Baystate Jeepers

BlackNBlue-ISH wrote:How long have you had the dual battery setup? Is it too soon to get a new setup that is more universal for battery replacement?

I've had it for probably close to ten years. I could get another setup, but it will be a PIA to rewire. The optimas are laid on their side and stacked.

Kurt wrote:Questions about the last Optima that failed.
- Was the battery discharged and left uncharged for a while?
- Has this happened more than once for this battery?

This all happened after my personal winch fest in VT. Jeep sat for awhile. Hasn't happened before for this battery.

Frank wrote:Is it the same batt going dead , (same location) Possible draw on that one alone . Do you have an isolater switch ? It might be bad . FjR68

I have an isolator for the 2nd battery, but not the main battery. I have it hooked up to a trickle charger / desulfator now and it is staying charged, but we'll see once I unhook it.

Ah yes Superwinch day! My guess is you discharged that battery running your winch 3 hours plus. Never drove jeep enough for it to recover. Alternator is like trickle charger to maintain battery not recover it. Deep cycle batteries sometimes don't recover just from alternator need to be charged. Optima batteries that get below a certain voltage I think like 10 are not recognized by regular chargers. Need an AGM charger or need to trick charger into thinking the Optima is a good battery. But you might just have bad battery too!

Another winter project Ryan!

Again I say. I bought their "Optima" pulse digital charger. Its not cheap but it literally charges all the cells by what it needs Vs. charging the batt as a whole. Before it goes into a charge mode it analyses the batt and you can watch it checking each cell by voltage. When it goes into charge mode , you can see it varying the charge rate per cell. Afterward it goes into a maintain setting. Can do my Boat batt. in almost half the time it use to. Well worth the coin. If possible , the cables can be swapped , Try that also , to see if it runs down the other batt. Or like Mark said you discharged it big time and it didnt recover . FjR68

So I have to retract my blame for Optima. It ended up that a relay corroded (thought they were sealed!) which kept a large solenoid powered up continuously. This ended up being the drain which would kill the battery in a couple days. Since I found it and fixed it the battery has started the Jeep fine after sitting a few days even in this weather.

So happy for you . After 10 yrs on the big red top I had to purchase a yellow top . I wasnt aware that they had any issues at all , other than price. I know the early red tops were good and then they moved operation and it was hit or miss with the red ones. I thought the big idolater switches did one/other/both . Its just an on off switch to the second batt ? Merry Christmas Ryan . FjR68

glad to hear things worked out well and you found the problem.