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Recommended Batteries

J

juddspaintballs

my balls are painted!
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Time to replace batteries in my Suburban. Are there any batteries especially recommended and why? For instance, is a $250 Optima that much better than a $125 standard battery in my Suburban if I'm not running anything special on it?
 
Or the Interstate mega-something (tron?) 7year ones are also a good choice.I like them so far but have only had them 2 years.

Sent from my SCH-I535
 
Those Sears batteries are $195.49 locally and I'll call the Interstate dealer tomorrow, but list price on them is $142.95. 4 year replacement on the Sears battery, 2 on the Interstate. Is AGM performance really worth the extra $100 in a truck? I always put AGM in my motorcycles, but will it really make a noticeable difference in a Suburban?
 
I'm getting ready to put a set of CARQUEST DEKA batteries in my BURB. My 4 year old DURALAST's are on there last legs dropping down to almost 9 volts during startup in mild weather.
 
So my wife mentioned buying batteries on Amazon. She's got a baby registry setup and since we're in the last month before she's due, she gets 15% off of ANYTHING in the registry. I found Optima red top 34/78's for $155 on there, no core charge. No sales tax, free 2 day shipping, and 15% off brings their price down to the range of cheap batteries at an auto parts store.

Optima Red tops OK batteries for starting the Burb?
 
My experience with OPTIMAS since JOHNSON CONTROLS bought them and moved them to Mexico has been less than stellar to say the least. Theres a reason they dropped there warranty to next to nothing on them as they couldn't afford to warranty them anymore. they work great for about 2 years, then they just fail out of nowhere.
 
I am still doing ok with my Mexico made optima yellow tops, but everyone I know says I'm just lucky with them. They are definitely not as good as the original optimas. When I lost the last red top (different rig) it was a pain for the warranty.

When it comes to amazon, when speaking to AC Delco tech rep, they are having a nightmare of a time from amazon and he said "buy from anyone other than them". He said he can't believe the way customers are treated when there is a simple warranty issue and the customers get ahold of them in disgust.
 
A buddy of mine is making a strong case for me to buy Duralast Gold (from Autozone). He says they're made by Honeywell and he's always had the longest use and luck with them. They have a better warranty than Optima, 800 cca still, and are $125 in store. I'm strongly leaning that direction and their website shows them in stock.
 
juddspaintballs said:
A buddy of mine is making a strong case for me to buy Duralast Gold (from Autozone). He says they're made by Honeywell and he's always had the longest use and luck with them. They have a better warranty than Optima, 800 cca still, and are $125 in store. I'm strongly leaning that direction and their website shows them in stock.
Click to expand...

DURALAST gold is nothing more than a JOHNSON CONTROLS battery. It is the same battery as an EVERSTART MAXX from WAL-MART. And I'm not aware any battery manufacturer going by the name NONEYWELL. You have JOHNSON CONTROL and DEKA as the main players in making probably 85% of the batteries out there.
 
Yep. Don't drink the kool-aid. There's only a few lead acid battery manufacturing entities out there.

My 'Autocraft Gold' batts from Advance Auto are Johnson control as well.
 
No. Personally I've had good luck with JC batteries.. So its just a matter of what label you want on them and which reseller you want to support.
 
OK. I'll probably still go with those Duralast Gold batteries. The warranty is good, store is close, and the pair is $150 cheaper than a pair of those Sears batteries. If I get 3 years out of them for $250, I'll probably be pretty happy with them.
 
RI Chevy Silveradoman said:
I used these, Sears Platinum P4 AGM (Odyssey AGM) batteries. They have been great so far. http://www.thetruckstop.us/forum/sh...eries-just-failed-Not-bad-for-a-2006-AC-Delco
Click to expand...

IMO JOHNSON CONTROLS personally ruined the Optima battery quality and laid off a bunch of American Citizens so why buy any of their cheaply made stuff? F em! Optima's Made In Mexico with most of the elements that made them near indestructible are left out nowadays. When they fail they like to fry the diodes in alternators. Lately I have had a couple sets crack around the top posts and one started to leak. 'Spill proof' does NOT mean 'leak proof'.

I am so fed up with changing out the dammed Optima's I got my money back on a set and bought the Deka relabeled store brand AGM from O'reilly. I used to recommend them, but, the quality is so bad now that the Wal-Mart low end JC battery was outliving 2 sets...

So the above recommendation of Odyssey via Sears or Deka via relabel is a good way to go for an AGM. They have to be better than Optima. So far they are for me.

