I have had pretty good luck with East Penn. And they have manufacturing plants in the USA. But even they may have moved some manufacturing capacity off shore.
25yr old battery finally needs replacement
- Thread starter Tubefreakz
- Start date
f355spider
$50 Site Donor 2026
I think even the best battery makers can put out a turd now and then, so I don't think negatively about East Penn. There are enough positive reviews to show they generally make a solid product. Even the famed X2 Power pure lead battery is very poorly rated by Consumer Reports in size Group 65. All the samples they test were terrible. Yet in other sizes X2 Power were rated #1 or in at least the top 5.
I could never understand how one battery manufacturer could make one group size that's gets a good CR rating and another group size that gets a bad CR rating.
Now a brand like Interstate that's sources from more than one manufacturer is a different story.
I think it has to do with the cell plates. If you have lets say a H7 and a smaller H6 better but both are rated 800 AH, the H6 is going to have thinner cell plates that will degrade quicker over time due to the heat generated from recharge cycling.
That is why those larger size batteries seen in agriculture and heavy construction equipment last almost forever and way easier to recover and maintain.
And it's also recommended when getting a replacement battery for your car go for a battery with the same CCA listed in the owners manual. Not go for the highest CCA in the group size. More CCA in same group size = thinner plates.
The Deka east penns are made in the USA. My local family farm sells them and stocks just about every size made, as well as their agms. If a Deka branded battery is made outside the US, I haven’t seen one. The cases also appear beefier than the corresponding EP at my Walmart. Also, color me a non believer that the Walmart brands are exactly the same as the name brands. Walmarts already low balling manufacturers so a cost cut is likely somewhere just to make a buck.
Walmart is certainly a big enough corporation to have batteries made to their specs or to their cost point.
So a EP battery sold at Walmart could be a little different than one sold at NAPA.
Unsure what other stores around me in Delaware sell East Penn batteries. We have Tractor Supply but have never seen a Family Farm.
West Marine sells East Penn marine batteries.
Batteries Plus sells Duracell AGM. Unsure what company manufacturers them.
Family farm and home is an Ohio/Michigan farm store. But not unlike any other farm store. Just not big enough (rural king) to have their name on things like batteries and oil. Their cheaper oil is mag1 while their batteries are strictly deka. The deka batteries I bought last December, I guess would be equal to an Everstart plus as far as warranty goes, with the Deka being around $20 more. My son bought a plus on Friday for his tool trailer and comparing them side by side I can see enough difference to know that EP isn’t just simply slapping a deka sticker on one and Everstart on the other. Nothing wrong with this, it is what it is. If my battery craps out on a road trip I don’t have the luxury of pulling into any town USA to get it replaced.
The obvious solution is a F250 PSD with dual batteries.
But not sure what exactly happens if one goes bad. Does it try and pull charge out of the good one trying to get the bad one back up to 12V?
My boat has 3 batteries and and the two in the engine compartment can be put in parallel for starting but aside from that none are ever in parallel without the engine running.
East Penn has a facility in Corydon,Iowa. Don’t know what they do there. I had 2 Delco batteries last 9 years, a warranty replacement on the Saturn and a 34/78 dual post I bought from the Chevy dealer I was working for at the time. Dealership Delco batteries are not the same they sell at Menards or any other big box. Had an Optima last 9 years, bought in 2014.