Thomas13

I can save you some $ on your batteries (depending where your located) if your interested.

I'd go with their recommendation.

I think your safe with the deep cycle setting (that is if your optima is a deep cycle) although Optima batteries are AGM they have a very low internal resistance and can accept high currents. You can use any charger on an OPTIMA as long as the voltage is regulated properly. If your charger will remain on indefinitely, the voltage should be at 13.8 volts maximum with a one amp maximum current. (This is straight from the Optima web site). You should be good to go with the charger you have now.

A fully charged battery has a voltage of 12.65 and is 100% discharged at 11.89 so if your starting voltage before the juice is 9.9 you obviously have an issue. You usually see a voltage that low if the battery has been sitting a looong time without a charge. Try charging it with an external charger 5 amps for 20 hours and then retest the voltage.

What do you mean by "it's way down in it's capacity"? There are several factors that impact a starting batteries performance including it's age and it's state of charge (voltage). If you are discharging your starting battery more tahn 10% on a regular basis your batteries life is going to be greatly shortened. If all the cells are bubbling it's a sign of possible overcharging. If only 1 cell is bubbling than the battery likely has a dead cell or is on it's way to developing a dead cell and should be covered under warranty. You may want to pick yourself up a hydrometer at Crappy Tire and measure the specific gravity of the electrolyte in each cell. If the variation between the highest and lowest cell reading is 50 gravity points or more you probably have a failing cell. (The battery should be at least 12.45 volts before testing with a hydrometer.) Hope that helps.

Hey everyone, Here's some info on batteries to help you with your decisions. Delco (Delphi) no longer makes batteries as Delphi was sold several years ago. Delco now uses several different manufactures including KSB (Korean Storage Battery) so it's not the same battery that you bought 10 years ago. Walmart and Costco both sell JCI (Johnson Controls) batteries and a lot of their product is made in Mexico. Iterstate also sells JCI. Exide bought GNB several years ago so GNB marine batteries are no longer available. Crown Battery is a small manufacture in Fremont and to my knowledge they don't make a full line of batteries to cover all applications, the last I heard they were bringing in batteries from Brazil. For a cranking battery (starting application) you wouldn't need a gel unless you were concerned about leaking but there are better alternatives than gel batteries for those applications. Battery group size is simply an easy way to identify a battery in terms of its physical size. ie. group 27 batteries are the same size regardless if they are a starting or deep cycle battery. Dual purpose batteries would not be my choice for a deep cycle application;Sure they a less expensive but they also have less reserve capacity and tend to not last as long over their life time. Hope this helps!