Need Battery Advice

[COPPERHEAD85]

I sell DEKA batteries and have their AGM'S on all 3 rides,the oldest being the Wifes jeep.
Its 3 years old with no problems.
They just came out with a 65 series AGM that is a hoss!

 

[superds]

well now that doesnt sound like the battery itself ok it went bad which sucks but iff the azz clowns at the store didnt yank you around you woulda gotten a new one...they just didnt want to do the paperwork and such unless you alternater wasnt working right. I like how it just so happend to go bad after the warrenty expired.

I would agree that it wasn't entirely the battery. I had just replaced the alternator, starter all the connecting cables were new too, so I know that wasn't the issue. A year or so later (I didn't drive this vehicle much, mostly just a work horse for me), after the battery issue, I discoverd there was a wire the previous owner had installed way back on the frame rail that had been exposed and was grounding out. I removed the wire and the draining problem subsided but not before it took my Optima from me. But it's still sketchy that the store thought it was good one day and bad a couple weeks later...

 

[adsm08]

Wow I've never heard of a battery lasting that long.

I had a Die Hard silver that went about 15 years before it gave up the ghost. I was running it in my 78 Olds for a while and strongly suspect that it had a dead cell for 6 months before it died completely.

As for a replacement for a 99 Ranger... I'd get a new Motorcraft or an Exide marine battery.

 

[Original_Ranger84]

maybe i missed something.....but whats wrong with having a optima if u get the proper sized optima for ur truck??? ive had nothing but good experiences with optimas, and 99% of the time if one were to HAPPEN to go bad most parts stores dont bother to check part numbers on optimas for defective exchanges lol

Well the one I got doesn't fit and when I was looking up if a better battery could fit I found that a ton of people really hated their optimas for various reasons.

http://www.kelleyswip.com/

Oops I forgot the link.

Looks like they are moving the site?

I would go with another motorcraft if the last one lasted you 12 years

I would but I need the power and reserve capacity not the life (I think the battery could have lasted much longer if I hadn't added all of this extra stuff. but with it I need a battery that can take it)

I know alot of people have good experiences with optima marine batteries. You can leave them and they lose almost no charge. yellow tops suck, red tops mmmmm ok, blues rock. I know we use them in alot of equipment here in korea and have no problems with the blue tops the others i cant say the same.

So a marine Optima would be a good choice?

I sell DEKA batteries and have their AGM'S on all 3 rides,the oldest being the Wifes jeep.
Its 3 years old with no problems.
They just came out with a 65 series AGM that is a hoss!

Unfortunately I don't believe I can stuff a 65 series under the hood, But where do you work? Maybe they have a retail store up here.

I had a Die Hard silver that went about 15 years before it gave up the ghost. I was running it in my 78 Olds for a while and strongly suspect that it had a dead cell for 6 months before it died completely.

As for a replacement for a 99 Ranger... I'd get a new Motorcraft or an Exide marine battery.

Well alot of people keep saying marine battery so I have to ask... Does a marine battery do the same thing as a regular car battery and have deep cycle capacity?

 

[daniel3507]

The 'BEST' AGM battery out there (and some would say the 'BEST' automotive battery, period) is, believe it or not, the Sears DieHard Platinum. The not-so-secret is that it's really a private label rebadged Odyssey, manufactured in the USA by EnerSys, the manufacturer of batteries for the US Armed Forces.

Totally agree. Ive heard of tons of people running these batteries and have heard nothing but good things about them. That will be the next battery for my truck. They have tons of power and a lot of times a higher reserve capacity than a blue top optima.

I wouldnt use a marine battery for starting. They arent designed for it and with some batteries it voids the warranty if you use a marine battery as a starting.

 

[Original_Ranger84]

Sounds like I'll be saving up for a Diehard then.

 

[LearjetMinako]

I can also vouch for the DieHard Plat battery. Starting the 4cyl Ranger in the dead cold of winter has never been so easy. Engine turns over just like it was spring time. It's going into its 3rd winter year now and still passes the battery load test with flying colors. Also the 4yr free replacement warranty gives you peace of mind that Sears is standing by this battery.

 

[4x4junkie]

I've been using Delco Voyager deep-cycle batteries for over 20 years now, They've consistently lasted me at least 8 years, usually 10. They can be used for starting too (I'd go duals in parallel if you're running a lot of stereo stuff or other loads with the engine off a lot... This will effectively double your cranking amps at the same time for those cold mornings).
Neither one of the original Motorcraft batteries I had made it much past one year though

Look in to the batteries. They almost all come with a blank black body because they are made by the same places and then just labeled to order.

To expand on that a bit, there's 3 major manufacturers: Johnson Controls, Exide, and East Penn.

As a whole, the ones from Johnson Controls seem the most iffy (which is who currently makes the Optima, most of Autozone's batteries, and many (if not all) of the ones Costco sells).
Exide seems middling, though I don't have much personal experience with them.
East Penn batteries you can pretty much count on no matter what label is on it (and is who makes the Delco Voyager, the Deka Intimidator, all of Carquest's batteries, and I think the Diehard Platinum).

 

[strvger]

i've been using an Oribital marine/starting battery for about 4 years now. works very well. somewhere around 800-850 cca's, iirc. very satisfied with the endurance and quality. it's been the battery in the dd that sits out side in the cold at temps that have gone as low as -32F. the block heater was plugged in on the truck, but nothing on the battery. always starts. i'd buy another one for sure.
just my $.02

 

[Jason]

Johnson Controls makes MANY batteries. See if your local Autozone will sell you a Bosch battery which is very good and made by Johnson...They are normally a commercial customer item but....

 

[MountainMike]

That what the Motorcraft batteries are, Johnson Control batteries made to Ford spec in the black case.