Optimate 4 issue or battery? - Page 1 - Chimaera (2024)

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Hi All

does anyone have a Optimate 4 unit or one thats gone wrong at all?. I've had mine plugged in for ages when the cars in the garage and its always worked well... But last night I got in the car and the battery is very low to the point where it would not start the car. Got to say that last time the car was out it did appear a tad low on starting but I never thought much about it... (building extension so cars not been out much this year )

The battery was new about 3 years ago and its not done much work TBH....
When you plug the charger in it gives full orange light that indicates its putting 0.8 amps in... after 60 mins it flashes on the bottom orange and the 0.2a light for 60 mins.. then it goes to the top RHS green light and constantly flashes as if the battery is full?... But its not??

Any ideas... if the charge was naffed id expect it not to work at all?.. but it don't appear to be making much sense?... And if the battery was duff.. would it not detect this and tell me?

Anyone have one gone in some way??

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1. Your battery is probably duff. Did you keep the receipt and how long is the manufacturer's warranty.

2. My standard Halfrauds battery charger is "intelligent". If it cannot detect a fair few volts when I connect it up, it assumes it is not connected to a battery. I have to fool it by using jump leads to a healthy battery to get it started.

3. If your battery has drained that far, you may need a full battery charger rather than a trickle charger.

None of which relates to your Optimate 4 question, but you are reading the thoughts of a man who has had to change the batteries on 5 of this family's seven cars in the last four years. In my limited experience, once they start to fail, you might as well cut to the chase and change them.

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Mmmm.. not so sure... i have had it on all the time when its been in the garage 24/7.. so may be not the best thing to do? and its been in there most of the time since I put it away last year but it has 12.8v in the battery and holds the headlights on for a bit before the volt gauge starts to drop (verified by a digitak meter also)

I've just put the Optimate on my bike battery (thats not been out much either) and its doing a similar thing... not quite the same as it did appear to charge for a few mins and the green light is now constant and not flashing like it did on the car???

I really don't want to have to take the car battery out... I'd have to move a load of stuff,, push it out etc etc.... will try a std charger on the car see what that does ?....

cheers

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update.. Green light flashing this AM.. so it may be the charger... ?
Also found reciept for the battery.. it's 2.3/4 years old and has a 3 year gaurantee

Edited by TVR Beaver on Thursday 10th September 09:32

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The minimum to expect on a charged battery is 12.6v (6 cells with 2.1v in each) so at first glance your 12.8v appears okay. A recovery check is the best and most accurate way to test the battery.
Start with the 12.8v. Now with a meter connected across the battery, switch the headlights on until the voltage drops to 11.5v. Switch everything off.
Watch the meter reading. A good healthy battery will recover at roughly 0.1v every couple of seconds and will keep recovering at this rate until it returns to at least 12.6v.
A battery in poor condition will try to recover but it will stop well before the 12.6v minimum and will seem to take for ever to go up from 11.5v.

As QBee says, once a battery is discharged, cut your losses and buy a new one. Very rarely if ever will you manage to return your battery to a good condition that will last any time.

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Thanks Iain.. will give this a go... watching what it did the other night I think its recovering okay, so again it point to the charger.. But I can't quite remember the numbers and times if im honest.

I've also got my hands on another charger / conditioner from a mate at work so will plug that in tonight and see what happens

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Further update.. The battery is not recovering as it should.. in fact if you put the lights on .. it will go from 12.6 to 11 is seconds.. turn th elights off and it bounces back to 12.2 say.. but then takes ages to come back up?...

I tried another charger / conditioner on it last night and it's done the same this as the Optimate (charge for a bit then say its full)... so I'm guessing its the battery?...

strange its showing good volts so I'm guessing cells have not gone down.. but it's obviously no power behing it?.. what happens to them to stop them having the amps?...

Cheers

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you'd think the Optimate would pick it up as well and report it as a fault?.. but maybe it just see's 12.6 / 12.8 volts and thinks its done its job?..... Makes you wonder if all this tech blurb they sell these things on is actualy worth it? a good old charger on a 7 day timer may be the future

anyway.. pull it out this aft and take it back Saturday.. see what they say

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Although it sounds like you have discounted the Optimate, I do have an Accumate which has failed recently after 6 years of use.

It was actually discharging the battery and the transformer inside was getting very hot. I binned it and got a Ctek. I had suspicions that it was cooking the battery if left connected for a long time (even when it was new), as I had to replace the battery last year even though it was on the charger and the battery case was distorted and bulging when removed from the car.

The Ctek switches to a different charge program after 7 days which hopefully is better for long term storage.

I also think the lighter socket drops some volts from the battery, and that can confuse some chargers if connected that way.