reproduction ford battery dead

FrankWest

FrankWest

Well-known member
One cold night 40 degrees F and my 1.5 year old ford battery is dead.
Put the trickle charge on it overnight....no effect.
How long does a trickle charge take to charge a 6 volt battery?
I have an optima red top 1.5 year old too also dead...Maybe this is the morgue! The optima won't respond to my trickle charger.
The trickle charge has a red light when it is charging and the light turns green when charged. I am charging in the car, light is red, when I turn the headlight switch on the red light on the charger goes out! No headlights or horn of course. Just when I was preparing to test my restored 1933 zenith glove boxe radio....No power available...Can you beat that! I had plenty of power before that one cold night. HELP!!!!
 
Frank, as long as there is any juice left in a battery, the charger should recognize and try to charge it. Turning on your headlights during this operation may abort the charge.
 
40 degrees F is not going to kill a battery. I suspect that you have a parasitic drain in your electrical system. Did you disconnect the battery cables when you tried to charge it? If not, do so....
 
We had a battery expert (engineer) talk to at our Ford club meeting, bottom line was that if you use a battery tender that keeps it at full charge all the time, a new battery should last at least 12 years and more. Debunked ideas like that sitting on concrete would somehow cause the battery to discharge etc.
 
I disconnected the battery and put the trickle charger back on...I will see how it looks in the morning. Any ideas how I can charge the optima red top battery. Should I buy a regular charger rather than a trickle charger? Bad news when your main battery and backup battery are both bad.
 
When you get your lead acid battery up to full charge, connect it in parallel (positive to positive - negative to negative) to the Optima and then connect your charger. You can use jumper cables to connect the two batteries together. A heavy duty charger does have a place in your garage....
 
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Sounds like you're trying to use a Battery Tender or similar "maintainer". These are not meant to charge a dead or low battery, just to be used to maintain a fully charged battery. If the battery is capable of taking a charge, use a charger (at least 6 amp.) When fully charged put the maintainer on to keep it up. The maintainer may stay on red for a while but should go to green if battery is any good.
Howard
 
HCO41 said:
Sounds like you're trying to use a Battery Tender or similar "maintainer". These are not meant to charge a dead or low battery, just to be used to maintain a fully charged battery. If the battery is capable of taking a charge, use a charger (at least 6 amp.) When fully charged put the maintainer on to keep it up. The maintainer may stay on red for a while but should go to green if battery is any good.
Howard
Click to expand...
You are right, I need a real battery charger.
I used this trickle charger to first charge the brand new Ford Reproducton lead acid battery after I filled the battery with acid. It took about 4 days but did charge it 1.5 years ago.
 
Last Sunday, I jumped in my '37 to go to Church. Nothing, not a peep. I put on an actual 6V charger. Sunday night I went into the garage to check on any progress. I noticed the interior car lights were on. I had forgotten to turn them off. As of now, the battery is fully charged. Give yours a day or two and verify everything inside is off. Maybe your issue is simpler than it seems.
 
HCO41 said:
Sounds like you're trying to use a Battery Tender or similar "maintainer". These are not meant to charge a dead or low battery, just to be used to maintain a fully charged battery. If the battery is capable of taking a charge, use a charger (at least 6 amp.) When fully charged put the maintainer on to keep it up. The maintainer may stay on red for a while but should go to green if battery is any good.
Howard
Click to expand...

The same charging procedure applies to an Optima battery. I installed a kill switch on my vehicles to prevent battery drain when not in use and as insurance for fire from electrical shorts.
 
I have always maintained (ablest the last few years) that when ever what appears to be a battery issue, REPLACE IT! From there, at least you know, it is not the battery. A new battery is a 'cheap fix'. I recommend you replace the battery and 'go from there'.

Have a great day............ Daryl
 
You really need a good battery charger. I would bet both your battery's would come back. Your new battery that you originally charged was never charged enough with a trickle charger that backs down as it charges. Also hook another battery up with your optima neg to neg pos to pos and charge it good for a long time. That will bring it back too. Gary
 
Frank, Buy yourself a decent battery charger with an ammeter on it and a selectable charge rate control for 6 and 12 volts. There are a heap of automatic chargers around with idiot lights on them that only charge one or two amps which is useless when you have a dead battery. You need something like a 10 amp output to be useful. They might cost you a couple of hundred dollars but worth it. Fit a good quality battery cut off switch in your battery negative cable or the positive ground cable. Turn it "OFF" every time you are away from the car. It can act as an anti theft device and give you peace of mind that the car will be safe from any electrical problems when it is parked and unattended. My switch on my 34 is mounted in the floor just near the front edge of the drivers seat and cuts the positive ground cable. You can operate it whilst sitting in the car and nobody can see you turn it off. But you have to drill a hole in the floor but what price for safety and piece of mind. Your two batteries need to be hit with a decent charger and not your little float charger. Buy yourself a cheap multimeter and check the battery voltage now and then. A good 6 volt battery should be at 6.3 volts when fully charged at rest. Regards, Kevin.
 
Over the years I have had a bunch of Optima and Reproduction conventional types. Sooner or later...mostly way sooner...they all croaked. The Optimas usually died quite suddenly without warning. No charging, special hook ups... series/parallel, "magic words" etc. revived them. The Reproduction Ford units failed very quickly too. So now I buy Sears or Interstate, 6 volts from Sam's Club... whatever fits... make sure I disconnect when I park the car and buy a new one when one croaks. Frankly the "new style" work/last way better than the Optima/Repros ever did.
 
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