Could my 18 month old optima battery be shot?

I have put the battery on a charger, and it now says fully charged, but when I turn the key, just a high speed rat-a-tat.

If I jump it from my truck, starts right up.

I assumed the battery was dead due to sitting for much of the year without running, so i put the charger on it.

When I jump it, I am jumping post-to-post, so I know it isn't something else in the starting circuit.

It has to be the battery, but I expected WAY more life out of this expensive battery than this!

It is a RedTop with a 02/10 sticker on it. I purchased it approximately 4/10.

 

Not uncommon fwiw.

 

you could try the 'How do I charge a deeply discharged battery?' process described here:
http://www.optimabatteries.com/product_support/faqs.php#charging

didn't help on mine, went dead after two years...

 

Mine reads 11.4 after full charge. I don't have another battery to hook up inline (maybe the one out of my lawn tractor?) I think this is the last optima I buy. I expected 1) longer life and 2) not having to solve a Rubik's cube to recharge it.

 

They have a 10 year warranty. Take it back to where you bought it.
If you tried to charge it with a regular charger, it won't do anything, and could even screw it up.
Thay are the same as anything else, you have to maintain them. I've had 4 now, all have been great. I took one into Wal Mart for them to charge for me, they screwed it up, and gave me another for 10 bucks.

 

10 years? It's outa there!!!

Off to O'Reilly in the morning.

 

I haven't maintained mine, because I haven't run the car but twice since we moved back in December. Been too hot to go out.

I am out of date for my annual inspection, and the weather was cool enough to drive it today, but it was dead, again.

So, "maintain" means to run it for 20 minutes once a month?

 

If you're not going to drive the car, get a battery tender, or disconnect the negative battery terminal, so there is no draw on the battery.

I see the warranty has changed...that's why I like Wal Mart sometimes Still a 36 month replacement warranty!
http://www.optimabatteries.com/optima_products/warranty/postFeb.php

 

Charge voltage is a big factor on these batts. If it gets to hot its life is shortened bigtime. Optimas dont seem too last like they used to. Same as most items today though. We have better success with a AGM type batts from carquest than Optimas. AGM batts are designed to sit long periods and survive storage. Always good to make sure batt is disconnected though just in case you have any ignition off draw.

 

I push the AGM batteries for the 12v operators I sell or repair. They are pricey but are a better battery overall considering that they are used for short draws at a time AND are sealed.

 

When I am not driving, I turn off the kill switch, so the battery is completely isolated and no draw.

So it has been sitting all summer in 110 degree weather with no draw, in the trunk, in the garage.

The red top still has 36 month free replacement, so I may get a new battery for free. Let's see how O'Reilly holds up to the warranty.

 

Ive never had an issue with Batt. warranty. You wont have any trouble. Most are only one year replacement then its pro rated. Some of the pro rate systems are a bit one sided but you still get a good discount if its only 18 months old.

 

In my area anyway there have been bunch that have gone bad quickly. I have friends that bought them and they died in a bout the time frame yours has. I on the other hand had great success with mine in my 47 Ford. Bought it in 2000 and never once had to put a tender or trickle charger on it. In the winter I would disconnect it, in the spring hook it back up and the car always started right up.

Sounds like you got a bad one, take it back.

 

2000 would be before they changed production I think. They used to be damn good batts.

 

As far as Wal Mart warranty goes, they informed me that they were no longer doing pro rated. It either has a two or three year free replacement warranty and after that it was time for a new purchase. Then after that briefing I noticed the batteries no longer say 48 or 60 month etc... They also told me no warranty on lawn mower batteries