Energizer auto batteries - high failure rates???

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Is it just me or do Energizer auto batteries seem to fail early in service?

I just replaced a Group 35 Energizer battery at 35 months and 21 days (3 year warranty) after this latest cold snap.

Battery just wouldn't turn the car over.

Battery was in a Mazda RX8 and that little rotary can be a contrary starter every now and then.

The good folks at SAMS Club allowed me to move up to a Johnson Controls Optima 35 yellow top.

That should do the job - high load rated, deep cycle, lots of reserve, and high quality Johnson Controls construction.
 
I would hesitate to call anything optima high quality in the last 5 years.

Have had excellent service out of AAP silver and gold series.

If I was looking for a great AGM, I'd go for the diehard platinum. Only available in select sizes.

3 years isn't terrible in a car that sits some.

Just replaced an OEM hyundai at 4 years.. ~290CCA and 11.7volts

The may 2011 subaru oem battery lasted me until december 2013.. was under 280CCA and barely starting that winter.
 
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I agree with Rand.. JC ruined the Optima battery and you're lucky to get 3yrs out one now. They're still built tough, but they just don't last like a real optima would.

a good AGM battery would be made by Deka, their Intimidator line is awesome!
 
group 78 from sams barely lasted 9 months in my dads truck. then again it sat for 9 months.
 
Originally Posted By: EricF
I agree with Rand.. JC ruined the Optima battery and you're lucky to get 3yrs out one now. They're still built tough, but they just don't last like a real optima would.

a good AGM battery would be made by Deka, their Intimidator line is awesome!
Deka is East Penn is it not?
 
Not in my case. Have Energizer's in both one is 4 years and the other 2 years. The 4 year old is in the Focus and started fine in the negative temps we had here. Granted that's not very low compared to other area's.

In the previous Festiva had a Energizer also and it went completely flat on one occasion. Still worked good after 2 years when I sold it. You can get a dud in any brand.
 
Originally Posted By: HerrStig
Deka is East Penn is it not?


Absolutely. It's the only battery I'll buy.
 
the original mopar batteries in my 06 cummins lasted 8 years, replaced them at the beginning of 2014, they were still working fine, truck was just a lil slow to start. replaced them with some AC Delco gold batteries, truck starts fast now and havent had a problem yet.
 
Originally Posted By: SilverC6

The good folks at SAMS Club allowed me to move up to a Johnson Controls Optima 35 yellow top.

That should do the job - high load rated, deep cycle, lots of reserve, and high quality Johnson Controls construction.



I beg to differ. Optima has been horrible ever since manufacturing moved to Mexico under Johnson Controls' ownership.

These days if I want a good battery, particularly a good AGM battery, I run far and fast from anything JC and buy something made by either East Penn/Deka or Enersys.

Enersys makes the DieHard Platinum line for Sears. Deka makes the "X2Power" line for Batteries Plus (side-note- normally I won't buy anything from Batteries Plus, either, but when I found out the source of the X2Power line, it changed my mind at least on that particular product).
 
Battery life is shortened by being left partially discharged, and as such, branding any battery as good or bad, without knowing how it was treated during its lifespan, is unwise.

Batteries vary in their ideal Acceptance/Absorption voltage and there is no way that the engine computer or vehicle's voltage regulator is optimised for returning a battery to 100% charge every time, especially if the battery is discharged beyond the 0.5% of capacity it might take to start the engine.

Like all battery chargers, they are more concerned with not overcharging a battery, not perfectly recharging it to 100%, as this is impossible as all batteries vary slightly so a one size fits all charge algorithm can't be perfect for every battery, despite what the marketing departments or chargers will claim.

If a battery is discharged by running the stereo or lights, engine off, to even 90% charged, then it can and likely will take the alternator 4+ hours of driving to get the battery back up near 100%.

At States of Charge over 80%, the battery simply cannot accept very much charging current before voltage would climb to unsafe levels, so time is required to top charge batteries, and at voltages high enough to actually max out the electrolyte's specific gravity.

The cheapest quality battery which lives its life closest to 100% charged will live longer than the best quality Lead acid battery that lives its whole life 80% to 90% charged and never gets to 100%.

Keep that in mind before praising or demonizing any given battery brand/ manufacturer.

Also keep in mind modern vehicles that sit for 3 weeks can deplete the battery well below 80% just sitting while waiting for the door lock remotes, or running the alarm system and keeping the engine computer memory.

An otherwise healthy battery at 30% charged can still start the engine, and many people assume that if it starts the engine, it is fully charged.

These additional variables make typecasting any given battery brand as good or bad even more worthless.

But perhaps expelling flatulence in a windstorm would be more effective than convincing the masses of these facts regarding lead acid battery charging and care for maximum lifespan.

So much easier to see a label and rely on internet rumors.
 
Originally Posted By: wrcsixeight
Battery life is shortened by being left partially discharged, and as such, branding any battery as good or bad, without knowing how it was treated during its lifespan, is unwise...
..........................good content cut for brevity

But perhaps expelling flatulence in a windstorm would be more effective than convincing the masses of these facts regarding lead acid battery charging and care for maximum lifespan.

So much easier to see a label and rely on internet rumors.