What does AGM do for you?
Starts the vehicle after leaving the lights on nearly all day.
Charges fast after doing so and may kill a hot running CS 130 alternator.
Will cheerfully crank the engine over at top speed with the glow plugs on.
Won't dump acid all over the place with a crack failure or wreck. (Leaks on AGM only take out the battery tray and cables.) Flooded cell battery leaks and cracks are common. New cars with wires and other stuff under the battery are expensive to fix after a battery failure.
Generally less corrosion around the battery and less corrosive goo build up on the battery top. AGM's usually look clean where for example an Interstate Megaton always seam to look nasty out here.
That last bit of juice after the CS-130 alternator fries for other reasons gets you to close walking distance of the parts store. (Can't count how many times this happened. Did I mention I run CS-144's now?)
Their vibration resistance is legendary in off road/diesel/ etc applications. Imagine a single cylinder diesel air cooled light plant vibrating a flooded 12v battery to death in 90 days of running every night. Let alone frequent complete discharge when the thing ran out of diesel. AGM's, Colorado Made Optima, lasted years in that application. (I guarantee you Made in Mexico Optima wouldn't cut it in this application today.)
 
Good information, WW. I had thought about looking for Odyssey AGM for our vehicles, should they need replaced. It will be many years, though, since I just replaced them all a couple years back. Since putting one in my four wheeler, I've really not heard it crank since doing so. It spins the motor so fast, it's running before I even hear the starter motor really ever crank.

Up until this one Odyssey, I've always used Interstate Mega-Tron in everything. They've, honestly, never let me down. I think I got 9 years out of mine in my truck and we got about that from the one in my wife's Suburban, too. I'd have to go back and look for a post I typed up.
 
I purchased my Sears batteries when they were on sale. I got them for an excellent price. They are doing very well up to date. I lucked out and got a matched pair that had just been delivered to my local store. I looked at several other brands, but decided to go with these and try them. If I get the same usage that I got out of my AC Delco OEM's, I'll be very happy. These batteries are pretty heavy and very well-built.
 
WarWagon said:
IMO JOHNSON CONTROLS personally ruined the Optima battery quality and laid off a bunch of American Citizens so why buy any of their cheaply made stuff? F em! Optima's Made In Mexico with most of the elements that made them near indestructible are left out nowadays. When they fail they like to fry the diodes in alternators. Lately I have had a couple sets crack around the top posts and one started to leak. 'Spill proof' does NOT mean 'leak proof'.

I am so fed up with changing out the dammed Optima's I got my money back on a set and bought the Deka relabeled store brand AGM from O'reilly. I used to recommend them, but, the quality is so bad now that the Wal-Mart low end JC battery was outliving 2 sets...

So the above recommendation of Odyssey via Sears or Deka via relabel is a good way to go for an AGM. They have to be better than Optima. So far they are for me.

What does AGM do for you?
Starts the vehicle after leaving the lights on nearly all day.
Charges fast after doing so and may kill a hot running CS 130 alternator.
Will cheerfully crank the engine over at top speed with the glow plugs on.
Won't dump acid all over the place with a crack failure or wreck. (Leaks on AGM only take out the battery tray and cables.) Flooded cell battery leaks and cracks are common. New cars with wires and other stuff under the battery are expensive to fix after a battery failure.
Generally less corrosion around the battery and less corrosive goo build up on the battery top. AGM's usually look clean where for example an Interstate Megaton always seam to look nasty out here.
That last bit of juice after the CS-130 alternator fries for other reasons gets you to close walking distance of the parts store. (Can't count how many times this happened. Did I mention I run CS-144's now?)
Their vibration resistance is legendary in off road/diesel/ etc applications. Imagine a single cylinder diesel air cooled light plant vibrating a flooded 12v battery to death in 90 days of running every night. Let alone frequent complete discharge when the thing ran out of diesel. AGM's, Colorado Made Optima, lasted years in that application. (I guarantee you Made in Mexico Optima wouldn't cut it in this application today.)
Click to expand...


Good information and definitely something to consider. I always use AGM in my motorcycles for those reasons. As far as alternators go, I've got a freshly rebuilt AD-244 that I was going to slap on there when I put new batteries on and I was planning on building a new set of battery cables from a bunch of 1/0 wire I have left over from a project a while ago.


Duralast Platinum shows that it's AGM at $145 each. How do I know if it's a relabeled Odyssey or Deka?
 
I've never had bad luck with Interstate batteries.

My guess is that Johnson Controls intentionally took out their competition with Optima...
 
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