How to Charge an AGM Battery

Don't exceed ten amps when charging your AGM battery.

## Ten Amps or Less If your AGM battery has been discharged beyond your alternator’s ability to maintain it, the battery should be recharged as soon as possible. Simply attach the battery to your charger and make sure it doesn’t exceed 10 amps at 13.8 to 15 volts during the recharging process. The process may take several hours, even up to 12 hours on deeply discharged batteries. If your battery charger has specific settings for AGM batteries, make sure you utilize them to optimize the recharging process. By keeping the charging amps at 10 or less, you’ll avoid overheating the battery and prolong the battery’s overall lifespan.

## What Not To Do Keep in mind that an AGM battery isn’t the same thing as a gel cell battery. An AGM battery has no free-floating electrolytes while a gel cell suspends the electrolyte in a gel state. For this reason, you should not use the gel cell or spiral cell settings on your battery charger when recharging an AGM battery. While batteries can be recharged more quickly by surpassing the recommended 10-amp limit, this will cause the battery to heat up, which can shorten its overall life. If your battery is registering 10.5 volts or less, a standard battery charger may not be able to return the battery to operating condition. A top-of-the-line charger such as the Optima Digital 1200 Battery Charger & Maintainer may be required in this situation.