I Just Destroyed My Optima Yellow Top...

[HHR]

I purchased a used 2008 Chevy Impala this last summer and it came with an Optima "Yellow Top" Starting/Deep Cycle battery installed in it. The battery was made in March of 2011 and has been trouble free until now.
Yesterday I went to move the car and it just made a faint click and wouldn't crank. I put my 10 amp charger on the battery for about one hour and made the critical mistake of putting the charger on "50 amp boost" during my next cranking attempt. Turning the key gave me no clicks, lights or cranking. I shut off the charger and the battery was making creaking noises and a small plume of smoke came out from the fuse box as I watched my fusible links melt.
I immediately removed the negative cable from the battery to prevent further damage.

I later found out that Optima batteries cannot be "boosted" at more than 10 amps. I guess I've learned my lesson the hard way. I was in a hurry to move the car and i should have disconnected the battery and charged it (at a low rate) overnight. Now I need to find out where to get the correct size fusible links. They look to be 10-12 gauge. But the outer part of the link says 3 50. mm.

 

[bigtiller]

I am so glad you posted this. I did not know this. How did you find out about the charging amperage limit?

 

[amigauser]

I am so glad you posted this. I did not know this. How did you find out about the charging amperage limit?

Support - Battery Care - Charging :: OPTIMA® Batteries

 

[mikehaugen]

While I believe the facts about not charging the battery more than 10 amps, I don't think that is your only problem. I would investigate the electrical system a little better before you put another battery in there.

 

[HHR]

I think I will check my positive cable for a short to ground before I put the new battery in. The fusible link that burned turned out to be 12 gauge or 2.0 SQ MM.

 

[CJONE]

I agree with Mike and I'll bet the battery is fine, you have other problems. CJ

 

[FTG-05]

The 10 amp limit is for battery charging via a battery charger.

Here are the complete specs, note the numbers of times that the words "no amperage limit" appear (emphasis added). Like someone stated above, you have other problems and it's probably not with this battery.

"Recommended charging information:

Alternator:

13.65 to 15.0 volts, no amperage limit.

Battery Charger:

13.8 to 15.0 volts, 10 amps maximum, approximately for 6-12 hours.

Cyclic Applications:

14.7 volts, no current limit as long as battery temperature remains below 125ｰF (51.7ｰC). When current falls below 1 amp, finish with 2 amp constant current for 1 hour.

Rapid Recharge:

Maximum voltage 15.6 volts (regulated), no current limit as long as battery temperature remains below 125ｰF (51.7ｰC). Charge until current drops below 1 amp."

 

[Car Doc]

Yeah the fuse links would have nothing to do with charging the battery far as carrying current unless it was on backwards wouldn't make any sense because they are on the car side of the battery. A short in the car would fry them and it should but straight hooking a charger up may waste a gel battery but should have nothing to do with fuse links. my .002

 

[wrooster]

The 10 amp limit is for battery charging via a battery charger.

"Recommended charging information:

Alternator:
13.65 to 15.0 volts, no amperage limit.

Battery Charger:
13.8 to 15.0 volts, 10 amps maximum, approximately for 6-12 hours.

That makes no sense. How and why does the battery react differently depending on whether it is connected to an alternator-powered charging system versus a utility-powered charging system? If I stuck two wires through a wall, and there was nominal charging voltage on those wires (say 13.8Vdc), you'd have a hard time telling me whether the power was being sourced by an alternator or a charger.

Any way you charge the battery, as the state-of-charge increases towards 100% the battery terminal voltage increases and accordingly the charging current will decrease -- and therefore the entire charging process is self-limiting.

Wrooster

 

[wrooster]

By the way, there is one more clue here: a car made in 2008 should not be going on it's third battery... that is pointing to a separate problem altogether.

Wrooster

 

[HHR]

By the way, there is one more clue here: a car made in 2008 should not be going on it's third battery... that is pointing to a separate problem altogether.

Wrooster

The car was owned by a police department before I got it. It has 132,000 miles and probably 10000+ hours by now.

 

[HHR]

You guys were right. The wire leading from the fusible link to the harness is shorted to ground somewhere. I used a paper clip and my continuity tester to check every fuse and relay connection for grounding. The terminals marked in red in the photo are shorted to ground.

 

[Soundguy]

makes me wonder too. with proper filtering.. you can have an output from a line source LOOK like dure DC on a scope, for a given load. heck.. you could charge pump it and not know.

makes ya wonder...

rapid recharge seems to contradict that too...

