Charging the 12 v battery

Yes, charge it before it goes completely flat and charge it more frequently.

Are you saying that you leave the light on and the door ajar as the car sits unused?

If your battery is in good condition and well looked after, it should be able to withstand being left sitting for 2 weeks.

I am thinking that your battery is in poor condition if it goes so flat your battery charger cannot even begin to charge it.

 

it could be that the battery is now marginal because it has gone flat one or more times. check the warranty.

 

No, not with that damaged battery that you have now.
You need a new one.
There is NO reason that you should not be able to charge from the access points under the hood.......unless maybe your charger is bad somehow.

Do you still have the instructions that came with the charger ?
Some recommend making the battery connections first and THEN plugging it into the wall.

 

I'd ask the question: is it still capable of taking a charge?

If it's a brand new charger, that might be the problem: maybe the charger is defective. Can you post a link to info on the charger, or a description? What amperage is the charger? A smart charger, no more than 4 amp, is what you should be using. Alternately to driving, turn the headlights on, for about 30 seconds, before taking measurement.

A digital multimeter would also be good: check the voltage and post if possible. Do this after driving the car for a bit if possible, not immediately after charging attempt, when it'll read falsely high.

You've left a light on once, or more times? Might be time for a new battery.

 

We go out of town quite a bit, leaving our 2007 Prius behind. I purchased a "maintainer" from Walmart that I use whenever we are gone for a period of time. This unit comes with a couple of cables: One with conventional battery clips and the other with ring terminals. I use the second one connected directly to the battery in the back. When we go away, I simply put the charger in the trunk, plug the ring terminal lead into the charger cord and run the charger power cord out under the trunk gasket. Takes one minute to set up or remove, no sweat about a reverse polarity (though I think the charger has reverse polarity protection).

PS: My Optima battery is 6+ years old and probably has 120K miles on it.

 

nice! can you give us the charger make and model?

 

My post had a link embedded in "maintainer" from Walmart

It is a Schumacher XM1-5 Maintainer, 1.5-Amp and costs $20

 

thank you!