I've been using an Optima Yellow Top for the past year or so as aux battery and have always been surprised at how little reserve current it has. This is based more on intuition than anything else. (It seems like it ought to run an 800-watt 120 v espresso maker for 5 minutes, but no way...) But I've just been testing it with a meter and find that the refrigerator draws it down from a starting voltage of 12.30 to 11.99 in 20 minutes, to 11.84 in 60 minutes. Is that typical? Also, when the alternator is charging, it shows 13.9 to 14.4 at the cigarette lighter (vehicle battery) but only a max of 13.7 on the aux battery. Why wouldn't they be the same? The standard relay seems to be isolating them as it should. No, the Optima isn't sealed! There's white powder all over the ground post and you can see where liquid's been running out, probably eating holes in the floor. |
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