Battery Alarm Problem Solved

[TheViper]

As this is my first experience of this happening I thought that posting would be helpful to others:
I try to disarm the alarm this morning with no response from either transmitter, except that I did get 4 beeps, an indication of an ignition issue. The locks opened (strange) but the alarm remained active as indicated by the single led flash on the dash.
I deduced that because neither transmitter worked, the problem was probably low voltage at the car battery.
Upon opening the car door there was no alarm, remember the dash light indicated it was active. I noted that the interior cockpit light, between the seats was very dim, confirming my low battery theory.
Opening the trunk there again was no alarm, I now realise was due to the low 4.5V reading of the battery. I attempted to disconnected the battery to charge it and as I did the siren's back up power kicked in and it sounded on and off until I reconnected the battery. Because the battery voltage was so low my "smart" charger would not charge, because if it sees a voltage below about 8V it indicates a defective battery cell, etc. In order to try to charge the battery I now had jump start the car and at the same time used the transmitter to deactivate the alarm.
I let the engine idle for a while and drove a little to charge the battery, which after I turned off the engine, had enough power to restart the car.
Now the battery voltage was over the 8V threshold, I now used my charger to complete the charging.
Almost 3 years on my Exide OEM, I am now going to purchase a Optima Red top 35.

[LARRY]

New battery is a good thing on slightly old Lotus cars!

[jim-clayton]

They say after 2 yrs. batteries are on borrowed time.

I haven't had much luck with Optima. We stopped using them at work.

Too many problems. We have installed a couple of dozen over the past 3 yrs.

The failure rate was too high. Just fyi. WE switched to Odyssey but for the price you can get 3 red tops.

[407Driver]

Viper
I installed odyessy PC 625 ($85.00) so far it has doubled the life of the factory battery and shows no sign of weakness even in the past two summers with AC and cooling fans running full time. BTW thanks for all the good work on AC mods, opening up the drivers side footwell and installing the elec. thermostat kit plus the heater core bypass I now have an 05 with a pretty good AC that does not freeze up.

Odyssey Battery PC625 - Odyssey Drycell Batteries - summitracing.com

[MattG]

For what it's worth, my stock battery had four years on it when I replaced it about a month ago, and it was still going strong - the only reason I replaced it was to reduce weight. I always kept it plugged in to a battery maintainer though which probably helped it last as long as it did.

[TheViper]

Great to hear about your successful A/c mods.
The reason I went with Optima is because I needed the best Amp Hour rating I could. My car is kept outside with no electrical outlet and sometimes is not driven for a week or so. Additionally I have the extra electrical load of an additional alarm system draining the battery.
Michael

Originally Posted by 407Driver

Viper
I installed odyessy PC 625 ($85.00) so far it has doubled the life of the factory battery and shows no sign of weakness even in the past two summers with AC and cooling fans running full time. BTW thanks for all the good work on AC mods, opening up the drivers side footwell and installing the elec. thermostat kit plus the heater core bypass I now have an 05 with a pretty good AC that does not freeze up.

Odyssey Battery PC625 - Odyssey Drycell Batteries - summitracing.com

[TheViper]

Interesting addendum, seemingly, after power was removed from the alarm module it reverted to a default program. I had previously increased the volume of the signal "buzzer" and now it was back to where it used to be. This seems to be the only function so effected.

[Simba]

I use an Optima yellow top in my Elise, and all my other cars for that matter. The Elise can go upwards of two weeks without being started, and that's with a Viper alarm, GPS tracking, radio memory, and so forth all sucking up a fair bit of juice.

The red tops are less happy with deep cycling in my experience.

[Dave]

Originally Posted by TheViper

...I am now going to purchase a Optima Red top 35.

I used a red top on a BMW (once) and it's performance was less than sub-par...you should consider a yellow top or PC series Odyssey instead.

[TheViper]

Done, installed, I am not going to worry, it has a 3 year 100% replacement warranty.

Originally Posted by Dave

I used a red top on a BMW (once) and it's performance was less than sub-par...you should consider a yellow top or PC series Odyssey instead.

[LotusLust]

just installed a replacement optima redtop that i bought 6 months ago. i guess that warranty is going to come in useful

i considered switching to a yellow top but the warranty is not nearly as good. when the warranty expires i will look at something else. i wonder how many i will go trhough in 3 years

[jim-clayton]

Originally Posted by LotusLust

i wonder how many i will go trhough in 3 years

A bunch.

Something weird about those batteries. A normal lead acid from 1940 will last longer.

They had good hype when they first came out but folks are getting wise to the "less than" Optima.

[swede]

Thanks, good information.

Since our cars are not the highest quality info like this is great to have.