If the battery is a Gel Cell (SLA) and it ahas been overcharged (Gassed), it will be rooted. you can't put electrolyte back in it.

Im thinking thats what the problem is, also these optima batteries being you can top up the distilled water

I'll leave it on charge over night (as im drinking tonight):), and see how it all works out,
thanks heaps guys for your help

-Ash

once a deep cycle battery goes flat...wouldnt it be fooked coz u cant put the charge backin,well u can bt it wont be near enuff to be back at full capacity?

depends how flat, for how long and how you charge it back up again...

my one had sat in a car for months, dropped down to 5 volts, so who knows how long it was flat for, i thought it was dead, normal charger wouldnt charge it because it was too flat... so i had to charge it up slowly on a lab power supply we have at work, took about a week slowly upping the voltage and just feeding it a couple of amps... seems fine now, holds a charge fine so yeah... i was pretty lucky, every situation is different though... if the thing got overcharged it might be F**k... optimas are pretty much a sealed battery with a couple of vents on them... its not a gel cell but a type of paste with big coils of plates, hence the circular cells and how they have high CCA ratings, massive surface area... but yeah, if its been cooked you're probably SOL sorry mate...

ahh, where wouldyou get a hold of those lab power supplies? or that merley impossible?
- Ash

well, if you have had it on a charger already and the charger says its charged there's not much you can do mate... a lab supply is just a variable supply but they are worth a bit, you can vary the voltage and current output, i happen to do some electronics work so thats why i have one... but yeah, like i said if a normal charger has charged it, thats it really you cant do much else... my charger wouldnt because my battery was so flat (5 volts)

if you run it on the charger every night is it ok to start the car in the morning?

Yeah, I mean i havn't had to charge it and there hasn't been a problem yet, im just scared if i leave my sound systme on for 10mintures it will go flat, occasionally when it starts up it will sound like its going to die, then cranks up

have a search for battery reconditioning or something similar, ive never read up on it but there are ways to get a bit more from an old battery (usually involves adding stuff which we cant but there are ways of charging a battery to recover it somewhat), or maybe theres a place you can take it to and have them test it... if you run out of options i really need to put my optimas in my car over the xmas holidalys so you can borrow my stock battery thats in my car now, see if that goes flat or not...