Warning to those who use deep-cycle batteries (Yellow-Top)

[Mase]

Our puny alternators will not charge a dead deep cycle battery! In fact, you shouldn't even drive with a jumped dead deep cycle battery. Here's my story.My optima yellow-top deep cycle battery recently took a dump. It's 2yrs old and has given me reliable service. The reason for its death was my fault and was over a seemingly harmless electrical issue.*flash back*. One afternoon, I opened up my glove box and saw a little plastic 'peg' laying on top of everything in the box. I thought nothing of it and just left it there. *end flash back*3 weeks later, I start my car up just fine. I pick up a friend and head downtown. After hitting our second store, I put the key in, turned it, then heard the infamous jittery-clicky noise from the starter. Awww dangit. I pop the hood and walk up front. My HID's are flashing histarically so I shut them all off. The battery was definitely dead. Luckily I had some cables that I ironically bought to jump other people with my 'immortal' yellow-top. I get a jump and it's idling really rough. I drive away and the flashers are going hyper. At every stoplight, I can feel the engine stumbling. Anyways I left the car running at every chance just to try to charge the battery up enough to avoid a jump. I left it running at all times while filling up, while getting food, etc. Then I took the 1hr highway drive home. Confident that I charged the battery up, I pulled into my driveway. My car is still sputtering and dies shortly after i heard the radiator fan kick in. I tried to start it and still didn't have enough juice to run the starter. At this point, I thought I had a bad alternator on top of the bad battery so I broke out the multimeter. With a dead engine, I was getting around 10.5 volts. I jumped it from my other car and ran the multimeter again. I was getting just under 12volts with an idling engine. I unhooked the battery while the engine was running (to load test the alternator) and to my surprise the engine roared to life and jumped up about 100 rpm. No more dimming lights or sputtering whenever the fan kicked in. The thing was running like a champ again! So I dug up my old STOCK battery which had been sitting in my shed for 2 years. I dropped it in and my car started right up! Pretty good for the stock 330cca battery.Later that night, I went to the car to get something out of the glove box. Well I opened up the door and saw a slight glow emitting from the glove box. The glove box light was ON even with the door closed. I immediately checked the pressure switch that's supposed to shut the light off whenever the glove box door is closed. Well, half the switch was missing. That little plastic 'peg' i found 3 weeks earlier turned out to be an integral part of the switch. So my little 3000mcd LED light had been burning for over 3 weeks (more than 500hrs) straight before finally killing the battery.It took about a day and a half for a home a/c charger to bring that deep-cycle back to life. My little alternator didn't have any effect on the battery charge at all. In fact, the dead battery had been pulling so much current that it kept the rest of my DC system from operating properly. That explains the hyper speed flashers and the sputtering engine at idle.Anyways, that's my little story. Hopefully some of you will find it useful if not entertaining.

[BlueCrush]

Sorry to hear. I dont' think the Vibes have a light in the glove box if I remember correctly.

[Mase]

Neither to Matrixes or Corollas. I built my own switched LED kits for both of my cars. My warning was about our little alternators trying to charge up a dead deep-cycle battery.

[northvibe]

i think he installed his own led for a glove box light.wow that would be sucky if it was your alt. good thing it was just a battery.

[joatmon]

can you hook it up to a charger and recover the optima?

[millster]

Quote, originally posted by joatmon »can you hook it up to a charger and recover the optima?Quote, originally posted by Mase »It took about a day and a half for a home a/c charger to bring that deep-cycle back to life. My little alternator didn't have any effect on the battery charge at all. In fact, the dead battery had been pulling so much current that it kept the rest of my DC system from operating properly. That explains the hyper speed flashers and the sputtering engine at idle.

[vibe-04]

Yes it was a nice story. What advantage does the yellow top deep cycle give you?

[2006Vibe]

A deep cycle battery will make no difference on your system... ?!??!A totally dead deep cycle battery will draw 18-25 A inrush current, and taper off to 15 A if there is available current.Effectively, there should be no difference between the two.Where did you obtain your information? You can trickle charge a deep cycle battery without fail, so why would it make any difference with your alternator. It's possible your battery was highly resistive, or a small internal short, or wasn't taking a charge at all... Just curious where you got your info...

[Jahntassa]

The yellow-top gives you longer running time when the car is off. Running time for stereo and accessories.Sadly, it should be common knowledge that totally killing a yellow-top requires an ACTUAL BATTERY CHARGER to get it recharged. There's no way the alternator can recover a completely discharged battery of any sort, let alone the yellow top.If you want a battery that'll have a higher 'guarantee' of starting, get a red-top, those're designed to have more starting amps, but aren't as deep-cycle.

[BlueCrush]

Quote, originally posted by Mase »Neither to Matrixes or Corollas. I built my own switched LED kits for both of my cars. My warning was about our little alternators trying to charge up a dead deep-cycle battery.Ah, OK. Yeah I figured it would be difficult for our cars to charge an almost dead deep cycle battery. I'm surprised it lasted 3 week though.

[satur9]

i went on vacation and the leds on the hyperground module killed my battery but it jumped started right up and ran fine ever since. mabey it wasnt totally dead.but that light was blinking without the car running for 10 days.mabey your hids had something to do with it.

[joatmon]

Quote, originally posted by millster »yeah, I shoulda seen that Quote, originally posted by BlueCrush » I'm surprised it lasted 3 week though.Mase, what's with letting the car sit abandoned for three weeks? You need to drive it more often. I start to get all restless and agitated with withdrawl after only about 2 days of no driving .

[Mase]

Quote, originally posted by joatmon »Mase, what's with letting the car sit abandoned for three weeks? You need to drive it more often. I start to get all restless and agitated with withdrawl after only about 2 days of no driving . Naw, I don't let the car sit that long. It sits for only 7 days at a time (at most). I'm still flying my old sig here with just my Matrix XRS but I really have a new Corolla XRS in addition that I drive around that's equally as fun. The thing that surprised me about this was how unexpected the death was. I literally started it up just fine only 30 minutes before I made my last stop.

[binary]

That's great info - thanks for sharing Mase!I'm aiming for a redtop, the yellow doesn't fit my usage needs.

[AKLGT]

i have a red top. i did leave some powered items on in the car for 12 hrs straight. DEAD battery! but it jumped and started right up no probs. however, I think a yellow top would more fit my needs to run all my equipment when the engine is off.