Automotive enthusiasts, especially those who live in the northern half of the country, have long struggled with what to do with their modified machine during the wintertime. Those who are forced to store a car over the winter have undoubtedly encountered the gearhead’s nightmare – a dead battery – when it comes time to break the chains and get spring under way.

In this tech video, our friends at Optima Batteries cover some of the ways to resurrect dead (less than 10 volts showing) absorbed glass mat batteries, like their famous Yellow and Red top batteries. AGM technology is much different from the lead-acid batteries of decades gone by; they are virtually spill proof and are maintenance-free for most situations, unless you don’t drive the vehicle for months at a time – like during winter storage.

Most battery chargers will not charge any battery that has discharged below 10.5 volts, which often cause people to go out and buy a new battery when they might not need one. Optima’s new Digital 1200 battery charger has been designed to enhance the charging characteristics of Optima’s own line of batteries and many other batteries on the market today. But if you don’t have one of those, it’s OK.

The video covers the unique steps of taking a regular “flooded” lead-acid automotive battery and wiring it in parallel to the AGM-style battery while charging at ten amps with a traditional-style charger, and how it will help to bring the AGM battery back to life. Of course, you could just buy Optima’s Digital 1200, which will not only charge just about any dead battery, but also serve as a battery maintainers for those months where the temperature goes lower than your morale on a typical Monday morning. Check out the Optima Batteries website for all sorts of information about automotive starting and charging systems; there are lots of tech tips and other relevant information throughout.