Batteries - why no forum here (or am I blind?)

[Bumpside 427]

Originally Posted By: brianl703
Bosch was Johnson Controls last year, it's Exide this year. It's just a brand name slapped on someone else's battery.


Thank you. Are they good?

 

[Bumpside 427]

Originally Posted By: Pablo
Find your local CarQuest. They sell Deka/East Penn under the CarQuest name. Excellent battery, for a reasonable price.


Pablo, price is not the top concern so are these good, better, or besets batteries?
I'm looking for another battery to go 5 years. The OEM is Panasonic. No idea who makes those...

 

[tdpark]

Interstate megatron- Johnson control

 

[brianl703]

Originally Posted By: PurplePride


Thank you. Are they good?


I wouldn't go out of my way to buy one, particularly when Wal-Mart has the same Exide battery for $40 less.

 

[daves87rs]

Originally Posted By: tdpark
Interstate megatron- Johnson control



JC makes interstate batteries now?

 

[stockrex]

Deka is premium battery, they make CAT brand battery and that will be my replacement for my duramax.
I find that charging the car batt once or twice a year with an external charger helps extend the life of a battery.

 

[Pablo]

Originally Posted By: PurplePride
Originally Posted By: Pablo
Find your local CarQuest. They sell Deka/East Penn under the CarQuest name. Excellent battery, for a reasonable price.


Pablo, price is not the top concern so are these good, better, or besets batteries?



These are top of line batteries. I could tell by the construction when I first looked, then I could tell by the performance and doing some research will show they have a good reputation.

I got mine for $92.

 

[OptimaJim]

Hi PurplePride, I noticed your question regarding our batteries and wanted to offer some assistance. As much as we’d like to have you as a customer, it may not be necessary for you to buy a new battery yet. If you take your current battery to a battery professional, they can load-test it for you, to determine if it even needs to be replaced. Some professionals will do this for a small fee and others will do it for free. If your battery has been well-maintained, it could last for several more years.

stockrex, I’m sorry to hear about the problem you had with your BlueTop. The free replacement warranty on our consumer BlueTops was 18 months and was extended to 24 months in February of 2009. Either way, your battery should have been covered. If you still have the battery, please PM me and I’ll do my best to assist you further.

The quality of our batteries has always been excellent and continues to improve. Many of the “bad” batteries returned to us under warranty are just deeply-discharged and work fine, when properly recharged. Many battery chargers will not recognize or charge any battery that has been discharged below 10.5 volts, but Optimas can be recharged with such chargers, by using the parallel charging technique explained in this video- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIoaL3DWWEg

If you have any questions about our batteries, please don’t hesitate to ask.

Jim McIlvaine
eCare Manager, OPTIMA Batteries, Inc.
www.facebook.com/optimabatteries

 

[Steve S]

Bob Is The Battery Guy?

 

[Bumpside 427]

Originally Posted By: OptimaJim
Hi PurplePride, I noticed your question regarding our batteries and wanted to offer some assistance. As much as we’d like to have you as a customer, it may not be necessary for you to buy a new battery yet. If you take your current battery to a battery professional, they can load-test it for you, to determine if it even needs to be replaced. Some professionals will do this for a small fee and others will do it for free. If your battery has been well-maintained, it could last for several more years.

stockrex, I’m sorry to hear about the problem you had with your BlueTop. The free replacement warranty on our consumer BlueTops was 18 months and was extended to 24 months in February of 2009. Either way, your battery should have been covered. If you still have the battery, please PM me and I’ll do my best to assist you further.

The quality of our batteries has always been excellent and continues to improve. Many of the “bad” batteries returned to us under warranty are just deeply-discharged and work fine, when properly recharged. Many battery chargers will not recognize or charge any battery that has been discharged below 10.5 volts, but Optimas can be recharged with such chargers, by using the parallel charging technique explained in this video- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIoaL3DWWEg

If you have any questions about our batteries, please don’t hesitate to ask.

Jim McIlvaine
eCare Manager, OPTIMA Batteries, Inc.
www.facebook.com/optimabatteries


Thanks Jim! I'm honored that your first BITOG post was to answer my question

I really have considered the Red-Top as many fellow Scion owners love them.
But...I'm not sure I can justify the 2x price for one. I should do as you suggested and get it tested. I guess I'm old-school in some of my maintenance habits.
Either way, I appreciate the honest answer and help.

Scott

PS - what part of WI? My Pop lives in Hillsboro.

 

[Pablo]

Are Optima batteries made in the USA?

 

[willix]

Walmart. get the one with higher CCA and move a couple of them an get the one form the back of the rack-stock is rotated.

 

[SZR48207]

I'm not bragging or anything, but I used to work at an Interstate Battery in college and picked up a lot of really useful information on car batteries.

