Manx Club

Has anyone had any trouble out of Optima's while running a generator on a VW engine?? When I first got my buggy (before it was a buggy) the guy gave me an optima battery with it and every time I would go to get in my bug it wouldnt start, the battery was dead. I would charge the battery and it would run fine for a while then the same thing. So I swaped the battery in my truck for the optima and it does perfect in my truck and the plain jane ever start works fine in the buggy. Do the generators not put out enough amps to charge those gel cell or dry cell batteries?? I dont really want to go to an alternater if I dont have to. Or is it possible that I had a bad battery and a new fresh one would be fine?? Any help would be great thanks.

Sounds like you have either a bad generator or regulator. How many volts is it putting out?

The generator should be able to charge an Optima battery with no problems. Start your buggy and put a meter on the DC scale, across the battery terminals rev the engine to about 3000rpm and you should see around 14volts.

I've never had a problem. I have them in three buggys. There not real optimas, I have one kind the welding supplys sell for $35 there blems. The 1st two I bought had red and yellow tops, the next two were plain black (????)

I've had no problems with my generator charged Optima Red-Top.