45 Months on a $50 Walmart Battery in Phoenix

Nick1994

$100 site donor 2024
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3 years is amazing for a battery here in Phoenix. Well, I made it to 45 months on my $48.88 Walmart ValuePower battery in the Camry. Original alternator charging it too at 240k miles.

Take a wild guess as to what I replaced it with 🤣

My Solar ProLogix charger said the new battery was 12.5v and 85% charged. I didn't check the old one, it just didn't want to start the car, cranked too slow.

C4D0DF0E-55DF-4178-AC04-853C8A232AC6.jpeg
 
Nice, I put in an EverStart in my Sienna 2 years ago. 3yr full replacement, 5yr prorate seemed too good to pass up. My batteries in both vehicles have died at 36 months plus or minus, for years now, so at least WM will give me nice discounts if they don't go any longer. 3 yrs 9 mos would be longer than I recall going, and still give me a nice prorate. Did you get that same warranty?
 
Nice, I put in an EverStart in my Sienna 2 years ago. 3yr full replacement, 5yr prorate seemed too good to pass up. My batteries in both vehicles have died at 36 months plus or minus, for years now, so at least WM will give me nice discounts if they don't go any longer. 3 yrs 9 mos would be longer than I recall going, and still give me a nice prorate. Did you get that same warranty?
The $50 batteries have a 1 year warranty, that’s it.

Which is the best to me, because spending $100 on the fancier battery would mean it would have had to last 90 months to break even. And that’s not gonna happen.
 
I'll give that some thought when these batteries go belly up. One issue for me would be the full value warranty if it goes out inside of 36 months, and even with 60 mos, I still get it prorated. I'll look at how much prorate I get compared to the costs of the two batteries, next time I need a new one.

The $50 batteries have a 1 year warranty, that’s it.

Which is the best to me, because spending $100 on the fancier battery would mean it would have had to last 90 months to break even. And that’s not gonna happen.
 
Good job! I only got a little over 2 years out of mine, but at the same time, I've never had a more expensive battery last longer than 4 years in the Accord, so the $50 battery is still a slightly better deal.
 
These things are good for how cheap they are. On my old 7.3 diesel van, I got two batteries installed for only $100. It took almost an hour because 2nd battery rides in a frame mounted box. They made it 2.5 years and I let them run totally dead once. Group 65 batteries for only $50 is insane!
 
That is quite awesome and impressive.


The East Penn battery in the group 24f in my area has been the same exact battery that has a 3 yr free replacement warranty from Federated Auto parts. It weighs 41 pounds and has 115 minutes of reserve capacity. It is actually is East Penn's gold tier aka mid tier battery the 624fmf battery. I weighed the battery I got and it weighed 41 pounds. If it would have been the lower tier battery it would have weighed 37 pounds. Which means it could still be a steal at $55.... if they are still using that same battery like about 2 years ago.

Goes to show... The extra $$ can just be paying for a warranty. That in all likelihood... Will not be needed.
 
I was just looking at these a couple weeks ago for my 89 Sierra which takes a Group 78. The Value battery is only 600 CCA and the MAXX is 800 CCA. I just don't think the 600 CCA for a 5.7 is enough with the winters we've been having.

The weight difference between the MAXX and O'Reilly's Extreme is all most 4 pounds, I'm leaning towards the Extreme if I need it.
 
No Phoenix, but got similar out of the one we put in the 1999 Grand Marquis back in 2016. It was still going when I sold the car 2+ weeks ago.


Seems it's hard to go wrong for at the time $48

Mine was the same month, IIRC, 11/2016.
 
I was just looking at these a couple weeks ago for my 89 Sierra which takes a Group 78. The Value battery is only 600 CCA and the MAXX is 800 CCA. I just don't think the 600 CCA for a 5.7 is enough with the winters we've been having.

The weight difference between the MAXX and O'Reilly's Extreme is all most 4 pounds, I'm leaning towards the Extreme if I need it.


Yeah I would agree with you duffyjr... In your area it can get quite, quite cold too. If a solid snow pack is in place in your area and everywhere north and west of your area... And a very strong area of Arctic high pressure builds southward from Canada into that region.... It can get extremely cold. Those CCA matter in conditions like -20°F or colder.

In my area where typically we don't see 0°F all that often... It's not the same circumstance. Though we did get around that cold in the winters of 2013-14, 2014-15, 2015-16, 2016-17 and 2017-18.... Very unusual given that has typically been a once in every 4-7 year experience in southeast Va.
 
Yeah I would agree with you duffyjr... In your area it can get quite, quite cold too. If a solid snow pack is in place in your area and everywhere north and west of your area... And a very strong area of Arctic high pressure builds southward from Canada into that region.... It can get extremely cold. Those CCA matter in conditions like -20°F or colder.

In my area where typically we don't see 0°F all that often... It's not the same circumstance. Though we did get around that cold in the winters of 2013-14, 2014-15, 2015-16, 2016-17 and 2017-18.... Very unusual given that has typically been a once in every 4-7 year experience in southeast Va.
I was stationed at Ft. Eustis from 78-80 and all I had out their was my Yamaha 750 Special and rode it year round so I know most winters are mild, which make me jealous.
 
585 CCA. There is that idea that lower CCA batteries have fewer/thicker plates compared to the same physical size battery that claims 700 to 900 CCA. The hypothesis is that the thicker plates with more fluid around them is better.

I think that the premise of bigger is better is often misguided.
 
There is another type of higher.... Really higher CCA battery thin plate pure lead AGM deep cycle/starter battery... Which actually has much higher CCA and a much heavier battery in the same exact BCI size. Thin plates in this case is not a bad thing.

Example a group 24f battery TPPL AGM battery made by Northstar weighs 56 pounds... Has I think almost 1,000 CCA and 160 minutes of reserve capacity. This battery has a 5 yr free replacement warranty.

Versus a high end tier group flooded battery like a East Penn 724fmf battery that weighs 44 pounds with 725 CCA and 120 minutes of reserve capacity. This battery has a 3 yr free replacement warranty.

The group 524fmf battery from East Penn weighs 37 pounds and has 550 CCA and has 90 minutes of reserve capacity. I actually have this battery in my car. It has a 2 yr free replacement warranty through Federated Auto parts.

Being that my battery weighs 7 pounds less than the 724fmf battery. There are just more plates packed in the same size space.

Thin plates in the true deep cycle starter battery in the TPPL battery are certainly not a negative.

In a regular flooded battery with higher CCA and reserve capacity could well use thinner plates. Though they typically have a longer warranty period vs a lower tier lighter battery in the same BCI size. Though I believe East Penn uses more plates of the same exact size in their higher CCA batteries.
 
I recently got the East Penn 24F battery 725 CCA under the Duracell brand at Sam’s Club, for $82 on sale (a couple times a year there is a $20 off sale). Last year I got the 27F size 840 CCA for $79.94. The Duracells have 3 year free replacement warranty.
 
I just put a neverstart in the Cherokee. It replaced a "willard", which is the worst battery I've ever had. That thing would leak acid on the upper radiator hose as I would go down hills. The neverstart doesn't seem to do that, so that's good. I went with size 58 instead of 34 for the extra clearance to the hood.
 
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