optima battery problem

ok so i have a yellow top optima battery an let it sit over the winter an i put it on a dresser an when i went to use it nothing not even when i tried to jump it. but when i hooked it up to the battery chargerit said it was full an i only use the battery for maybe a total of 5 hours last summer of 2008. i seen a post on here about this problem an cant find it now if anybody has any advice what i can do or a link to the other post would be greatly appreciated.tk

are you wanting to try and charge it back up?

check your battery cables.Dustin Rockney

Rockstar Autosports

Was the battery sitting on the concrete for a long period of time? Try to charge it even though it says its full. If you have a charger with a 2 amp trickle charge charge it for about 4-5 hours then try it.-A vision without a plan is just a hallucination-

spmpdr wrote: Was the battery sitting on the concrete for a long period of time? Try to charge it even though it says its full. If you have a charger with a 2 amp trickle charge charge it for about 4-5 hours then try it.

Then when you are tired of messing around with that deep cycle hunk of junk.... get a new battery.

KarTuneMan wrote: Then when you are tired of messing around with that deep cycle hunk of junk.... get a new battery.

Man is that the truth!

to the OP, you can't trickle charge an optima battery.

ckeeler wrote: KarTuneMan wrote: Then when you are tired of messing around with that deep cycle hunk of junk.... get a new battery. Man is that the truth! to the OP, you can't trickle charge an optima battery.

I hear you on that one kartuneman, to ckeeler why cant you trickle charge an optima battery?, Ive done it numerous times with success both yellow top and red top.-A vision without a plan is just a hallucination-

spmpdr wrote: why cant you trickle charge an optima battery?, Ive done it numerous times with success both yellow top and red top.

ok, maybe i'm speaking in generalisms, however, for the most part you can't trickle charge an optima battery. they just dont take a good charge that way most of the time. i've messed with hundreds of them, and the only way i ever had good sucess charging them back up to par was to use a "fleet" type charger, you know the big billy bad ass roll around ones? and charge them with the max jump start setting (usually 150-200a) for about 10-15 mins, then back the charger to a 40-60a setting for 2-3 hours, and then let it trickle charge on a 10-5a charge for 3-4 hours. after all that, they tested like new ones (for a few months anyway) and i could put them on an actual carbon load tester and they wold test till the cows came home (for a few days). anything less and they just wouldnt really pass a decent carbon load test (at least not enough where i would say the battery was worth a crap, even though they would pass a digital battery tester as good, the carbon load test, would time after time prove that those digital battery testers are crap for telling you what a batteries real worth is). i dont know why, but for some reason a trickle charge was never enough to activate the chemicals in the battery good enough to "really", not just "seemingly", charge one of those optima piles of crap back up to snuff.

ckeeler wrote: spmpdr wrote: why cant you trickle charge an optima battery?, Ive done it numerous times with success both yellow top and red top. ok, maybe i'm speaking in generalisms, however, for the most part you can't trickle charge an optima battery. they just dont take a good charge that way most of the time. i've messed with hundreds of them, and the only way i ever had good sucess charging them back up to par was to use a "fleet" type charger, you know the big billy bad ass roll around ones? and charge them with the max jump start setting (usually 150-200a) for about 10-15 mins, then back the charger to a 40-60a setting for 2-3 hours, and then let it trickle charge on a 10-5a charge for 3-4 hours. after all that, they tested like new ones (for a few months anyway) and i could put them on an actual carbon load tester and they wold test till the cows came home (for a few days). anything less and they just wouldnt really pass a decent carbon load test (at least not enough where i would say the battery was worth a crap, even though they would pass a digital battery tester as good, the carbon load test, would time after time prove that those digital battery testers are crap for telling you what a batteries real worth is). i dont know why, but for some reason a trickle charge was never enough to activate the chemicals in the battery good enough to "really", not just "seemingly", charge one of those optima piles of crap back up to snuff.

I usually just trickle charge mine overnight and then my car will fire right up , I drive around for a for about an hour, so that it can charge off the alternator .I was trying to help the o.p. out. Those batteries are spendy.-A vision without a plan is just a hallucination-

yes i wanna recharge it, yea it sat aroound during winter but was not on concerete sat on a dresser thats about 4ft off the ground. an  i have just an ordianary/basic battery charger. it worked for my red top when i needed it once before an a ton of other batteries.tk