Bad battery

Woodie1

Woodie1

Well-known member
We have a 1939 Deluxe Ford with a 6 volt battery & VR. I charged the battery for several hours with the positive battery cable removed. The voltage at the posts was 6.47. After sitting for about 4 hours it reads 4.4 at the posts. A hydrometer shows all 3 cells at the top of the 1.3 good scale. I think the 3 year old battery is bad.
 
Have the battery load tested. If you buy anew battery then buy an optima, they are the best in 6 volt. Regards, Kevin.
 
When it sat for four hours and the voltage dropped, was the ground cable still disconnected?. If so, bad battery for sure. If not, check for something draining the battery. First check is to disconnect the ground cable, recharge the battery, and then with everything off, tap the loose cable on the battery post. If you get any sparks at all, something is draining the battery. Try disconnecting the Field wire on the voltage regulator to see if that connection is stuck closed. Not a common failure, but it can happen.
 
I was looking a couple of weeks ago (my Optima is fine, but it is 12 years old) to see what it would take to replace it. To my surprise, the cheapest price I could find was my local NAPA store. A couple of bucks less than Amazon, even.
 
Looking around for an optima. The best price from a reputable source seems to be from Batteries Plus. $249.99. 10% off when ordering online brings it to about $225.

I do see them being offered by AliExpress for about $175, but I know nothing about them. They seem like a mysterious global marketing outfit.
 
Be careful. There was an outfit out there that was offering 6 volt Optima's for under $150. They were "Yellow Tops". I looked for "Optima Yellow Top" and did not find anything. The real ones are "Red Tops".

Does anyone know what a "Yellow Top" is? (Besides a complete fake, that is.)
 
tubman said:
Be careful. There was an outfit out there that was offering 6 volt Optima's for under $150. They were "Yellow Tops". I looked for "Optima Yellow Top" and did not find anything. The real ones are "Red Tops".

Does anyone know what a "Yellow Top" is? (Besides a complete fake, that is.)
Click to expand...

Deep cycle AGM battery. 12 volt.
 
An Optima 6 volt yellow top deep cycle type battery was available in Europe some years ago that was made especially for a VW convertible car. Dont think they are available now. Regards, Kevin.
 
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