I should be getting paid by these companies to test their products. If it can break I will do it. Had to jump the truck off the other day so went checking. One battery great the other had full 12 volts but would only rattle the solonoid.

Took it to Advanced today, they swapped it out with a new one. The battery was purchased May 2002 so I have no complaints. That is a lot longer than standard batteries will last in my setup. Also they have been run down to a couple of volts several times. Sometimes I forget to shut the refridgerator down and it zonks them good.

Love it when it is a freebee.

 

Ya know Bill, that's the first one I've heard of that's actually died without being destroyed. Congratulations!

brandon.

 

Well why do you thing its named Murphy They die differently, full voltage, no amperage. I do have to add this though, the battery was the old 650 amp battery, the other one is 700 amp and the new one is 730. They are all red tops, just upgraded along the way. I think I am going to set them up independant, diodes to the charge and a solonoid between the for start. That way now or old would not matter, and not have to be pairs. I cannot afford a hundred dollar battery to keep them new in pairs.

I am sure that I killed it with the running them down, a couple of times the interior lights only glowed.

 

Hey Haulin', Try one of these Low voltage disconnects or Battery Separators on your refrigerator & aux 12v loads.
http://www.surepower.com/Products/Products.asp
This outfit makes very high quality stuff.
I use one of their Battery "Separators" for my ham radio stuff connected to a 3rd battery...
The 3rd batt runs the Ham Radio equip when the truck is off and the voltage drops below 13.2volts. When the engine is running and the alternator is charging, the batt separator senses that and ties all 3 together without diodes or other stuff that drops voltage.
I can also manually key the separator relay to tie all 3 batts together in case I did leave my headlights on and drained my starting batteries. Now, whether a single smaller battery will start a CTD or not is another matter, but it is designed for that express purpose... They use these on RV's, trucks, ambulances, etc.

Yep!, deep-deep discharging any starting battery is a sure early death sentence!
I knew a fellow that used to buy a new DieHard battery for his boat and would use it for a season and then run it absolutely slap-dab dead and then put a jumper across it to make sure EVERY bit of life was sapped out of it... He would let it sit a while and it would fail Sears' charge test and he would get a brand new one each year. Sort of extreme but it was a guaranteed killer!
My wife used to leave the interior lights on in her old van overnight and I could COUNT on replacing that battery within a couple months of that happening.

On SurePower's website, I looked up distributors and I found several in Texas...
I found there are a jillion different prices for their products across the country depending on which distributor I called.
I got lucky and found one close-by in Tx and they turned out to be a quality outfit too!
Tracy Electric in Houston sold and shipped me the separator for $49.00 when it's MSRP was ~$119.


Good luck with your new Optima!
I'll be getting a pair before too much longer myself!

Keith

 

While I was Mayor I put two of them on the Police cars, they work great. I just have not gotten around to it, always something going on to work on.

 

Mayor?

 

Yeah, I was even given one of those "Mayor of Dodgeville" plates for the front of my truck. Blue I can't tell you how glad I am that it is over and I have a life again.