Optima Battery Problems

[HenryJ]

Keep in mind that the battery acts as a shock absorber in the charging system. Changes in the amperage flow are not always directly proportional to the alternator output.
Think of the system in terms of water. The alternator is the pump, the wires the pipes or streams and the battery the lake. The pump tries to keep the lake at a set level. If a pipe is pulling from the lake it may take a while for the pump to react and the lake to be drawn to the point the pump begins to refill.
Taking readings at random intervals, while helpful, may not tell the whole story. If detail is needed the readings would need to be graphed in shorter intervals over a long period. Keep in mind that this is just the flow from one point to another and in one pipe. To get the whole story each pipe and its attachment points in the system must be defined. This may be fun to watch , but I'm not sure it would be helpful to the discussion at hand as the system has already been demonstrated to be functioning properly.

[teotwaki]

What caused the amp spike at 1825? And, why is the amp draw the same at 1827 (with the fridge shut off) and at 1330 (with the fridge on)?

The 0.03 Amps is just the low level draw of the electronic circuits in the fridge without any motor current. The Watts-Up can sometimes capture fairly high peaks which are very short and likely due to inrush current. So far the data shows the fridge pulls only 2 Amps when the motor is running steadily as at 18:25 and later at 19:08. What is interesting is how low the battery sinks in V minimum (12.11 volts) and during the course of 11.5 hours on battery it has only pulled 3.623 Amp Hours total. Yet an hour and a half of drive time does not seem to be enough to replenish that amount for the battery. This is where an Optima engineer could be really helpful but O-J has been absent of late.

Some of your questions may be helped by understanding how the Watts-Up works. Not as good as a true data logger but for $60 it is very useful

http://www.powerwerx.com/digital-met...dc-inline.html
manual: http://www.powerwerx.com/techdata/Watts-UP-V2.pdf

[teotwaki]

Keep in mind that the battery acts as a shock absorber in the charging system. Changes in the amperage flow are not always directly proportional to the alternator output.
Think of the system in terms of water. The alternator is the pump, the wires the pipes or streams and the battery the lake. The pump tries to keep the lake at a set level. If a pipe is pulling from the lake it may take a while for the pump to react and the lake to be drawn to the point the pump begins to refill.
Taking readings at random intervals, while helpful, may not tell the whole story. If detail is needed the readings would need to be graphed in shorter intervals over a long period. Keep in mind that this is just the flow from one point to another and in one pipe. To get the whole story each pipe and its attachment points in the system must be defined. This may be fun to watch , but I'm not sure it would be helpful to the discussion at hand as the system has already been demonstrated to be functioning properly.

Most important to me, the Watts-Up gives me the total Amp Hours that the fridge has consumed over time. A nice datalogger would be great! So if my alternator can easily source the amps, what is the engine run time that it takes to replenish the Amp-Hours and do the OEM charge profiles handle an Optima's needs?

[brussum]

I figured it was related to the fridge cycling on and off. More data points probably would've been beneficial, but its tough to do if you have a day job. Thanks for the clarity.

[teotwaki]

I figured it was related to the fridge cycling on and off. More data points probably would've been beneficial, but its tough to do if you have a day job. Thanks for the clarity.

We need the day job to fund the fun, right? The annoying thing about all of this is that I've had to put so much effort into figuring out why a fairly new Optima cannot stay charged, even though it was recently made in a state-of-the-art facility.

[TheJosh]

The Moral of The story is.... Optimas are garbage

[HenryJ]

The Moral of The story is.... Optimas are garbage

That is pretty harsh. I may agree, but it is my hope that the information can be taken and solutions can be gained from the experiences.
In a perfect world Optima would look and see what can be done to improve their product and repair the deficiencies. At the very least the consumers will be more aware and put their $$ toward a product that will work better for them.

The one thing you can count on is change. Lets hope it can be for the better.

[teotwaki]

It would be nice if an independent lab would take 1,000 Optimas and figure out the quality and deficiencies for that sample. That could be extrapolated against an estimate of the total number of batteries produced.

I am running as many tests as I can but most folks just take the darned things back and try to warranty them

[RusherRacing]

I run a optima yellow top in my vette. It always starts, never have put a charger on it in the 2.5years I have had it, sits in an un heated shop most of the winter connected to the car.
I won it in a race that Optima sponsors is the only reason why I have it. Otherwise I buy Interstate Blem battery's from behind the counter at the local parts store.

But battery's are a wear item, they go bad and when they do just replace them.

[teotwaki]

But battery's are a wear item, they go bad and when they do just replace them.

LOL, a $69 CostCo Kirkland battery is a wear item. $211 batteries that cannot survive two years are a major headache.