I have not seen good luck with AGM, atleast oem. We change waaaay more AGM under warr. than plain old lead/acid ones.
Absolutely so! Odyssey IMO is the best followed by NorthStarIt's who makes the AGM not being a AGM. My '16 Equinox, OEM AC battery bad at 3 yrs. . OEM AC in my '11 Tahoe got pulled at 7 yrs. due to age only and not wanting to risk a no start at sub zero temps. . It's in the garage on a BatteryMinder and saw lighting duty in my camper this summer.
AGM in one of my snowmobiles, OEM Yuasa, and the OEM AGM battery in my Harley got replaced at the age of 10 yrs. . And not due to a no start but due to their age and not wanting to get stuck. Used the maintained sled battery to jump my dead JD mower last week as it's great for portable 12v power when working on trailer lights.
I've been using Odyssey brand for replacements whenever possible. Just put one in my Generac stationary whose 3 yr. old AZ just tossed a code in it.
That explains it. LOLThe 51R is a very small battery. Just be glad you don't have the 151R
What is typical battery life in California?
3 years seems about right where it's warm year round. Up north, a battery will usually last about 5 years. I think Bosch-branded batteries sold in the US are Exide.
I believe East Penn/Deka should be on that list, too. Nice to read actual user reportsAbsolutely so! Odyssey IMO is the best followed by NorthStar
East Penn/Deka is an excellent battery, but not quite at the same level IMO.I believe East Penn/Deka should be on that list, too. Nice to read actual user reports
Interesting. I have been a bit worried about the AGM battery in the 2015 Mini that I bought half a year ago. The battery, the factory BMW-branded AGM, is original and the car had been barely used for several years. It had only 5k miles on it when I bought it. The battery is however going still strong. I have heard AGM batteries can fail rapidly.
Battery is possibly heavily sulfated. Have you checked the voltage and current from the alternator and the trickle charger. Are the car trips short? 30 minute trips will not fully charge the battery.Car is driven 4-5x/week and battery is trickle-charged twice a month.
That would not surprise me. The trips are 15 minutes at moderate speeds.Battery is possibly heavily sulfated. Have you checked the voltage and current from the alternator and the trickle charger. Are the car trips short? 30 minute trips will not fully charge the battery.
AGms if deeply cycled and fed ONLY low and slow charging currents will be tickled to death.
If they are never discharged much, % wise, they will never be able to accept high charge currents.
Perhaps this is a contributing factor in their less than expected service life even if they are kept at relatively high states of charge.
...how does this relate to an AGM used only as a starting battery, never intentionally deep cycled.
good question.
Lab coats, expensive tools and lots of time and testing and experiments would be required to answer it accurately.
Don't guess. Get it load tested and see how it holds up. Like I said, my AGM H8 battery is still going after 14 years. AGM batteries don't really vent so you don't get any corrosion on the terminals. Mine still look brand new.My Cruze calls for a 94R/H7 and is one monster battery. I assume because the car has start / stop, but I have it disabled in my tune. It lives in the bottom of the hatch so less exposure to heat in the engine bay. Going to monitor it, but it seems really strong still. I did short trip the car, and as of late drive less but when I do get out its usually longer highway drives. I think its 850CCA so I think having some to spare helps as well. I just cleaned and coated the terminals and it looked great, for whatever that is worth.
After this winter I might think about replacing it. Walmart seems to be the best deal to replace it, might go that route.
...so I’m going with X2/North Star AGM
Can parts stores even accurately test batteries?Don't guess. Get it load tested and see how it holds up. Like I said, my AGM H8 battery is still going after 14 years. AGM batteries don't really vent so you don't get any corrosion on the terminals. Mine still look brand new.