Optima charger, optima uses different electricity?
So when my alternator throws 140 amps at it, what then?
Crud, one more thing i need I guess
Well, if your alternator is throwing 140 amps at any battery when it's not needed, then you have a problem with your charging system that needs to be fixed right away!;D
Doesn't matter whether it's an Optima or a WalMart battery. If your alternator throws out it's maximum current when it's not needed, it's going to overcharge the battery. And if left long enough without fixing it, will most likely kill the battery.
The Optimas and all other AGM type batteries do benefit from chargers with certain capabilities, but that doesn't mean you can't use it with any regular vehicle charging system (would defeat the purpose frankly) or semi-smart charger if you need to. I've used the good old regular home chargers for years with good results.
But recent events have led me to borrow a couple of the fancy new electronic smart-charger types to try out. The Optima, C-Tek and other similar brands of chargers come with optimizable settings for AGM and regular flooded and Deep-Cycle and whatever ya got.
A specialized charger is more likely to be able to bring an AGM back from the dead. But at some point, a battery is just dead and can't be brought back.
I'm doing that bring-em-back-alive comparison right now. Have two totally dead Blue Top Optimas that I bought new and let sit without charging for ten years. Deadeadeadead... And dead in the head too, since I have maintainers I could have put them on to keep them alive, but didn't for some reason.
So now I have one on an Optima 400 and the other on a C-Tek borrowed from friends to see if there is any life left in them.
We'll see...
Paul
