Battery bad in truck but guy at Sears says "GOOD"

[OVERKILL]

My buddy had a similar issue in his '05 with a pair of the EXIDE NASCAR Select batteries. He had them replaced under warranty but wouldn't trust them after that, re-purposed them and instead installed a pair of the BXT-65-850 (IIRC) Motorcraft batteries. He also ended up having to replace the FICM due to the previous poorly performing batteries. Never had an issue after that. YMMV.

 

[syndini]

Got the battery issue resolved, Went to a different Sears Auto and the tech figured out that the machines were lying to him through deductive reasoning. Some info contradicted each other. Issued me new bats. If it won't crank the vehicle and everything else checks out.......... FINALLY!

 

[syndini]

Thanks guys!

 

[eljefino]

Originally Posted By: syndini
Got the battery issue resolved, Went to a different Sears Auto and the tech figured out that the machines were lying to him through deductive reasoning. Some info contradicted each other. Issued me new bats. If it won't crank the vehicle and everything else checks out.......... FINALLY!

There's enough slop in the process, a 2nd opinion is worth the time, especially with today's battery prices.

 

[syndini]

Thanks to all here who helped. WRCSIXEIGHT..... didn't see your post from earlier. Great info. Didn't try the discharge recharge 3 times thing. However, I am glad to know this info. Hope I never need it cause I'm not sure I'll ever remember. Northstar Batteries? Unfortunately I've never heard of them. Need to do a search. I like my Odyssey's though. I'm invested in them to the point of owning their charger. I may need to add a second charger cause I have several of their batteries now. Has been a VERY IMPRESSIVE battery in EVERYTHING I have em in. I have one in a generator that I've had since 2002 or 2003. I can't remember. Sears is no longer offering any proration after the replacement warranty ends now. That's ok. If they hadn't warrantied them I would've repurposed them and maybe brought em back. Can't risk it with the ole' 6.0 with the FICM being so sensitive to voltage variations. Might put the ole Odyssey charger on it from time to time more often. Thanks to EVERYBODY HERE! Great posts and info for me as well as many others! Will continue to watch this thread just cause the info has been so valuable.

Oh, forgot to mention that the assistant manager at the Sears I went to today was thanking me for informing me who made that battery because Sears didn't carry the platinum in the size that goes in his truck. Said he was going to look into getting an Odyssey for his truck. If I'd known about the NorthStar I'd have mentioned that one too.

 

[wrcsixeight]

Syndini,

Glad you got 2 fresh batteries!

I read somewhere that Northstar battery was started by a couple disgruntled Enersys/Odyssey employees. No Idea if this is indeed true.

NS does make many Similar claims as Odyssey as to life expectancy, and their group 31 batteries have identical Specs, or nearly so. Even the design of the battery casing is very similar between the two.

Info about Northstar batteries and their own documentation is not as Good as Odyssey, but I've been using Odyssey charging recommendations, regarding the 40% initial bulk charge rate. Absorption and float voltages are listed as the same as Odyssey.



I'd have no fear of using the Odyssey charger on a flooded battery, but 13.6v is too high a float/maintenance voltage for a flooded battery, and good size flooded batteries can still easily handle 30 amps of charge current. Just do not leave the odyssey charger hooked indefinitely to a lead acid battery as a maintenance/float charger.

You might want to try the 50% discharge followed by the 30 amp recharge letting the Odyssey optimizer charger do the specific Odyssey voltage algorithm. Before doing this, the NS battery was not able to achieve 13.06 resting volts with the Northstar, and that first key turn after that 40% bulk rate recharged from 50%, was shockingly fast, and impressive.

 

[syndini]

I believe the military is a BIG customer of Odyssey. Helps a company to have a customer like that when you want to be in the forefront of R&D I'm sure. I need to engrain NorthStar Batteries in my memory. I like quality stuff when it saves me in the long run and on top of that saves down time. Not really sure if my Odyssey charger would be useful for other AGM batteries that you'd pick up from the local auto parts store. Worst charger purchase I've ever made was a Die Hard smart charger. Never seems to charge a battery without saying it's bad. Ashame that we can't program the PCM in our vehicles to work in conjuction with the alternator to optimize charging to specific battery types and makes. Battery would come with a simm card to maximize the charging system for it. If one of you guys patents this idea I want a cut please.

