Battery talk

CHOP SHOP · Jan 2, 2014

ChopTop84 said:
I know a lot of people that have had good luck with Costco batteries. Especially the diesel guys.

That said, I run optimas in my diesel, and got 5 years out of my first set

I have Kirklands in my dodge. They are from Feb 2009, so another month and they will be 5 years old. They dont sound like they are giving up anytime soon either. 5 year FULL replacement and 10 year prorated warranty on the Kirklands.

Why dont equipment folks and semi drivers use gelcels? Why not gelcels in tugboats? Why not gelcels in most commercial/industrial applications?

zukkev · Jan 2, 2014

CHOP SHOP said:
I have Kirklands in my dodge. They are from Feb 2009, so another month and they will be 5 years old. They dont sound like they are giving up anytime soon either. 5 year FULL replacement and 10 year prorated warranty on the Kirklands.

Why dont equipment folks and semi drivers use gelcels? Why not gelcels in tugboats? Why not gelcels in most commercial/industrial applications?

We use 8D AGM's in all our buses...The wets are sooo corrosive, the fumes vented from them ate away everything within the batt box...since going AGM's, that issue has stopped altogether. Also, they last 3x as long as the wets did. Are the gels/agm's perfect? No, but they do have their place. I myself ran an old skool blue top for 6 yrs before one night of multiple hard pulls finally killed off the batt. Now running wets in both my rigs.

monstaru · Jan 2, 2014

That's funny.
I just called my buddy at Costco whilst I was standing in Autozone...
He will be hooking me up with at least one to start.
By the way, Kirkland Sig. is made by Interstate...

ChopTop, My 12 valve only requires one battery, and the Yellow top I got on scratch and dent for cheaper than new has done fine.I have left lights on in the camper(switched to run off of truck) and thought I fried it. Several times.( I couldna believe I didna get that switch right ever!)

Just ran down on me not to long ago. Put the pulse charger on it , and it came back again. Actually it's the reason I thought about trying to bring this old yeller back from the dead.

But, Fair enough.
cheers

ain'tstuckjustresting · Jan 2, 2014

Everyone says "these batteries are made by Interstate" which isn't true. They are made by Johnson Control who manufactures batteries for Interstate. Johnson Control will make batteries to any spec someone wants. They make the dirt cheap Oreilly Super Start Economy also. Johnson Control does make some very good batteries but don't assume just because the rebranded one you bought was made by the same Co. as Interstate that you are getting a top of the line part.

P.S. I'm not bashing Kirkland batteries, they're actually really well constructed.

zig80toy · Jan 2, 2014

Good info in here.

Slight hyjack of the battery thread but I'd like to keep the discussion going. What's the best battery to use in a dump trailer? Pretty standard stuff, not a huge trailer, basic 12v pump, one cylinder...
Difference between a deep cycle vs. marine battery? Best to run 2 smaller batteries, or 1 large one?

Thanks

Ryan

monstaru · Jan 2, 2014

Fair enough. I actually knew it was Johnson Control. My bad, not trying to spread mis-info.
Didn't realize it was that important :flipoff:
All I do know is that I'll go get a battery tomorrow,and I am sure my buddy will point me in the right direction.:awesomework:
cheers:redneck:

crash2 · Jan 11, 2015

I have replaced probably 20 acid core battery's to every optima. With that said after 7 years I finally lost one of my optima's.

CHOP SHOP · Jan 11, 2015

crash said:
I have replaced probably 20 acid core battery's to every optima. With that said after 7 years I finally lost one of my optima's.

Thats cuz you work on daily drivers. Optimas love daily drivers.

They hate.....

Boats
Rvs
Hotrods
Wheelers
etc.

JUNK for anything that sits around more than used.

And why the **** should I give the power company even more loot to run a battery tender just to keep my junk battery charged up?

:beatdeadhorse:

crash2 · Jan 11, 2015

And any battery that sits discharging will go bad...

Like I say mine have been strong for over 7 years--just lost one and the second still strong.

