Battery Tester Analyzer

[Rebeldad1]

Okay, a dead Optima (Yellow Top) battery in one of the Kubotas today. Tractor would not start, took the battery out and charged it up on a conventional charger. Charged for about 1/2 hour and charger indicated the battery was fully charged. Measured 12.27 Volts so I put it back in, but no luck starting. With my multimeter hooked up when I turned the key the voltage on the whole keyswitch dropped to 0.9 V when attempting to start. Pulled the starter and jumped it off another battery, starter good. Swapped out battery and the tractor started. The battery seems to have enough Voltage but can not put out any current.

The Optima is about 5 years old and now measures 12.25 Volts with no load. I know there are special AGM chargers which I do not have but does anyone think this battery is recoverable? I will be headed to the auto parts store tomorrow to have them check it out, but curious what anyone thinks. I would like to salvage it, 830 CCA yellow tops are not cheap. I have 5 Optimas so maybe an AGM charger is also something I need to get if there is a real advantage.

Isnt the yellow top a deep cycle? may not be getting enough run time to charge or not getting a proper charge cycle for a deep cycle. how low of voltage do you go before charging? If you are using it like a car battery it might reach its end of life sooner. Might switch to blue or red top. Also I have seen rebuilt ones for sale. Bought my last yellow top rebuilt for $75.00.

3 things that told you its a bad battery. 1. charged to full way too quick 2. after charging its only 12.27 volt
3. dropped to 0.9 volt trying to start. (also could be bad grounds if it wasnt charging to full too soon)

A AGM charger is a plus.

 

[goeduck]

My two tractors that have yellow tops are on a remote property and only get started once a week, sometimes once a month in the winter. So I selected a yellow top as they seemed be more like RV use. When they do get started they are run for hours anywhere from 4 to 8.

The auto parts store guy checked the battery and his tester indicated the battery needed to be charged. He also indicated that he was told Optima recommends their own charger (what mfg does not?). I asked him about his AGM charger and he recommends that for what Optimas cost, Optimas model 400 ($90) is probably a better bet and it doubles as a maintainer.

 

[TractorGuy]

Old school here. I use a volt meter and hydrometer. If it has good voltage and the specific gravity in all 6 cells is even and in the green it will pass a load test.

 

[fried1765]

Old school here. I use a volt meter and hydrometer. If it has good voltage and the specific gravity in all 6 cells is even and in the green it will pass a load test.

YUP!
Me too!

 

[RustyA]

Newer vehicles with pcm controlled charging will mask a poor battery by operating the alternator more to compensate. You will use more fuel and take more life out of the charging system and never know it. Have battery tested with midtronic tester or replace every 3-5 years and you will be money ahead. Modern vehicles are not very tolerant of voltage drops and spikes caused by weak batteries. If you have a dual battery diesel have them tested independently. Weak battery in diesels eat injector driver modules for breakfast

 

[3930dave]

My two tractors that have yellow tops are on a remote property and only get started once a week, sometimes once a month in the winter. So I selected a yellow top as they seemed be more like RV use. When they do get started they are run for hours anywhere from 4 to 8.

The auto parts store guy checked the battery and his tester indicated the battery needed to be charged. He also indicated that he was told Optima recommends their own charger (what mfg does not?). I asked him about his AGM charger and he recommends that for what Optimas cost, Optimas model 400 ($90) is probably a better bet and it doubles as a maintainer.

With 5 Optimas in the the fleet, I'd spend the $90 on their charger.

I have a Yellow top in mine too, but as listed here already, they are not primarily designed as a Starting battery, more deep-discharge. Mine has served me well. But, I also use a battery disconnect switch every time it's parked. IMO, that is even more important on newer tractors, to fight parasitic loss.

AGMs are great batteries, but do better with an AGM friendly charger.

Certain batteries are beyond recovery, but IIRC, ultrarunner has had good luck with his extensive fleet with that latest charger he bought (bigger money than $90). PM him if you are interested..... I don't trust my memory on what he bought, and don't remember the thread name he last posted in.....

Rgds, D.

 

[goeduck]

I ended up buying the $90 Optima 400 which has the same feature set as the larger $200 Optima 1200 model. It does not have the fast charging capacity however which is fine with me. I hooked it up to the battery and it charged for about 5 hours to 100% and it went into maintenance mode. I unplugged it for the night and plugged it back in the next morning and it said 50% (WTH?) charged for a few more hours, took it to 100% and went back to maintenance mode. Hmmm.... There may be something to the yellow tops needing a deep discharge.... or I have a bad battery. I will pick up an actual load tester (always wanted one) and see how many amps it can put out. Drain it down a few times, let the maintainer charge it and recondition it and see if that helps. I have not found out if there is a way to force the Optima 400 charger to recondition mode, it does it every 30 days while in maintenance mode.

 

[3930dave]

If you have reasonable load performance just after a full charge, then you may being looking at a very high self-discharge rate. Not common, but I've heard of Optimas doing that.

I always try and recover a good quality battery, esp. one not that old. I want to say Battery Tender, but search around for a post in the last year from ultrarunner, or PM him - he bought a higher end model that had extensive re-conditioning modes, and had good luck on a near stone-dead battery or 2 - not sure if he used on AGM or not....

I have a few chargers around, that do get used, but something like that ^ one is probably my next addition here.....

Rgds, D.

 

[shovelmike]

That is a good option. Simple. Do you have to take the battery cables off to use them?

No need to remove the cables.

 

[aczlan]

If you have a dual battery diesel have them tested independently. Weak battery in diesels eat injector driver modules for breakfast

And if one of the two batteries is bad, replace both of them (preferably with two batteries that have the same build date)
If you don't replace both, the "good" old one will drag the new one down and kill it in short order.

Aaron Z