Batteries?

DeeVeeEight

DeeVeeEight

Fast Pedalphile
Joined
Nov 3, 2008
Messages
2,284
Location
Southern New Jersey, USA
:fishing:It has been several years since I have bought a battery for any of my cars. WOW! Talk about sticker shock!:twitch: Prices for Optima batteries exceed $250.00 and they are only guaranteed for 3 years! So far the best price/battery I have found for my '79 is at Sears, $99.00 for a 100 mos. battery, guaranteed for 3 years, prorated for the remainder of the 100 months, good cca rating and so on.....

I am sure that this topic has already beeh thrashed pretty well but a search brought up zilch.:smash:

What have you all been buying for your cars lately?
 
I put an Optima in the vette a few years back....still strong.

Was always a sears fan until I had a bad experience with them.

Autocraft from Advance has been fine for me on the other rides for quite a few years.
 
Typical 24p something car bat here locally is about 65 bux, and I paid 95 out the door with tax for a deep cycle marine/RV battery at Walmart down the road and that was WITH a ten bux dud charge...as there wasn't one;.....

I never seen a dime worth of diff on the name/price for anything electrical, let alone a commodity like a battery.....

:amazed::thumbs:
 
I bought a JC Penny battery back when they had autoparts in about '75. It had forever warranty and they advertised it as the last battery you'll ever buy and it was expensive back then at about $50. Haven't bought one since. JC Penny just keeps giving me a new one every 5 to 7 years. They buy me Interstate replacements at about $130 a pop.

Grampy
 
Grampy said:
I bought a JC Penny battery back when they had autoparts in about '75. It had forever warranty and they advertised it as the last battery you'll ever buy and it was expensive back then at about $50. Haven't bought one since. JC Penny just keeps giving me a new one every 5 to 7 years. They buy me Interstate replacements at about $130 a pop.

Grampy
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Wow! You hit pay dirt with that one! 36 years on a $50 battery....
 
There are only about 3 or 4 battery manufacturers in the US. One or two makes all the store brands. All the guts are the same, except the Sears Die hard has a thinner case, and more plates. Delco makes their own. Ford/Autolite are made by others.
The higher the cold crank amperes, the thinner the plates, therefore they last the least. Always buy the LOWEST CCA you can use.
The Optimas are fine for off roaders, but not very cost effective for street cars.
Bottom line, just buy the cheapest one that fits and has sufficient CCA. Higher CCA than needed or "Over priced" brands have little return.
I use whatever is on sale, and most last about 5 years. ;)
 
I've always had good luck with Delco batteries, the factory Delco in my 84 Gran Prix went 9 years before failing after it sat for a few months. I have an Interstate deep cycle in my 5th wheel going on 5 years.
 
big2bird said:
There are only about 3 or 4 battery manufacturers in the US. One or two makes all the store brands. All the guts are the same, except the Sears Die hard has a thinner case, and more plates. Delco makes their own. Ford/Autolite are made by others.
The higher the cold crank amperes, the thinner the plates, therefore they last the least. Always buy the LOWEST CCA you can use.The Optimas are fine for off roaders, but not very cost effective for street cars.
Bottom line, just buy the cheapest one that fits and has sufficient CCA. Higher CCA than needed or "Over priced" brands have little return.
I use whatever is on sale, and most last about 5 years. ;)
Click to expand...

Wow! You learn something new every day.... I was always under the impression that you were supposed to buy the highest cca rated battery. Hopefully that explains why a 700 cca rated battery was $10 less than a 650 cca rated battery....

My batteries seem to die right on schedule.:bounce:
 
I've been buying my batteries at Costco and do my damned best to replace them every eleven months for free. If I forget they get iffy and cost me money on the trade in. Last few years it sems they fail evry 1-2 years whereas I used to go a decade. The last Diehard that just died on me was so old I can't even remember buying it!
 
DeeVeeEight said:
I have been poking around on line.:fishing: So far Napa (napaonline.com) has the best prices and selection of batteries for my C3.
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Just setting here with family discussing the xmas presents, the Nintendo Wii stuff hand units are 40 bux + in the stores, even Walmart.....so I hit ebay and 10-15 bux same shit, FREE SHIPPING funny is one came from New Jersey the other fron Hong Kong...a DAY LATER USPS both within a week.....

NOW the relevancy factor....the WII Fit plus foot controller trick costs 100 bux at Walmart, more expensive elsewhere, hit ebay....and same 100 bux ok, maybe even 80 bux....but NO free shipping...so 25 bux extra.....

which I read the above and think, about a online battery weighing even more than that foot controller trick.....who pays shipping??

I can't see any online being cheeper than this cheep assed town considering the shipping costs....

curious what you found out there man....

:twitch::fishing:
 
mrvette said:
DeeVeeEight said:
I have been poking around on line.:fishing: So far Napa (napaonline.com) has the best prices and selection of batteries for my C3.
Click to expand...

Just setting here with family discussing the xmas presents, the Nintendo Wii stuff hand units are 40 bux + in the stores, even Walmart.....so I hit ebay and 10-15 bux same shit, FREE SHIPPING funny is one came from New Jersey the other fron Hong Kong...a DAY LATER USPS both within a week.....