I forgot a lot of the really cool stuff , but what I do remember is that 95% of the batteries you can buy for your automobile are going to be made by 3 mfgs (or probably less now). Johnson Controls, Exide, and Delphi (I think Delphi quit the battery biz). In terms of serviceability and reliability, Johnson Controls seemed to be on top as their batteries are user-serviceable and were generally engineered much better than those by Exide. I'm currently running a 65 series Interstate battery in my truck that I actually purchased as a used battery as an employee. Still cranks over like a champ and I think is around 5 to 7 years old now.

I remember having to replace a lot of the side-terminal GM batteries that were made by Delphi. Seemed like they just had a tendency to [censored] out from vibration and heat. Don't remember much about Exides.. I guess they were OK, but it seemed like JC batts just took a lot more abuse and lasted longer.

As far as buying a battery, you may see which type your local Wal-Mart carries. Some WMs have JC batteries (noticeable due to the removeable vent caps w/ angled corners and the "JC shape"), but my local ones only have Exide. Price-wise, seems like WM can usually beat anyone else and the warranty is good enough.

AutoZone Duralast are also JC in most locations, so those are good to go (but ugly colors, sheesh!). Might even see if you have a local Interstate Batteries as these are usually locally owned and operated. Prices are slightly higher, but warranty is pretty good and service is impeccable.

You can personally check the mfg date of the battery by looking near the top part of the side for a date code punched in with a dot-matrix style machine. I believe the date codes are like A0 or J9 or C8 where A through J are months 1-12, and the 2nd number is the last digit of mfg year.

So A0 = Jan 2010, etc..

 

[Bluestream]

I agree with OptimaJim, on buying from a professional. These businesses carry more than one line and will get you the best battery for your car, if you even really need one. They can often repair a battery that still has good cells, or at least give it a proper check out. Why pay more for a chain store battery and deal with some 16 year old kid who knows nothing? Leave that for the shadetree's...

 

[javacontour]

Originally Posted By: Steve S
Bob Is The Battery Guy?


No it appears it would be Jim is the battery guy.

 

[kc8adu]

Originally Posted By: OptimaJim


The quality of our batteries has always been excellent and continues to improve. Many of the “bad” batteries returned to us under warranty are just deeply-discharged and work fine, when properly recharged. Many battery chargers will not recognize or charge any battery that has been discharged below 10.5 volts, but Optimas can be recharged with such chargers, by using the parallel charging technique explained in this video- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIoaL3DWWEg

If you have any questions about our batteries, please don’t hesitate to ask.

Jim McIlvaine
eCare Manager, OPTIMA Batteries, Inc.
www.facebook.com/optimabatteries

a deeply discharged optima can overload,overheat,and even burn up a cheap charger.the low internal resistance does this.
i often get optima's from wrecks at several yards when they wont take a charge.
most are fine after i hit them with my 25a programmable wet,gel,agm charger.
the guy with the "bad" bluetop likely left something on in the rv.i see this all the time.even if it comes up but is a bit sick on a load test i just float them on my ups.this cleans up minor sulphation.
i have a 12 year old d31 yellow on my ups that still does close to its rated capacity.
it was at 8v when i got it from my neighbors trash 7 years ago.
a fully loaded 850va ups is a mean load for any battery.i am still pleasantly surprised in its performance.

 

[tonycarguy]

Originally Posted By: PurplePride
I'm in the process of looking for a new battery for my Scion. The battery date is now 5 years old.


Where in Cali are you? If you're in a region with mild climates (within 20 miles of the coast) then don't bother with a high-end battery. I live in an area that occasionally sees 90s and 100s in summer, but most of the time it's in the 80s in summer, and in winter it gets down to 35-45F at night. I always buy the cheapest one I can find at Kragens (typically ~$60). I proactively replace them around 5-6 years like you do and haven't had any problems with them.

 

[Bumpside 427]

Originally Posted By: tonycarguy
Originally Posted By: PurplePride
I'm in the process of looking for a new battery for my Scion. The battery date is now 5 years old.


Where in Cali are you? If you're in a region with mild climates (within 20 miles of the coast) then don't bother with a high-end battery. I live in an area that occasionally sees 90s and 100s in summer, but most of the time it's in the 80s in summer, and in winter it gets down to 35-45F at night. I always buy the cheapest one I can find at Kragens (typically ~$60). I proactively replace them around 5-6 years like you do and haven't had any problems with them.



Pasadena. Spend 3+ hours a day on the freeways - not moving during those hours.
My Panasonic is 5 years old now, and I'm more looking to increase the CCA rating.

 

[Tempest]

You need to worry about CCA in Pasadena?

 

[Bumpside 427]

Originally Posted By: Tempest
You need to worry about CCA in Pasadena?


I travel a lot to Montana and other cold places in winter time.
So, worry? No. Just going to bump when I get a new one.