Who is Good for Batteries Nows?

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I had to go with a Wal-Mart battery for my M45 earlier this year to get the CCA specifications the car required.

Plus, a nationwide warranty network made it a no brainer.

$93.76 for a 24F battery with 750 CCA was the cheapest around anyway, so win-win.
 
Originally Posted by mjk
Different application, but I had an Interstate deep cycle battery fail this summer. Was mfg'd in 2008.


I would say 11 years is a pretty good run for a battery.
 
Either dealer replacement for best warranty like AC Delco, Motorcraft, Honda or $50 Walmart for best deal. Even if they don't have an exact fit, I make it fit, even if I have to get a smaller size.
 
I've been very happy with Johnson Controls batteries over the past few decades. Shopped and bought the Johnson Controls (Gold) battery with the lowest price. Never a problem. I have noticed East Penn making major moves in the market though. Napa, O'Reilly, WalMart, Sam's, Diehard...I'd see East Penn offered at least as part of the product line. Being that Johnson Controls sold their battery unit, and the last one I bought was made in Mexico, I'd be inclined to give East Penn a shot.
 
There is no lead acid battery made, Which is happy being both undercharged and hot.

Vehicles do not fully charge batteries. 80% charged to 100% charged cannot be accomplished in less than 3.5 hours. That 3.5 hours assume a mid 14 volt range is held that entire time.

Your vehicle will not hold that higher voltag, For that much time. Even if you drove for that long.

Lead acid batteries ideally always want to be fully charged. And cool.

No lead acid is battery is immune to being hot and undercharged.

Any reports of battery longevity. Good or bad, defects aside, are entirely meaningless, without knowing the average state of charge and the average temperature of the battery.

A good high $ agm battery has little self discharge. 1 to3% per month at 77f.

An old flooded battery in poor health can self discharge 1% or more each day.

Parasitic loads can and will discharge a battery. These vary greatly among different vehicles.

If anybody wants excellent battery longevity, the battery must live close to 100% charged at all times. Some vehicles might do ok. Some others dont shiv a git.

Properly charging a battery is all about the voltage regulation. The battery needs to be brought uoto mid 14s for a period of time, and once full then a lower voltage is preferred.
Vehicles do an extremely poor at topping off a battery.
So do most smart chargers. Especially on an unhealthy battery.

Urinating into the wind. People will always believe the sticker.on the battery is directly related to battery life.

Defects.aside. the worst cheapest battery kept near full charge will greatly outlast the most expensive battery chronically undercharged.

Higher quality batteries might recharge faster at the same voltages
Higher quality batteries might regain cca and capacity with an extended overcharge. Where as lesser batteries will not.

The battery manufacturers and their marketers are only concerned with maximum profit. They are second guessing every consumer to get that end of year bonus. Battery X, that lasted 5 years is made by someone else now, and to a different standard.

Keep your bttery as fully charged as possible and full as posible. Temoerature might be uncontrollable but state of charge is.

A 30 %charged battery can still easiky start an engine. The fact that thebattery can still start the engine is no indication of its state of charge or health.
I hve a 6 year old battery with more than 12p0 deep cycles.on it and many thousands of engine starts. I can drain 70 of.its 90 (when new and fully charged) amp hours from it, and it still easily starts my engine.

When new it would stay over 12.2v under the ~180 amp starter motor load. Now.it drops a lot lower than that, but never struggles to actually start the engine.

Get whatever battery that you can warranty easily. If yiu want the bestbattery. Bring a bathroom scale. The heavier group 34 battery will stand up to abuse better than the lighter 34.
The heavier one will likely have lower cca too.

But but but mo is better fo sho.....!

I gotta stop bothering regarding this subject on this forum. Magic stickers and brand loyalty, supreme ignorance, and parrots shout the loudest.

I
 
Hey there man ^^^^^^^^^

Your posts/contributions here are absolutely great and tremendously helpful.


Remember this my friend...

A whole whole bunch of people don't automatically think the way you do... Because they don't have the great depth of knowledge, experience and insights you have.

95% or more of people tend to think in terms of what's on a sticker... It is how we all are trained to think from a very young age. It takes great and helpful people like YOU who help educate others to learn, think and do things in a different and better way.

You are one of my favorite guys on here to read and learn from.
 