Time though to do some some reading on the odyssey batteries.

WHITE TRASH1 · Jan 11, 2015

CHOP SHOP said:
Thats cuz you work on daily drivers. Optimas love daily drivers.

They hate.....

Boats
Rvs
Hotrods
Wheelers
etc.

JUNK for anything that sits around more than used.

Yup. I'm running a yellow top dated 2003 in my auto x truck. Before that its been passed from dd to dd and before that it was in my wheeler. I'd run the stereo till the amps shut off, turn the system off for 5 minutes and the truck would fire up to recharge the battery. It has always been used and so far shows zero signs of slowing down.

jeepmauler · Jan 11, 2015

Odyssey's can't sit. After killing several PC1200s I finally broke down and bought a fancy charger to tend the batt 24/7......problem solved.

In a little buggy like mine where space is at an absolute premium the small size options of the Odyssey batts are great.....but otherwise they are troublesome.

99redtj · Jan 11, 2015

I just bought two red top group 25 battery's for my jeep because I now run dual battery's.
Will see how they do over time.

crash2 · Jan 11, 2015

jeepmauler said:
Odyssey's can't sit. After killing several PC1200s I finally broke down and bought a fancy charger to tend the batt 24/7......problem solved.

In a little buggy like mine where space is at an absolute premium the small size options of the Odyssey batts are great.....but otherwise they are troublesome.

Did you have a battery disconnect jeff? The one that went dead has been iffy the last year and was never ever an issue as long as I had the battery switch off. Sitting out in the weather for the past month with the switch on finally did it in. But I always tried to disconnect the battery's from the rig and it could sit for a long time with zero issues.

crash2 · Jan 11, 2015

99redtj said:
I just bought two red top group 25 battery's for my jeep because I now run dual battery's.
Will see how they do over time.

Who did ya go thru judd? The only reason I hate to run something different is my mounts are pretty tight and built around the optima's.

CHOP SHOP · Jan 11, 2015

99redtj said:
I just bought two red top group 25 battery's for my jeep because I now run dual battery's.
Will see how they do over time.

You wheel and WINCH allot. DONT hook your winch leads to the side posts. They will melt right off.

Hook up to the top posts for any high current draw. :awesomework:

CHOP SHOP · Jan 11, 2015

Hey, I got another wrecking yard battery for my tractor last week. Its about 6 months old and perfect condition. Cost me $20. Its a nice 850CCA NAPA premium to.

Anyone got a hookup on perfectly good almost new gelcels for $20??? :corn:

Not to bash but a 20 hooker just aint worth $149 just cuz shes got bright RED lipstick!

jeepmauler · Jan 11, 2015

crash said:
Did you have a battery disconnect jeff? The one that went dead has been iffy the last year and was never ever an issue as long as I had the battery switch off. Sitting out in the weather for the past month with the switch on finally did it in. But I always tried to disconnect the battery's from the rig and it could sit for a long time with zero issues.

Oh yeah.....battery cut off as The car was built to compete and that's mandatory for rules compliance......anyhow....batt cut off kills everything except power to the computer. We don't feel the comp would have enough draw to flat line the batt but if the car sits for a couple months,like when I bought my house, itll kill the batt. Batt lives on a CTEK 7002 charger/tender and has never had an issue since.

One of the batts I killed was due to the ignition switch being left on and that flat lined a batt in a couple weeks.

crash2 · Jan 11, 2015

jeepmauler said:
Oh yeah.....battery cut off as The car was built to compete and that's mandatory for rules compliance......anyhow....batt cut off kills everything except power to the computer. We don't feel the comp would have enough draw to flat line the batt but if the car sits for a couple months,like when I bought my house, itll kill the batt. Batt lives on a CTEK 7002 charger/tender and has never had an issue since.

One of the batts I killed was due to the ignition switch being left on and that flat lined a batt in a couple weeks.

So you still had a draw--got ya :awesomework:

Mine kills everything..