got RedTop - need to preserve the old battery...

[andruxa]

Went and got RedTop Optima today, it was on sale at PartSource for 159.00 CND (100 US), so not bad deal I guess. Now, I have the old one sitting in garage. Need your opinion on how to preserve the old one, since I now have 2 relatively good batteries siiting in my garage that I want to preserve, and possibly use later on.

Should I fully charge em? Fully discharge them? Leave em the way they are?

How can I keep them in good condition without using?

 

[Doug]

get a trickle charger and hook it up to that. that will keep the battery in good shape.

 

[dogfriend]

Originally posted by andruxa

Should I fully charge em? Fully discharge them? Leave em the way they are?

How can I keep them in good condition without using?

You want to keep the battery charged, but don't overcharge it. Get a trickle charger as Namitey suggests. These chargers monitor the voltage so they shouldn't overcharge. I use one of these for my RV battery during the winter.

Don't leave a battery discharged. Thats the easiest way to ruin it.

 

[andruxa]

Do I need to constantly keep checking the charge on the battery? i mean, once-a-month or what?

Also, has anyone used the trickle charger that works from the sun? The plate that you can put on the dash and plug into the sig. lighter? Seen one at Wal-mart, and right a way remembered couple times when I got my battery drained while camping and chilling to tunes 4-5 hours...

 

[dogfriend]

The charger that I have has an LED that is on when its charging, off when it isn't. It maintains the voltage at a certain level (I cant remember the exact voltage)

Mine is similar to this one:

http://www.jcwhitney.com/productnoi...AABD1OQSNDV1CFFCCJUOXKIV0?CATID=190771&BQ=mot

I didn't pay as much for it though.

I have one of the solar ones for my camping trailer but I have never gotten around to hooking it up yet, so I can't say how it works.

 

[Crankcase]

Keep it off the ground too, put it on some wood or something, somehow leaving it on the ground drains it....

 

[Opera House]

So, do you have a use for tem?

Leaving a battery on charge long term also causes problems. You need to cycle them to keep the surface layer spongy. Find someone who can use them is the best solution.