NOW the relevancy factor....the WII Fit plus foot controller trick costs 100 bux at Walmart, more expensive elsewhere, hit ebay....and same 100 bux ok, maybe even 80 bux....but NO free shipping...so 25 bux extra.....

which I read the above and think, about a online battery weighing even more than that foot controller trick.....who pays shipping??

I can't see any online being cheeper than this cheep assed town considering the shipping costs....

curious what you found out there man....

:twitch::fishing:
Click to expand...

Gene,

After much on-line comparison shopping I found NAPA has the best prices and selection for our cars. You can "reserve" the battery on-line and pick it up at your local store. The next best price set was from either Advance Auto or Auto Zone, I can't remember which as I seem to get these two outfits confused and substitute one's name for the other.:confused2:

Tirerack was the only outfit I found that would ship a battery to your house. Their batteries cost between $200 and $300.:tomato:
 
I'm not about to fall into the Optima wagon, after watching and listening for yrs to friends, people at events and web searching. I can't justify the $$.
I'm 3 yrs into 2 identical NAPA batteries for the trucks. One failed already. Took it back, dealer stated nothing wrong with it. Had to argue and pay some prorate on it. They're higher CCA units, and I can tell they're getting quickly weaker with time. I won't buy those again.
Last 2 batteries in the cars were Duralast. Replaced one after about 8 yrs, and the other is still tickin after about 11 yrs. I'm loosing my nerve with it, and will replace this spring. I'll be looking into that brand again.
About 10 yrs ago, I had an orig Delco Freedom in my truck that was still crankin crazy after 12 yrs. Being in a d.d., I lost my nerve with it and replaced it.
For me these days, buying auto parts is a craps-shoot. Not knowing who makes WTF and from where.
I'll take the cheapest part with the longest warr and call it a day. So much for the quest for Chinese quality. :chinese::bounce:
 
Rod75 said:
I'm not about to fall into the Optima wagon, after watching and listening for yrs to friends, people at events and web searching. I can't justify the $$.
I'm 3 yrs into 2 identical NAPA batteries for the trucks. One failed already. Took it back, dealer stated nothing wrong with it. Had to argue and pay some prorate on it. They're higher CCA units, and I can tell they're getting quickly weaker with time. I won't buy those again.
Last 2 batteries in the cars were Duralast. Replaced one after about 8 yrs, and the other is still tickin after about 11 yrs. I'm loosing my nerve with it, and will replace this spring. I'll be looking into that brand again.
About 10 yrs ago, I had an orig Delco Freedom in my truck that was still crankin crazy after 12 yrs. Being in a d.d., I lost my nerve with it and replaced it.
For me these days, buying auto parts is a craps-shoot. Not knowing who makes WTF and from where.
I'll take the cheapest part with the longest warr and call it a day. So much for the quest for Chinese quality. :chinese::bounce:
Click to expand...

Taking into account your bad experience wuth the Napa batteries I would have to add the Sears Duralast battery mentioned in my earlier post to the best price/best warranty for the money.
 
ODESSEY?
They are basically oversize motorcycle batteries and are suggested by the folks at Factory Five for their Cobra and GTM cars. Smaller lighter weight - but still AGMs.
quick link to th ePC1200 - http://www.batterymart.com/p-odyssey-pc1200mjt-battery.html

There is another - forgot the name, that spun off the Odessey company, about the same price - $250 or so -- but a 5 year - no prorate warrenty. Found that interesting enough.

Cheers - Jim
 
I've found a new twist to this battery stuff.
I started to pick up people's junk batteries and take it to a guy I know that has a battery rejuvenation business.
He normally doesn't fool with small batteries, but buys and works on large batteries such as in forklifts. He charges and discharges bad batteries and can get them up to 90% of new He's got thousands of dollars of fancy chargers and dischargers etc
So far I'm using 3 junk batteries for over a year that act like new ones. He charges 20 bucks/battery.

BTW, he said bottom line, that the heavier a battery is, the better.
 
optima is junk, I have had all mine fail within a year or so. Warranty?? They come up with some BS about a bad charger and what not. Never again. Optima is cosmetic stuff, looks good...functions ..not so. Best damn battery I ever had was one of those mega-tron batteries. I think it's an exide.
 
Twin_Turbo said:
optima is junk, I have had all mine fail within a year or so. Warranty?? They come up with some BS about a bad charger and what not. Never again. Optima is cosmetic stuff, looks good...functions ..not so. Best damn battery I ever had was one of those mega-tron batteries. I think it's an exide.
Click to expand...

Exide supplies/supplied the phone company for eons. Of course they are Edison cell type glass jars, but the guts are basically the same.
 
010752 said:
I've found a new twist to this battery stuff.
I started to pick up people's junk batteries and take it to a guy I know that has a battery rejuvenation business.
He normally doesn't fool with small batteries, but buys and works on large batteries such as in forklifts. He charges and discharges bad batteries and can get them up to 90% of new He's got thousands of dollars of fancy chargers and dischargers etc
So far I'm using 3 junk batteries for over a year that act like new ones. He charges 20 bucks/battery.

BTW, he said bottom line, that the heavier a battery is, the better.
Click to expand...

They overcharge/boil them to knock off the sulphation, and rinse them out to clear the sediment traps. They do nothing to rejuvinate the plates, merely extend the life of the already corroded plates. In short, "rebuilt" batteries typically have a new "half life."
 
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