 

[DoubleWasp]

Odyssey Pc2150 batteries are used to give the M1A1 Abrams Main Battle Tank its 24V turret power. It has 6 of them per side, wired in parallel, and then both banks combined in a series.

 

[wrcsixeight]

There are a couple dc to dc programmable chargers out there designed to optimize charging voltages. Mostly these are for charging Deep cycle batteries via the alternator. Sterling is one company. I think Ctek also has such a device. I am not sure how to wire this to control current to the starting batteries.

C tek also makes some chargers for Northstar line of batteries.

http://www.northstarbattery.com/northstar/engine/accessories.php.

While there are similarities between Northstar and Odyssey, there have to be some differences too. Judging just by the differences in rested OCV. While I am impressed with my Northstar, it is my first AGM battery so I can't compare them to Odyssey. Don't assume Northstar is any higher quality just because it has a higher resting voltage. This could just mean the Electrolyte is more acidic, which might mean it breaks down the plate paste material faster. I don't know.

Odyssey also has a good reputation for starting aviation engines.

Lifeline AGM batteries are made by Concorde/ rolls/surrette who are highly regarded in the lead acid battery world.

Lifeline AGM is designed more toward deepcycle applications, not starting applications, and do not have the super high CCA figures of Odyssey or Northstar.

 

[syndini]

The Abrahams! They don't need, can't afford ANY failures when it's called on to protect the lives of our brave men and women! Makes me want to put an American flag sticker on my batteries!

I've been entertaining the thought of adding an on board permanently mounted charger to the ole Ford but IDK. I might need to look into who makes a product that can handle 2 group 65 batteries and is approved by Odyssey. Then again....... kinda sounds like overkill. I've learned a lot here in the last couple days. Between BITOG, FTE, and the powerstroke forums I've been well informed. I wish I was as smart as you guys! Once again I can't thank you guys enough for giving your time unselfishly to help the common Joe like me.

 

[syndini]

Don't these guys that compete in those car stereo competitions use Odyssey batteries because of it's deep cycle nature, high amp hour and deep discharge rates? I bet some of those others like Northstar and lifeline are considerations for that crowd too.

I've been on the Northstar website and found it's a solid looking product as well. Only problem for me is that there is only one dealer in the state of North Carolina which is about 2 hours away from me in Charlotte. Odyssey has a limited amount of retail locations too. One reason I opted to buy the Die Hard Platinum is that Sears Auto centers are plentiful. It's ashame they don't carry the entire Odyssey line.

 

[MalfunctionProne]

I remember when an employee at Advance Auto told me that "by charging the battery, you will mess it up." Exact quote.

I have not been back to Sears.

 

[Donald]

I think the key to getting a battery tested is watching the guy enter the CCA and understanding if this is a warranty or a possible sale. He could enter less than stated CCA to make it look OK for warranty or more than stated CCA making it look bad for a possible sale.

A carbon pile load tester is the best but its only valid for a fully charged battery where a Midtronics tester is good with a less than fully charged battery.

 

[syndini]

Carbon pile load tester? What is that? I'm seeing reference to a lot of equipment that I'm not familiar with. My guess is that it's not typically an affordable piece of equipment that would find itself at the average shadetree mechanics house.

 

[DoubleWasp]

Marine stores will have the right multi battery on board chargers for you. That's how shore power works on a boat. 120v power keeps the house batteries maintained.

You could even put a shore power plug in the side of your truck's body to make it a bit easier to connect. That's how it's done with RVs.

I'm going to do exactly that for my Caprice. I'm putting 2 PC2150 batteries in the rear. Those batteries take one [censored] of a jolt to recharge once they've been drawn down.