Another dead Interstate battery

[walterjay]

Not quite 4 years old and completely gone. MIL paid a lot of money for Interstate which has really gone south in the last few years. I am getting twice the life out of Walmart batteries. This is the fourth Interstate in the family that gave up the ghost in less than 5 years.
What used to be a good battery no longer is. Cheaper Walmarts have proven to be better.

 

[Tdbo]

They are nothing exceptional.
However, electronics put much demand on batteries.

 

[totegoat]

Keeping an eye on 4 year old car battery I bought at Toyota, has a 7 year warranty.

 

[dogememe]

Not quite 4 years old and completely gone. MIL paid a lot of money for Interstate which has really gone south in the last few years. I am getting twice the life out of Walmart batteries. This is the fourth Interstate in the family that gave up the ghost in less than 5 years.
What used to be a good battery no longer is. Cheaper Walmarts have proven to be better.

5 years is good for a car battery of any brand these days IMO. Don't spend extra for the brand on the sticker. Shop based on price, warranty, specs, and convenience (convenience = location of store, hours of store, warranty procedures, etc)

 

[BMWTurboDzl]

Not quite 4 years old and completely gone. MIL paid a lot of money for Interstate which has really gone south in the last few years. I am getting twice the life out of Walmart batteries. This is the fourth Interstate in the family that gave up the ghost in less than 5 years.
What used to be a good battery no longer is. Cheaper Walmarts have proven to be better.

Vehicles have different amounts of parasitic draw and something as simple as the placement of a car key (auto open/close) along with vehicle usage have a large impact on battery life.

I have to buy a faraday bag for my wife so she can keep her car keys near the garage. Otherwise the car will be in ready state simply because it detects the key.

 

[walterjay]

MIL car is a 10 year old Camry. My stripped down 06 F-150 Interstate died in less than 5 years. So in these cases it is not high tech parasitic draws.

 

[RitcheyRch]

Not quite 4 years old and completely gone. MIL paid a lot of money for Interstate which has really gone south in the last few years. I am getting twice the life out of Walmart batteries. This is the fourth Interstate in the family that gave up the ghost in less than 5 years.
What used to be a good battery no longer is. Cheaper Walmarts have proven to be better.

Likely, both the Interstate and Walmart battery are made by the same company, Clarios (formerly Johnson Controls)

 

[Zap1967]

Interstate is garbage and has been since they’ve been mfg. by Johnson controls (Arab battery company). I only purchase batteries made by East Penn mfg. brands like Deka, Caterpillar, etc.

I grew up with my grandpa as a used car dealer. With 100% accuracy during temperature swings every single dead battery was always a Johnson controls unit. Most commonly occurring was Duralast.

Can’t comment any experience with AGM other than Optima. Popular in marine applications (I worked in that industry out of college) every single one we dealt with that had an Optima always always had battery issues. Their warranty team always claimed “your charger can’t handle it”. All of our chargers were high end and rated for AGM service.

I generally get about 5-6 years of service out of a boat battery. If I remember I might put it on the trickle once or twice over winter.

 

[FT92]

I must be lucky, have an interstate in my Honda, 7 years and counting.

 

[nwjones18]

I have had good luck with the "value" batteries from Walmart. Sadly they are no longer $50, but I've only had one fail to make it to 3 years old and the one in my old f-150 is now 5+ years old.

 

[VTECOverRated]

I have had interstate brand batteries fail in all applications way sooner than everything else. Cars, Mowers, even just for solar panel doors that use like 1 watt...

 

[atikovi]

Interstate is garbage and has been since they’ve been mfg. by Johnson controls (Arab battery company).

They were garbage way before then. I remember 20 years ago buying cars with a few months old Interstate batteries that wouldn't take a charge. Shops push them because they make the best profit compared to other brands.

 

[benjy]

quality aside ANY battery not kept charged by driving enough or a periotic charge will have a shorter life + new activated batteries on a sellers shelf without being charged regularly is slowing dying a slow death!!

 

[CKN]

Too many variables to discuss "an almost 4 year old battery". Doesn't means the manufacturer makes bad batteries........

Not to mention the fact the OP doesn't even own the vehicle that has the battery in it.

 

[thastinger]

I have an Interstate in my boat, it is a 2010 (you read that correctly) and it is still in good shape. I've never had a battery last as long as this one has, but my understanding is they don't have the quality they once had.
4 or 5 years is all you should expect from any FLA battery anymore.

 

[walterjay]

Too many variables to discuss "an almost 4 year old battery". Doesn't means the manufacturer makes bad batteries........

Not to mention the fact the OP doesn't even own the vehicle that has the battery in it.

I don't own them but I service and maintain them.

 

[CKN]

I don't own them but I service and maintain them.

OK-but you still don't know how the vehicle is driven treated after you service it. These threads are almost always second hand-MY MIL, My wife's cousin, third removed.
Not fair to say something is lousy because you just don't know.

 

[walterjay]

This is not second hand information.

 

[NormanBuntz]

It seems that many of the Everstart Maxx batteries at Walmart are manufactured by East Penn. That's my chosen battery maker, and I recently spent more for its Deka brand.

 

[nate379]

They are nothing exceptional.
However, electronics put much demand on batteries.

Yup. I unhook the batteries or put a master switch on stuff that sits.

Great tired of batteries blowing open after freezing.