Temperature Zones of Batteries

[Jonny Z]

It seems only DieHard has two lines of batteries: North and South. I like the idea of having something optimized for the climate that I am in.
Why isn't everyone else doing this? Or they are, eg, selling only Southern version of the product in the South, but not advertising it? If Johnson Control makes most of the brands, I would think WalMart, AutoZone, etc, would have the same design from DieHard?!

 

[Gene K]

Many companies do this. They just dont market them this way. The Batteries will have the same name but the ones sold in the south will be a different P/N than the northern ones. The last Consumer Reports Test on Car Batteries they tested both the Northern and Southern Version of most major manufactures and store brands from Batteries+, Autozone, Sams, WalMart, Sears, etc.

While it might seem the batteries would be the same from various brands and retailers you will find they are built to different price points and with different tradeoffs.

 

[Chris142]

Exide used to sell a battery here that was full of little foam balls. They were supposed to help the battery in our heat.

They were pretty much junk anyway.

 

[GMBoy]

I used to live in Baltimore, Maryland where I had bought a new Sears diehard battery. I know Sears does the North/South marketing, so I got a Northerner Battery. Now, I live in Texas going on 2 years with the same battery. I don;t think it hurts having a North battery in a South climate. Warranty still stands.

 

[ewetho]

When I worked at Sears they did not market north or south but it did come up time to time with cars going everywhere in this great country.

They actually had different ratings for the 2 batteries. Pretty close mostly but off by as much as 25 CCA. AH ratings are also different.

 

[edhackett]

The construction is different. The southern batteries have fewer, but thicker plates. This makes for a potentially more durable battery than the northern battery which uses a higher number of thinner plates to generate more CCA.

Ed

 

[kc8adu]

sg of electrolyte is another difference.
acid in a hot climate battery is weaker.