Well, this is interesting. Both of my cars have Optima Red Top batteries, FYI.

My black car will not hold a charge for more than a few days, AT MOST. I'm talking like 4-5 before it won't start. Thinking the alternator is suspect as it doesn't even give out 12 volts. But last time I ran the car, I drove it around for about 15-20 minutes. Plenty of time for a charge. I go out to tinker with it about 2 weeks later, and it's dead as a doornail.

Strangely enough, the Purple Pearl car is also doing the same thing, except this one has a good alternator and no charging issues aparrent. It also can stand to sit for a lot longer also. About a month AT MOST, but then (now) it's the same situation.

Right now I have two dead in the water cars and I can't figure out why. My black car never did this dead battery deal before, so it's beyond me.

In the black car, I have my Alpine Head Unit direct wired to the battery as per the manual (27 watts RMS X 4), and I believe that's it. Joe wired the Electric Water Pump and Accel 300+ through the fues box.

In the Purple car, the MSD Digital 6+ is direct wired to the battery, and the electric water pump is through the fuse box.


So do these Red Top batteries suck, or am I just dealing with more gremlins moving in and settling down?

 

if the battery is drained...i don't think it would fully recharge by driving for 20 min. it's not like you are pumping all that charge into the battery...you're also using some of it to function the car while driving.

i would have the battery recharge at a shop, then see what happens.

it could also be a bad alt drawing charge on the battery when not running...that is a common problem when the alt goes bad...i've had it drain a BRAND NEW battery overnite.

take it to a shop like napa and have them run the diagnosis machine on it..will tell you if hte battery is bad, needs recharging or replacing...and whether the alt is pulling charge when the car is off.

 

Well, I've had the optima in the Black car recharged at Advance Auto 3+ times now. I'm quite sure the alternator is the problem in that car. The previous owner of the purple car said it always had a drainage problem since he got it at 40K. The alternator in that car is fine, so I don't know what it could be.