[chopper]

Second what Mr. Widener said. Optima gel-cell batteries will not take well to a standard charger, even one of the low-amperage types. You need something like a Battery Tender to charge them without frying the battery. As he further points out, the Battery Tender also has a set of terminals which you can permanently mount to the battery terminals and then plug the charger into while the car sits. It will keep the battery at full charge during those periods when it just sits.