Chargin Optima 6 volt battery with correct charger/ maintainer

[Ken Rogers]

Wow, There are so many battery charger/maintainers out there with prices all over the board. I was going to buy one but someone stated that the Optima 6 volt gel battery has a 50 amp battery which it does. Now where do I find a 6 volt charger/maintainer complete with microprocessors for 50 amps at like .75- 1.25 amp charge rate. Charging lower and slower is better for battery longer life . I read this because, would or could these little trickle charger/maintainers completely charge these 50 amp batteries and still give it a complete full charge? Just asking. MY 6 volt Deltron battery tender just died. I do not want another of their products.

So any info on this and suggestions for 2020 which one to buy and not cost anything like a new battery?

[David Jones]

After you start your car the initial charge rate to recharge the batteriy is likely to be in the 10 plus amp range but could be higher depending on the state of the battery. As the battery gets charged up the charge rate will drop off and as it approaches a full charge will drop to an amp or two. No difference with a lot of battery chargers but with a battery maintainer the charge rate is limited to a predetermined level of amps so it will take longer to recharge the battery if it is connected when in a semi or even fully discharged state. I have an Optima which is 5 years old and has only ever been charged by the car or by a standard type battery charger or on the cheap Walmart/Schumacher battery maintainer. I have a hard time believing it needs a special charger when it could sit in a car for 5 or more years and survive without issues as many people have stated. The product changes but this is similar to mine but there are others of the same ilk which I am sure will do the job just as well. Price is anywhere from $15 and up.
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Schumacher-S ... YDEALw_wcB

[chris romney]

For what it's worth, in my experience the overall quality of Optima has gotten worse in the last few years. My experience with the early Optima batteries was that they could take a tremendous amount of abuse and still hold a charge with little more than an occasional charge. The last time I bought an Optima, the first two were defective right out of the box ad had to be returned. Finally, the third one actually held a charge. Has anyone else had a similar experience? Thanks.

Chris

[Ronald Sieber]

Optima 6V Chrgr.jpg (718.66 KiB) Viewed 1890 times

I had an Optima in my car for about 10 years. During that time I used a dedicated 6V charger and have attached a photo of it for your reference.

Best,
=rds

[Al Zim]

From the moment your battery is completed it begins getting old. As the batter gets older it cannot maintain the voltage of a new battery. The engine will not crank briskly culminating with an engine will be more difficult to start. The generator will have to work harder to bring the battery to full charge. Use of a trickle charger keep the battery full of charge and prolongs it life. I would suggest a charger that has at least a 2 amp (or more) charging capacity which will taper down as the battery charges. For what it is worth, Optima batteries are now manufactured in Mexico. al zim * *It is important for the battery tender to run all the time. We put tenders for cars that stay over 2 weeks in the shop or storage. When the electricity fails and the tender shuts off and after a while it battery shuts down also, make sure that your tender will turn back on by itself. We have been told by electrical gurus that the optima can easily handle a 30 amp charge.**

[Ken Rogers]

I have decided to purchase the Energizer ENC4a charger maintainer from Amazon about $30. The reasons: 1. It will charge the 6 volt Optima agm battery at 4 amps first to full charge. 2. Maintain the battery at 2 amps. 3. it comes with a 5 year warranty. 4. Has digital readout. 5. 6 volt/12 volt. 6. 9 stage battery charger/ maintainer program. There are way so many out there, I spent way too much time searching. You gotta remember that the Optima 6 volt agm battery is rated at 50 amps. I think it's gotta have a little more than 2 amps to bring it up to full charge first and then maintain. at a lower amperage rate.
I had close second and third choices that were acceptable. I like the features this one has to offer.

[James Watters]

I've been using the Deltron 6v tenders for over 12 years. Never had an issue with my Optima's and I have 2 356's on them. Their 6v chargers do have more of a tendency to go out vs the 12 volt however, their replacement policy is fantastic. I know you don't want to use them again but I thought I'd share my experience with you.

[Ken Rogers]

Here are just some chargers that might be a close contender to consider not in any order. Die hard 7/2/9 charger maintainer. Maxworks 2 amp 6 volt/12 volt.
Smart automotive battery charger/ maintainer. Charge it 4506. Black and Decker makes a 6/12 volt charger/maintainer. Schumacher. Ctek. Way sooo many.

[Vic Skirmants]

For what it's worth. A couple of years ago, when we left the race track, our neighbor with an XKE left a yellow 45 pound Optima battery because it was dead. Can always use some ballast in some cars, so we took it home; I'm not proud. Put a heavy duty charger on it, got it up to spec, and it's been fine ever since.

[Wes Bender]

Those yellow top batteries are deep-discharge marine batteries. He ran it too long before charging, Vic, and you turned out to be the recipient of a pretty expensive battery.

[Ken Rogers]

I received the Energizer ENC4 charger/maintainer yesterday. Here is what I found out about this product. It's misleading. 4 amp charging only works for 12 volts. 2 amps works only for 6 volts. It does not tell rate of 'battery' charged level. I have to use my volt meter to read it. The volt meter read 6.1 vdc before charging. At 6 volts charging, the battery is getting charged as high as 7.7 volts. I do not think this is good for battery to be zapped with it being so high a voltage at 2 amps. Can anyone verify if this is correct or normal? It did not take very long, like maybe 15 minutes for the battery to get charged up to 6.76 volts. I do not think this was the lower and slow method. The instructions does not have very much information on operation. I could not find any real information on maintainer. Pretty much left in the dark there. I do not think I would leave this on the battery for any length of time or walk away. I am concerned. I thought this maintainer would lower it's amperage rate to a much lower number after battery was fully charged to maintain but it does not. I will have to go back and research about battery charging information. Any battery charging guru's out there?

[Bruce Smith]

Just charged up a 6V Optima that I thought was on its way out. Kept it on a 6 amp charger for about 12 hours. Current draw continued to decrease until less than 1 amp. They need enough current for a long time. Only then should you put it on a float or maintenance charge. I'll know in the spring if this one's going to be good.

[Brian R Adams]

Just charged up a 6V Optima that I thought was on its way out. Kept it on a 6 amp charger for about 12 hours. Current draw continued to decrease until less than 1 amp. They need enough current for a long time. Only then should you put it on a float or maintenance charge. I'll know in the spring if this one's going to be good.

I had my car on stands for about 6 months, and forgot to disconnect the ground strap. My electric clock probably eventually drained the 6V Red-top Optima which is now only 15 months old. Today I tried to start the car and the Optima was too flat, so I put it on my very old, dumb, but reliable 10-amp charger for an hour. That didn't do much at all. It started drawing 10 amps, and never got below 9 amps. Is it safe to apply a 10-amp charge (it's a fixed rate) overnight on an Optima? I don't want a disaster in my garage while I'm sleeping.

Brian

[Gary Koehler]

When I bought my 6 V Optima I called them about charging; their recommendation was:

6.6V - 6.9V 1 amp max.

It appears they want to limit the inrush current to the 1 amp value. Don’t know if a generic battery tender can do that, but with a constant current / constant voltage power supply you can clamp the voltage value to limit the current; eBay, Amazon sells them. Sparkies, any opinions?
I also posted this on the other optima thread, sorry.

[Brian R Adams]

I put the battery and charger outdoors and let my "10-amp" go after it all night. By morning it was drawing 3 amps according to the analog meter on the charger, which | cannot vouch for. Anyway, the Optima then read 6.5v and has worked great ever since. I just hadn't realized how long it would take to charge.
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