Car battery

[SC Maintenance]

Okay, so, Costco.

7 members say warranty is crap, don't buy.
6 members say get it at Costco, good price and good warranty.

One of the groups above is wrong. Which one? I bought one of the AGM platinum ones for my son at Walmart. Seems good so far and good warranty.

Asking because they're building one 2 miles from my neighborhood. Traffic is going to be glorious with the Costco, and a Target all in same shopping center.

Well here at least they’re both Clarios batteries. So on that note we can assume there the same.


Walmart is not pro rated. Costco is. But it didn’t used to be. Possibly some are working off old data

Some people just hate Walmart.

Others are drawn to Costco like moths to the flame. They must put crack in the $1.50 hot dog is my theory. They are good. Too much salt unfortunately.

Flip a coin?

 

[xmanjeff]

ive had extremely good luck with sams club batteries and service

 

[JimPghPA]

The 725 CCA Walmart 24F MAXX I bought on Sept, 11, 2022 is still showing 986 CCA.

Other stores selling the same battery with different stickers and pro rating for considerably more are not a better deal.

When this one's drops below 800 CCA I'll get another at Walmart just like it.

I test the batteries of my siblings and friends, and once they drop below 1.1 X the rated CCA when they are charged, they are nearing the end of useful life, nad not worth keeping. Instead of buying a jump pack, I'll just replace it to maintain reliabality.

I tested one that was below 1.1 X rated CCA when charged, but above the rated CCA and was nearing 60 months of age. A 60 monts age it totally died.

It's not worth trying to get that last month or two out of them. My new rule of thumb, if it test below 1.1 X rated CCA when charged to 85 % or more, it gets replaced.

 

[AKhan87]

The 725 CCA Walmart 24F MAXX I bought on Sept, 11, 2022 is still showing 986 CCA.

Other stores selling the same battery with different stickers and pro rating for considerably more are not a better deal.

When this one's drops below 800 CCA I'll get another at Walmart just like it.

I test the batteries of my siblings and friends, and once they drop below 1.1 X the rated CCA when they are charged, they are nearing the end of useful life, nad not worth keeping. Instead of buying a jump pack, I'll just replace it to maintain reliabality.

I tested one that was below 1.1 X rated CCA when charged, but above the rated CCA and was nearing 60 months of age. A 60 monts age it totally died.

It's not worth trying to get that last month or two out of them. My new rule of thumb, if it test below 1.1 X rated CCA when charged to 85 % or more, it gets replaced.

the vehicle in question would matter but just for clarification 1.1 x 700 (rated CCA on the sticker) is your limit for use? Please explain how this would work.

Example: Toyota Camry uses 24F car battery

EverStart Maxx is rated at 750 CCA as listed on the sticker.

using your logic, 1.1 x 750 = 825 CCA is your threshold and anything below would need to be replaced? even new 24F EverStart Maxx batteries don't test at 825 CCA.

and even a 500-550 CCA battery will start the Camry for many years, there is more to it then what your mentioning, what is the internal resistance? how well it holds charge and how well it recovers, using your logic, most batteries would be useless.

Unless I misunderstood what you said, your advice or process is simply bad.

 

[MrGraybeard]

I bought a Weize recently, $50+ cheaper than the competition. I got it off the Walmart website. Free shipping.

 

[AKhan87]

Okay AKhan. You are correct. The Walmart nearest me does not have an auto service center. But, I will heed you're advice and discharge battery. They do scan it, so maybe there's something in that scan tool that reads something...They scan it it across the top of the battery, where the cell caps are... I dunno. I will play it safe. Discharge battery. I don't want the Walmart Greeter lockin me up Thanks for the info.

Today, I helped warranty a EverStart Max 124R battery for a friend as he had no idea how the whole process worked, especially since he had not kept his receipt, the battery died after two years of abuse (I think his vehicle has a parasitic draw but I didn't confirm as I was just testing his battery before we took it to Walmart)

Below is the test on the dead 124R battery - it was approximately at 75-80% battery fluid level

I cleaned the battery and then removed the cell covers, and topped of the fluid with distilled water to get the level to ~100%

After 5 cycles of the "12V repair" function on my NOCO Genius 10 - below is the test result on the same battery

If I had a welder, this would could easily be revived but I don't have an outlet capable of handling a welder where I am currently living.

Took it to Walmart because I knew the battery was bad, and they ran it through the complete 90 minute cycle because they had to (according to them), during charging they said the battery was good and I had to wait another 30 minutes, and after the completion of the charge cycle, it had failed the load test...