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Originally Posted by hallstevenson
Other than Walmart, you're hard pressed to get a battery for under $100 anymore. Almost all auto part store batteries I've seen will be $125-200. I bought a 48H6 AGM for $140-150 about a year ago and was happy with that price.



Exactly right ^^^^^^^
 
I bought a Duracell 27F battery for $78.35 a few months ago when they were 20 percent off at Sam's Club. They repeat the sale a few times a year. That is a large truck battery that weighs 41 pounds. Strangely, the smaller 24F costs several dollars more. They are made by East Penn and have a three year free replacement warranty.
 
The local battery mart sells recap and recon batteries (new ones with cosmetics or repaired terminals) for $35 any size, 90 day warranty, but the one in the dodge is 3 years old going strong
 
Originally Posted by wrcsixeight

Vehicles do an extremely poor at topping off a battery.
So do most smart chargers. Especially on an unhealthy battery.


Get whatever battery that you can warranty easily. If yiu want the bestbattery. Bring a bathroom scale. The heavier group 34 battery will stand up to abuse better than the lighter 34.
The heavier one will likely have lower cca too.

I

1 - Is there a good smart charger in your opinion? And what is one - not a battery tender type, but a charger.
2 - So which one is better group 34 battery to have - a heavier one or one with more CCA?
 
Last battery I got was a freebie from AAA since I have their premium membership, which includes a free replacement battery up to once a year. (They don't just hand one over of course, a thorough check of vehicle electrical system is done first.) Previous battery was from Wal-Mart and it lasted about 3 years. My car (Saab 9000) has a reputation for eating batteries due to high underhood temperatures. It's tough to get more than a few years out of one.

I also have an old Jeep Cherokee with the 4.0 six and that's a lot easier on batteries. Bought the Jeep about four years ago and the battery that was in it is still going strong.
 
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I'm a big fan of the JCI built Value Power brand from Walmart for the sheer bang for the buck, but when performance is needed, I prefer East Penn.

Now, I do work for AAA; I have to say that not all clubs have East Penn; where I am in Oregon we do, but if you to NorCal or SoCal clubs, they sell Exide.
 
Originally Posted by KE7JFF


Now, I do work for AAA; I have to say that not all clubs have East Penn; where I am in Oregon we do, but if you to NorCal or SoCal clubs, they sell Exide.

My parents have an Deka-made AAA battery in one of their cars. I haven't peered into a battery truck or van lately(I see them around, AAA bought out one of the tow companies in Oakland recently) but I think they might be all in on Deka.
 
My Civic has an AAA battery, installed years ago in S Carolina when a family member got stranded one hot day...
GREAT battery!
How do you tell who made it?
There's a special AAA sticker over the entire top, but I do not see a ‘code' in the serial number like JC or EP, for example.
Thanks!
 
My AAA battery is only about a year old so far, so I won't know for a while if it holds up any better than Wal-Mart's. When it dies though I should be able to get another freebie as long as I maintain my AAA membership. Cheap insurance when you do a lot of driving in an old car. (It's not just the cost of the tow, but having someone to call if you break down. A couple of years ago I had to be towed home from about 60 miles away due to a failed fuel pump.)

The 9000 normally takes a group 41 battery. They didn't have that on the truck but had another a bit smaller with the same amps that would fit, so we went with that.
 
To tell who made your AAA battery, the Exide models will actually say "Made by Exide"; the ones made by East Penn actually don't say who made it.

I know it's weird, I'll see if I can get pictures explaining it.
 
And to add more to the confusion, the Canadian clubs have both cold weather and hot weather batteries. Exide has the warm one, East Penn has the cold one.
 
Leaving a battery in basically any car made since 2000, will flatten the battery in a month if left sitting.

If your car is going to sit for 7-14 days without running it for at least 30-60 minutes, you will kill batteries.

Run an extension cord for a maintainer or disconnect the battery.

Remember alternators aren't for charging your battery but for maintaining charge.

Won't be amazed if the OP blows up his alternator at this rate.
 
Currently looking for an H8 (Group 49) 900 CCA battery for my old BMW: I think my choices are either EverStart Maxx from Walmart or Bosch Premium from Pep Boys. The Bosch one is a bit more expensive. I guess Exide makes them? Not sure who makes EverStart Maxx these days.

Between these two, is there a preference?
 
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