Weekend cruiser - Optima Yellow going flat

[Black_vtss]

Good evening all,

The SS recently became a weekend cruiser as I don't like leaving it at the train station during the week and the short 2 minute trips it was getting. I've got an Optima Yellow Top battery which I've had since November 2009, car has stereo system, alarm etc. Within a week the battery was flat -- mid week the battery was 11v and then 10.4v when I tried to start it today.

I've got a c-tek charger so I can always charge it, however just thought the Optima would hold charge longer given its a deep cycle and the weekend driving would keep it going without having to be constantly charged. Maybe the optima has had it.

I'm sure a lot of you guys cars are weekend cruisers. What do you guys do, leave it on trickle charge all week so its ready to go for the weekend?

Is trickle charge better for the battery (Optima) than jump starting it when I need it?

Thanks.

[white lie]

Should be holding better charge than that. Either something is drawing curent or the battery is faulty - I'd lean towards the first option.
Mine has sat for 3-4 months before and still cranked over first go. Was a regular occurance to leave it for a month at a time with no problems so certainly shouldn't be that flat in a week.

[tbs23]

You have a deep cycle battery, when they go flat due to min use,( as in dont get enough time charging they go flat.)
To bring it back to life you will need to give it a shock charge, as in hit it with 25 to 30 amps for a few hours, not a trickel charge. This will bring the optima battery back from the dead, you need minof 12.5 volts at all times to run all the efi systems pumps and injector drivers. IMO

[Wonky]

My D34 two and a half year old Yellow Top suddenly started going flat in 4 or 5 days if the car wasn't used. Had to call RACV to jump start me one day and he said it had a dead cell. Was exchanged for a new one under warranty no questions asked but unfortunately yours is out of warranty by now I assume at over 3 years old. Maybe check out the Delkor batteries mentioned in a very recent battery thread?

[Black_vtss]

Thanks for the feedback guys.

I was interested if others who only drive their beasts on the weekend have this problem but sounds like its my battery on the way out.

It could be the aftermarket alarm drawing charge, I've had the alarm for years without a problem but what's changed is it isn't being driven everyday like it previously was. If it's the Optima then I'm a little surprised I only got 3 years out of it.

Wonky - interesting you only got 2.5 years out of yours.

Maybe I'll pick up another one and see how it goes.

[PSI 364]

The last time I took mine for a drive was 3 months ago and it sits on a CTEK charger 24/7 and starts first time every time (Exide Red Top Lead Acid Battery not an Optima), cant fault it and my battery is now pushing 5 years old.

The BA GT my old man has used to suffer exactly from what you are getting thanks to factory alarm system and some other items in the car and since the CTEK is starts first time everytime, and battery is now 3 years old, used to have to change them every 6 months !

Leave it on charge for the week if you can, makes life a hell of alot easier and is much better for the battery. But I am just a sparky at a power station with banks and banks of deep cycle batteries so its just my advice.

[mickeyrourke]

My Yellow Top is at the end of its life and it is only about 2 years old. Having gone through 2 Holden Calcium-calcium batteries in 2 years I paid the big bucks for a battery with a good reputation. It was fine for a while but after about a year there was a problem with the car that caused it to run dead flat every couple of days. Using a shunt ammeter we found that the rear DVD unit was drawing 1 amp at all times and sending the battery flat. Couldn't afford a new DVD or a service so I disconnected it, much to the kid's disgust! As the battery had been drained to dead flat quite a few times before we found the problem, I suspect the battery life had been adversely affected.
With the battery drain issue resolved the battery lasted fine for another year but a couple of months ago it started to get very sluggish on the starter. I tried a permanently connected solar panel on the back parcel shelf to no avail. So I bought a small 9 cell lead acid battery and mounted it in parallel with the Yellow Top in a battery box in the boot. All good so far. Was going to mount it in the front where the air filter used to be as it is closer to the starter, but an autosparkie mate suggested it would boil in that location given the high under bonnet temps.

[CLUBRED]

Should be holding better charge than that. Either something is drawing curent or the battery is faulty - I'd lean towards the first option.
Mine has sat for 3-4 months before and still cranked over first go. Was a regular occurance to leave it for a month at a time with no problems so certainly shouldn't be that flat in a week.

Exactly the same as mine, would go for months not an issue. It was powering about $50k in audio gear, but on show the car sat on a power supply so was reasonably well looked after. Had that battery for 5 years, was still going strong when I sold the car.

In the VE i had the battery drain issue due to the rear DVD system, holden updated the rom and replaced the battery with a new (same) one (as the old on was more ball shapped than rectangular, the thing was bulging), not an issue since, be 2 years or so now.

[empower]

My Monaro is a weekender and I just have a regular 13 plate battery in it, never had any problems with it retaining a charge - if it's not I suspect ignition off draw of some kind or borked battery.

Hell, I left my Clubsport idle for about a month once and had zero issues starting it after that time.

[Black_vtss]

If it's the alarm drawing power then I guess there's not much I can do about it?

I reckon if its on the C-tek for a couple of days during the week it'll be ok. Will regular charging of a deep cycle battery reduce its life span even more?

[dazzrael]

ive got a yellow top in my statesman and it kills it regularly, no sound gear in mine, but 2 compressors for the airbags which is what i thought was the problem, but checked them out and they are not drawing current. i just keep it hooked up to a charger now and she starts every time, until i can get around to having a auto elecky check out what is killing the battery.