. You have to hook up a charged battery to the dead battery, in parallel, along with the charger.

Older chargers had a constant output, newer chargers have relay/ electronics so that there's no output unless a certain voltage "activates" it.

Can I use a CTEK 6volt charger/maintainer with a Optima 6V RedTop battery?

Yes.

Modern chargers won't charge any dead battery, because they don't receive enough voltage back to them for the charger to recognize there's a battery attached. You have to hook up a charged battery to the dead battery, in parallel, along with the charger.

Older chargers had a constant output, newer chargers have relay/ electronics so that there's no output unless a certain voltage "activates" it.

Exactly. All you need to do is hook up a fully charged battery in parallel with a pair of jumper cables. Once the voltage of the first battery is up within range, the second battery can be removed.

http://www.hotrod.com/how-to/interior-electrical/hrdp-1009-how-to-charge-a-agm-battery/

The battery doesn't know or care where the charging current is coming from so any charger will work.

Yes, but for a longer term storage, with a charger hooked up full time for weeks or months, it matters. For example, my camping trailer, when hooked up to 120v, charges the 12v batteries. BUT, it's a dumb charger and never cuts off, so it would eventually ruin the batteries if kept connected for a long period of time. A not-dumb (smart) charger senses when enough is enough, ramping back the charge, and you can leave it connected forever, or until the day after warranty on battery runs out, when battery will go bad anyway!

Yes, but for a longer term storage, with a charger hooked up full time for weeks or months, it matters. For example, my camping trailer, when hooked up to 120v, charges the 12v batteries. BUT, it's a dumb charger and never cuts off, so it would eventually ruin the batteries if kept connected for a long period of time. A not-dumb (smart) charger senses when enough is enough, ramping back the charge, and you can leave it connected forever, or until the day after warranty on battery runs out, when battery will go bad anyway!

This was my thinking as well.

The smart charger would be better

of course

Thanks Guys.

My experience with batteries that are dead flat is that if they are otherwise good they will respond to a very low (1 amp) charge over an extended period. If at first they do not attain full charge as indicated on a hydrometer's scale the battery has to be drawn down low again and re charged as before. This is called "cycling". I use a 1 amp charger bought in the '60's from Manny, Moe and Jack (for one buck, the good old days, maybe the best buck ever spent?). This method is an alternative to putting a charged battery in parallel while charging, if you don't want to tie up the charged up battery. Dead flat batteries won't respond to a rate of charge of say 10 amps, as Trimacar explained above.

My experience with batteries that are dead flat is that if they are otherwise good they will respond to a very low (1 amp) charge over an extended period. If at first they do not attain full charge as indicated on a hydrometer's scale the battery has to be drawn down low again and re charged as before. This is called "cycling". I use a 1 amp charger bought in the '60's from Manny, Moe and Jack (for one buck, the good old days, maybe the best buck ever spent?). This method is an alternative to putting a charged battery in parallel while charging, if you don't want to tie up the charged up battery. Dead flat batteries won't respond to a rate of charge of say 10 amps, as Trimacar explained above.

This will work perfectly fine with a conventional battery but you can run into problems with an AGM battery such as the Optima, due its very low internal resistance. Once the line voltage falls below a certain level, many chargers simply won't recognize there is a battery in the circuit.

I recently reactivated a dead Optima with a jumper battery. I got it to about 11.5 volts on a slow trickle. The next day I hooked it up to 10amps with a starting battery voltage of 10.28 and it cooked a cell in about 40min. I was not impressed. An expensive battery that can't stand 10 amps? Why is it so expensive? FWIW it was an import from about 5 or so years ago. "They" say the newer ones are better but are they?

I would expect a good battery to last six or eight years.

A good battery that is five years old is long in the tooth.

A battery that has gone dead, has a shorter life

JMHO

I have a charger with a setting for gel batteries like this. Someone gave me two dead Optimas that they had given up on and the charger was able to desulfate one of them -- the other remained bad. Meanwhile, I just replaced an Optima that had given 13 years of service in a '35 Auburn, and I have one in a '29 Packard that is now 8 years old. The fact that these batteries don't pose an acid spill risk means a lot when you're talking about preserving a nicely restored engine compartment.

What is the best way to check the level charge, in an Optima, while it is charging?

All battery advice I have seen warns that the newer Optima batteries are nowhere near as good as the older ones. Reason given is that production moved out of country and quality control disappeared, including the 'ingredients' used to manufacture them. Optima may have gotten on top of that but I haven't seen any reports of better recent quality.

What is the best way to check the level charge, in an Optima, while it is charging?

The way I've always monitored the charge leval while charging a battery is by noting the amount of amperage being drawn on the amp gauge. As the amount of charge rises in the battery, the amperage draw will decrease. If the charger doesn't have an amp gauge, a multi-meter, set on the 10 amp scale can be placed in series with the positive lead. If it doesn't work, the fuse in the meter may be blown.