Stovebolt.com Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay Dumb Optima battery question ...

For purposes of setting the charger correctly, are they "AGL" or "GEL" ?

Depends on which optima you have:

https://www.optimabatteries.com/en-us/support/battery-basics/redtop-vs-yellowtop-vs-bluetop-battery

There is a specific charging procedure for recharging/charging a fully discharged 6v red top Optima AGM Battery. It is described on their website.
Recovery Option #2, on the right.

What type/model Optima battery are you referring to?

John,


A gel battery design is typically a modification of the standard lead-acid automotive or marine battery. A gelling agent is added to the electrolyte to reduce movement inside the battery case. Many gel batteries also use one-way valves in place of open vents, which help the normal internal gasses to recombine back into water in the battery, reducing gassing. Generally, gel batteries are less tolerant of high heat and are charged at lower power than traditional or AGM batteries. An OPTIMA battery is neither a gel battery nor a regular flooded battery. OPTIMA is a SPIRALCELL TECHNOLOGY AGM battery.

Or, just drive Charlie more!

One more thing, there are no Dumb questions on this site, Mr Milliman! We just look at the person whom asked the question and take it from there!
See ya soon, in beautiful Morrisville Pa.
Jim

No such thing as a stupid question.

John, if you have a UPS on your computer stuff, they use gel batteries. But like posted above Optimas are not gel, but are AGM (Absorbent Glass Mat).
My charger has an AGM setting. I just use that for recharging my boat Optimas.

6v Optima available from Advance Auto Parts, with a 20-25% off promotion (25% shows up on a pop-up menu).

Thanks for the input everyone -- I'll try Tim's Option No. 2 when I get a chance (which won't be any time soon).

I had a dead 6v Optima that would not charge, using any type of charger (including a heavy-duty big-truck battery-charger at a friend's professional garage).

The technique on the Optima website (that I linked-to, above), got the battery working again.

That was at least 10 years ago.

Tim, Roger that. The hardest part about that trick is finding a second 6-volt battery ... that's charged ... and isn't on the other side of the county