They warrantied the battery using the serial number, and gave a receipt which showed that the warrantied battery has 1 year remaining on the warranty.

Note: I tested 3 new 124R batteries before picking the one with the lowest internal resistance (target: 4.00 or lower) and highest CCAs.

I will do the following before the NEW battery is installed on the car:
1) Fully Charge it
2) Top off battery fluid with distilled water (all the new Flooded Lead Acid batteries (30+) that I have seen in the last 2 years are low on fluid even when new)
3) Fully Charge it again if needed, some batteries took a while to be fully charged after being topped off.
4) then it will be installed on the vehicle (I hope my friend is able to diagnose the parasitic draw before he installs the battery)

by doing the above, they battery will EASILY outlast the warranty period (unless the vehicle just sits or has a parasitic draw), I get around ~7 years of battery life on Flooded Lead Acid batteries, and all my cars now are AGM as they test 200-350+ CCA then listed when new and even after 2-3 years of use.

Well, for what's it's worth, I use Walmart because it's the closest to my home....,,,,and way cheaper than Auto Parts Stores... Heck, there's no Costco near me at all, or a Home Depot. So, I'm kinda stuck with Walmart. Still, that's no basis for you're decision.

My 1st choice would be Walmart due to having stores all over the country for warranty if needed and also their cost is the lowest I can find, unless Sam's Club has some sort of promotion.

 

[SC Maintenance]

Testing CCA at anything above 0F isnt really accurate, and even CA is at 32F. I really don’t know how these little testers compensate for this if they do at all. I look at CA plus the resistance to get a decent idea of battery health.

 

[gumboss]

My last Walmart Everstart Maxx battery (manufactured by East Penn) lasted 5 1/2 years. That is about the longest I've had a battery last in eastern North Carolina. I just replaced it with a Duracell (made by East Penn) purchased at Sam's Club.

 

[f355spider]

Testing CCA at anything above 0F isnt really accurate, and even CA is at 32F. I really don’t know how these little testers compensate for this if they do at all. I look at CA plus the resistance to get a decent idea of battery health.

I've never asked of them to be really accurate, if that is even possible. But they are still extremely helpful to evaluate a car battery. By taking readings every three to four months, you get the trends. The readings I get are pretty consistent, and when a battery starts to trend downward, I can start to prepare for the inevitable. I actually screenshot all the information provided off the Ancel BA101 after each test. I usually adjust the clamps a couple times and retest to ensure a consistent result.

 

[NOTEVIL81]

food for thought. If your out of town a lot or traveling . sure is easier to find a Wal-Mart if you have to warranty that battery.

 

[JimPghPA]

the vehicle in question would matter but just for clarification 1.1 x 700 (rated CCA on the sticker) is your limit for use? Please explain how this would work.

Example: Toyota Camry uses 24F car battery

EverStart Maxx is rated at 750 CCA as listed on the sticker.

using your logic, 1.1 x 750 = 825 CCA is your threshold and anything below would need to be replaced? even new 24F EverStart Maxx batteries don't test at 825 CCA.

and even a 500-550 CCA battery will start the Camry for many years, there is more to it then what your mentioning, what is the internal resistance? how well it holds charge and how well it recovers, using your logic, most batteries would be useless.

Unless I misunderstood what you said, your advice or process is simply bad.

My 24F MAXX says 725 CCA as its raring.

It's not about having the 500 CCA that would be plenty for a K24, like the 51R is rated for.

It's about the sudden totally dead drop off that can happen when a battery fails.

Sometimes ( and I have seen it ) they fail as a short, and even a fully charged monster current rated jump pack can't start a vehicle with a battery that bad.

Squeezing that last month or two out of them is not worth it if it means you'll have a no start and you won't know when its going to happen.

 

[JimPghPA]

Battery temperature and state of charge do significantly enter into obtaining a good reading of a batteries health.

Also, we're dealing with reading ( calculating via the smart electronic not loaded, and loaded voltage ) of milli - ohms. Like 3.25 milli - ohms as an example.

A milli - ohm is 1/1000 of an ohm. So, if the reading is taken by connecting to the battery clamps instead of the post, those clamp connections have to be clean and tight so very little additional resistance is added to what the CCA meter sees.

And you can't get any type of decent battery CCA reading at the remote jump terminals that some vehicles have. There's too much additiinal resistance added by the wire.