Your Battery Brand and Price Topic is solved

[t4tees]

Auto Batteries Like many other things in life, you get what you pay for. Take a bci Or group number 3 different manufacterers may have 3 different specs on the battery. Ca, CCA & reserve capacity will all be higher or lower depending on the quality of manufactering,contents & anchoring of the plates to avoid shorting out from vibration. Bottom line you go no where without the battery right? Do you really want to screw around everyday wondering when your battery will fail? It's not worth the stress. Buy a quality battery made for your car it will far outlast the warranty period as long as it dosen't sit idle. if it does even a better reason to buy quality. they can sit idle longer without sulfating the plates & killing the battery. Good luck

P.S. Delco batteries are "not" made by Delphi. Delphi batteries are made by Delphi. Delco professional batteries are made by Johnson Controls. Delco "60" series batteries are made in Korea. Ac-Delco batteries found in many import cars Toyota etc. are made in China. & you missed are huge battery company named East Penn also in Reading PA. where Exide is. East Penn makes several Private label batteries Deka, Carquest & in the North east NAPA being a few.

[bw77]

My original battery lasted 6 years. I replaced it with a Sears Diehard 100 month battery.
I have 88 months on it now. Not sure how much longer it will last. It reads 12.6 volts
when I shut the engine, but 24 hrs later it reads 12.1 and holds at that reading for days.

Consumer Reports reviewed car batteries in the Nov, 2012 issue. For group 48 the top 2
are Diehard Gold 50648 (the one I have), and Interstate Mega-Tron Plus MTP48/H6.

I paid 109 for mine in 2005, current cost is 139.

[matthew1]

Ten years+ with an Autolite 84. It appears the "02" is kind of marked, but I could swear it was 2000 or 2001 that I bought it. As you can see, it was made by Exide Technologies. Needless to say, I'd buy another from them.

I didn't want to mention the amazing long life of this thing for fear of a jinx, but last night it died, today not starting for the first time (when it wasn't my fault by leaving a door open, etc). Last night my 850 was outside, where it got down to around 10° F.

Got a jump start. All day it's been barely starting, so I have it on a trickle charger, but I'm not optimistic. I just got a Waterproof 12V Battery Charger from Amazon in anticipation of this day, and it's on the battery now.

[jblackburn]

That thing is dead sir. I'd change it before it leaves you stranded somewhere - mine was good for one crank and not much more at 5 years (I did a lot of driving with it though). But impressive lifespan!

My parents should get one of those trickle chargers for the BMW - send me the link, if you would. It sits in the garage for months at a time and is almost always dead when it comes time to start it back up.

[erikv11]

For just maintaining a good battery, I got one of those trickle charges from Harbor Freight for $10.

[matthew1]

Oh my, Exide batteries at Sears start at $177

[dbm123]

Everstart Maxx from Walmart. 3 Year replacement. $99

[PCars]

I installed my second stock Volvo battery last month, purchased at the dealership. They know me there so I got a small discount. Came out to $119. It was a 700CCA battery and took all of 3 minutes to install. I got only 5 and a 1/2 years out of the old one. The new battery produced a noticeable difference in cranking speed; it seems to be more effective at starting the vehicle. I know that $120 is a lot but it was very reliable its entire life. That extra 20 bucks is worth the peace of mind I get when opening the hood for inspection.

Still, why settle on $120 for a battery? I tried Sears and Costco in my area. Costco did not carry group 47/48 batteries and Sears wanted $170 for it. Amazingly, the dealership was the cheapest choice! I did not check online however but am pleased to have a fresh Volvo battery in there.

[nitehawk55]

Always good to go with the largest capacity battery you can get that fits correctly .
Also , a bad battery will take out your alternater and/or starter , I saw this many times when I pulled wrenches so keep an eye on the condition of your battery (including connections) and don't cheap out when buying one . Often moving up to a better battery is a $10 difference which is chump change or about 3 gal of gas

And I agree with using a good "smart" battery type trickle charger . During the winter these can help a lot and some of these actually help keep the plates in the battery from sulfating as it ages which some charging systems do not do well so putting one on and letting it charge for a 24 hour (or more) period from time to time is good. Also , if you are able to get the tops off the battery so you can see the levels in the battery keep the water (distilled) up to level so it covers the plates . And if you have a volt meter it's good to see how many volts your charging system is putting out . Generally around 13.5-14.5V is the normal range with electrical accessories turned on . Anything noticably lower or higher than that indicates an issue that is going to bite you in the azz at some point !

[regent]

Thanks for the valuable hints.
I would add that monitoring the cell electrolyte levels is as important in warmer climate zones where evaporation is a concern (it is the water, not the acid that would evaporate and may lead to partially exposing the plates, which will result in permanent reduction in capacity). This applies even better to a battery located inside the engine compartment.