Thank you very much indeed
This should be made a sticky, copyrighted, licensed and published everywhere.. even on the walls of public restrooms in Ferguson
 
^^^Exactly WHY I 'top off charge' my DH Platinum/Odyssey at least once a week with a battery specific charger (even though many on here claim it is not, or cannot be specific to this AGM).
wink.gif
 
I've got three Camrys with "Neverstarts" two of which have gone 7 years (it was 2 degrees here one AM recently) without problems. The third just made it to 7 before being replaced..it's in a car which sits a lot because the driver is an avid biker for about half the year. So how much longer would they last, I wonder, if we did OCI trickel charges once a week. Probably the least driven one might benefit.
 
The deeper the cycle a DHP/Odyssey battery endures, the more important it is that it receives a minimum 40%(of the 20 hour AH rating) until 14.7V is reached. ( 40 amps for a 100 amp hour battery). 14.7v is then to be held for 4 hours or until current required to hold 14.7 falls below some certain level which will be different for every size battery. Northstar had Schumacher program a charger to meet this algorithm.

If the battery is not deeply cycled, then the charging rate and max voltage applied is less important.

I have a Northstar AGM battery that is mostly used as a starting battery, and starts my LA 318 violently fast. It is very similar in construction and charging requirements as Odyssey/ Sears DHP batteries.

But I do deep cycle it too on occasion, but only when I know I can feed it 35+ amps and can hold 14.7v until amps required to hold that 14.7v drop to 0.4a.

If this NS AGM battery get the low and slow charging treatment, it protests, neither cranking the engine with as much gusto, nor holding as high a voltage the next discharge cycle if deep cycling it overnight. When it gets 40+ amps and the 14.7v regimen, it is a chest pounding gorilla that did a line of Walter White's signature blue meth.

My '89's only parasitic draw is the engine computer, which is somewhere less than 0.01 amps.

It recently sat for 3 weeks unused in Southern California. I came back and resting voltage was still 13.06V. It had not seen any charging current in that time. I found this very impressive.

Daily Driver, you might want to intentionally discharge that battery to ~ 50%, and let that Odyssey specific charger do its thing on a 77f degree battery. Let is show the green light for 12 hours before removal and reinstallation in the vehicle.

When I first got my NorthStar AGM, I could not get it to hold over a 12.84v open circuit voltage, until I discharged it to ~50% and then charged it back up at 25+ amps. Now it holds 13.06v and thumps its chest like a meth addled gorilla and is been in use 13 months.

I think Odyssey claims 12.86v fully charged resting voltage. Shoot for that number or higher at least 12 hours after removing the charging source.

You will notice how much faster it cranks the starter, guaranteed.

I use a Meanwell rsp-500-15 adjustable voltage power supply as a battery charger. It maxes out at 41 amps, and can do any voltage from 13.12V to 19.23v. Rated for 500 watts, it will do 600. I've added extra ventilation and heatsinking and a 10 turn potentiometer for easily dialing in voltage to 0.01V.

But it is a manual charger. I have to decide when to turn it off or lower the voltage, or estimate the amount of discharge and crank up an intermatic timer.

But I can set it to 13.6v and just float it forever too. It is one of the few tools that can do the job on most any battery I choose to charge.

Most every multi stage automatic charger out there flashes the soothing green full charge indicator, way too early.
 
Originally Posted By: Phishin
Originally Posted By: HerrStig
Deka is East Penn is it not?


Absolutely. It's the only battery I'll buy.


Or in my case- sell, but I completely agree.

JCI batteries seem to be a good starting battery, but I WILL NOT tolerate their acid barfing tendencies! It's hard on connections, trays and under body parts. I'd venture that 80% of JCI batteries barf acid, while <10% of East Penn batteries vomit acid.
 
I've always had good luck with Johnson Contols batteries in the past in my Camrys.

They do build the popular AZ Duralast batteries.

I was unaware of the move to Mexico.

Got a 3 year warranty from SAMS if I did not choose wisely.
 
Originally Posted By: The_Eric


JCI batteries seem to be a good starting battery, but I WILL NOT tolerate their acid barfing tendencies! It's hard on connections, trays and under body parts. I'd venture that 80% of JCI batteries barf acid, while div>


Jury is still out for me. Years ago, my experience with Exides are that they barf acid all over the place. The hood of the vehicles they were in had battery acid vapours surface corrode them just over the battery. Life of them wasn't spectacular either, 4 or 5 years, and this was in the early '90s when vehicles of the era had much less electronic gadgetry to draw down batteries. I have not bought Exides since.

JCI, I've had good experience with until more recently. After my van's OEM battery had an early demise, I did an emergency replacement with a Walmart Energizer made by JCI, as they were the only place open at that time of day with batteries. That one corroded and ended up being replaced (now branded as EverStart Maxx) just before it's free replacement period was up. It's replacement was again replaced under warranty, as it failed somehow internally and was not holding a charge well. We'll see how the third JCI in this vehicle does, but I'm not holding my breath. If there is no more willingness for warranty coverage on this, I am more likely than not to consider something other than a JCI, or if it is a JCI, then perhaps from Costco as they have a painless no questions asked return policy. Perhaps Exide has solved its problems by now?

I have an East Penn deep cycle on my trailer. That one is a few years old now. No issues to date, but this is just one battery, and it's not a starter battery. Considering some unintentional deep discharges to near 0 a few times, I think it is fair to say this battery is holding up well.
 
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