That makes no sense. How and why does the battery react differently depending on whether it is connected to an alternator-powered charging system versus a utility-powered charging system? If I stuck two wires through a wall, and there was nominal charging voltage on those wires (say 13.8Vdc), you'd have a hard time telling me whether the power was being sourced by an alternator or a charger.

Any way you charge the battery, as the state-of-charge increases towards 100% the battery terminal voltage increases and accordingly the charging current will decrease -- and therefore the entire charging process is self-limiting.

Wrooster

 

[Soundguy]

The car was owned by a police department before I got it. It has 132,000 miles and probably 10000+ hours by now.

my o4 f250 has more miles on it.. has been driven by a dozen people.. and is on it's 2nd 'set' of batteries.

an 08 with that many changes? makes me wonder.

does it have the high capaity alt on it? ( extra load of light bars..e tc..e tc.. ) or was it dewatt'ed??

 

[SPYDERLK]

That makes no sense. How and why does the battery react differently depending on whether it is connected to an alternator-powered charging system versus a utility-powered charging system? If I stuck two wires through a wall, and there was nominal charging voltage on those wires (say 13.8Vdc), you'd have a hard time telling me whether the power was being sourced by an alternator or a charger.

Any way you charge the battery, as the state-of-charge increases towards 100% the battery terminal voltage increases and accordingly the charging current will decrease -- and therefore the entire charging process is self-limiting.

Wrooster

They are concerned that the batt charger may not taper off like most do. 10A for 12hr would be an overcharge. Alt V reg has a healthy charge regimen built in. ... and they dont do extended hi A charging.
larry

 

[HHR]

my o4 f250 has more miles on it.. has been driven by a dozen people.. and is on it's 2nd 'set' of batteries.

an 08 with that many changes? makes me wonder.

does it have the high capaity alt on it? ( extra load of light bars..e tc..e tc.. ) or was it dewatt'ed??

It has the larger 150 amp alternator.

My cousin has a 2000 F250 7.3L and his original batteries lasted 10 years.

 

[Soundguy]

They are concerned that the batt charger may not taper off like most do. 10A for 12hr would be an overcharge. Alt V reg has a healthy charge regimen built in. ... and they dont do extended hi A charging.
larry

any unloaded-clamped or regulated bat charger should be no issue for it.. especially one of the smart units.

from what you are saying.. they just have some dumbed down CYA directions on it that are meant as a safety net mostly, and otherwise prevent 60% of the 'good' chargers out there from being used.

I can understand that. I've built plenty of stuff that I left CYA instructions on use for.. since I didn't know how smart / dumb the user was gonna be.

 

[wrooster]

They are concerned that the batt charger may not taper off like most do. 10A for 12hr would be an overcharge. Alt V reg has a healthy charge regimen built in. ... and they dont do extended hi A charging.larry

And exactly how does the battery charger keep supplying 10A as the terminal voltage of the battery approaches the charger's setpoint voltage?

Wrooster

 

[Soundguy]

And exactly how does the battery charger keep supplying 10A as the terminal voltage of the battery approaches the charger's setpoint voltage?

Wrooster

i can see a old transforer and rectifier only setup, that had a extremely high open circuit voltage.. perhaps in the 25v range.. and a lightly loaded circuit voltage of say.. 17-19v, boiling a battery at 15+v and still sinking some significant current... but those designs that use hi circuit voltages to achieve high current rates when the bat is low are getting exceedingly rare. even the china store stuff turned out has taken steps to prevent this with very very simple clamping circuitry and better targeted to load transformers.. not something off the shelf that was made to fit.

even my old 2-10-50 sears from 20+ years ago, once a LA battery is at 15v on the posts, the output on the 10a setting is around 3.5 and on th 50a boost.. it's less than 10a and that's a low duty cycle setting..e tc..

optima is just doing a cya in case someone whips out a bat charger from 1920 or hooks up a variac and a big hunk of silicon to it. E.. they are planning for the 1%

the chinese roll around 200a starter / charger I have is even pretty well behaved on open circuit voltage protection and charge rate at duration.... and lets face it. it's hard to get any more questionable than china.. I don't think india, north korea or africa is exporting any bat chargers currently. those I might wonder about..

 

[AGRIMAN]

My cousin has a 2000 F250 7.3L and his original batteries lasted 10 years.

10 years... I'm doing good to get 3.