The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk Batteries

I end up buying several vehicle, tractor, or mower batteries each year, and always cringe at deciding which brand to buy this time. In the last month, I bought a Die hard for my '59 Viking, an implement marine battery (at Bomgaars) for my travel trailer, and an Auto Craft tonight for my daughters Lumina. So which brands offer the best bang for the buck? If I didn't have so many in the fleet, I might spring for an Optima, but they're way too pricey when buying several a year.

Who makes a decent reasonably priced battery these days?

John

I buy nothing but Optima batteries for the cars, one of the batteries is now 14 years old and is still going. For the snowmobiles and stuff like that I buy dry cell appropriate sized batteries.

No question the Optima stuff is expensive, but I do not have the gasses messing up under the hood. They last for ever, in my experience.

I'm happy with the "Kirkland" batteries I buy at Costco. I don't know who makes them but they generally have more CCA per buck than the major labels. I haven't had one die yet to determine the lifespan. I have had one in my truck for 8+ years. Not a daily driver but the battery is still kicking. My other vehicles are on Costco batteries less then 6 years.

SimS

I have to go with the Optima too. I run electric fans and a air compressor in my truck which the darn fans will run on and off for 30 min. after I shut it down. plus the cranking amp draw is high . Every thing has gone perfect for 3 years now. Shop around. They all don't sell at the same price.

Our local Hardware store sells Exide batteries at a decent price. They seem to last fairly well. He sells enough of them so the ones on the shelf are always fairly fresh.

John,
BEST BANG FOR THE BUCK .....In my opinion is a "BATTERY TENDER" for your toys, camper,tractor,mower etc.
Over the yrs I also just accepted the fact that in the spring somethin would have a dead battery until I got my Bass boat with its on board chargers ...heck the batts last forever! as long as ya service the fluid level with distilled water.
So over the last few yrs I purchsed Battery Tenders for ALL my stuff from my Motorcycles to mowers and my 52 ...and I havent bought a battery in a many yrs.
I have a 2 bank on the wall that takes care of the bikes, and singles for my mower and 52 ...when I am done with any of them for any length of time I just plug em in ...an WHALLA they are always good to go.
Taking care of the batts in your toys and home maintainers is the BEST BANG you will ever get.
just my 2 pennies.
Tim
P.S. I buy Exide batts. good bud has a battery store and I buy local.

I have seen them, but never owned one "Battery Tender". I will look into that for at least one of my lawn tractors (chronic battery eater). Unfortunately, two of the big bolts are parked several hundred feet from the nearest outlet, so unless I can find a cheap solar powered Battery Tender, that's not an option.

Thanks for all the tips

John

John - solar battery minders are common now and do the job well, I've got one for my forklift that rarely gets used outside my fall season, works great

Bill

It's not always about the charge of the battery, but about the out gassing that wet cell batteries do. That gas and there is a lot of it causes rust. Also when the battery spills and if the battery is maintained it will that too(two, to your choice) also causes rust.

That's why they provide the tube from the top of the battery. I have seen to many restored cars, with rust around the batteries. I also had the experience in another freshly restored car where the battery was between the heater box and the fire wall. Yup it spilled all over the place. It was at that moment that it was not about the money but about the work.

I run optima's in the family car/truck. I get a good discount at Advance so it makes CENTS to me. For my 37 pickup I choose a DieHard as it is "just the right size" for fitting under the floor. Its been in the truck for at least 5 years now and it sits for extended periods of time......especially winter even though I do take it for a spin fairly often. Never a minutes problem. Since I run a manual choke I usually let the engine spin a little to get the oil pressure up before choking it or patting the gaa pedal and the DieHard has never let me down. If it wasn't for my discount, and the 3 month free replacement on the Optima's I'd probaly go with DieHard in everything......
and I do like the maintenance free batteries...well, as long as you keep the ocnnections clean.

There many many names on batteries in the US. But they all come from 6 or 7 battery suppliers. US.Battery makes a lot of them Excide, Cat, Delco all make their own and there is a company called Globe that made Batteries too.

Its like everything else only a few companies are making products for other companies.
62Blue
Don

not quite that simple with batteries Don, there's dozens of makers, some making different grades of batteries for each other .... Delco battery is owned by Delphi, which is now part of Johnson Controls, the worlds largest single battery maker and only maker of lithium-ion hybrid vehicle batteries .... think globalization and billions of dollars in sales

Bill