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Author Topic: Car Batteries???? Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 02-28-2004 01:04 PM                     Whats the best car battery made these days? Mine is starting to go and I want to replace it before it goes completely flat on me. Die Hards were always good but Sears only has one store that I'm aware of in the greater SLC area. The bettery thats in it now is an Exide which has not been the best battery I've ever owned by any stretch. It has always had a tendency to go flat in really cold weather if the car sits for a week or longer. Suggestions please???? Thanks, Mark  |  IP: Logged Paul Mayer Oh get out of it Melvin, before it pulls you under! Posts: 3836 From: Albuquerque, NM Registered: Feb 2000 posted 02-28-2004 01:17 PM                        I had always used Die-Hards here, but they don't hold up too well in the desert heat. Sears must take a beating on them honoring that warranty in this region. Same goes for gel-cells--the heat here is too much for them. You're lucky to get a summer out of them. I tried an Exide only once, since we used their industrial batteries in the forklifts we used on stage here. But their automotive battery wasn't very good for me--it died in less than a year. Went back to Die-Hard until I moved back to SoCal in 1998 and suffered a string of premature Die-Hard deaths. Decided to try AC Delco (yuck, GM) just to see. As it turned out, that's been the best automotive battery I've had so far. I'll try it again when I can afford to have a car again (this year I hope).  |  IP: Logged Gordon Bachlund Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 696 From: Monrovia, CA, USA Registered: Aug 1999 posted 02-28-2004 01:28 PM                        Mark: I have always had good luck with Interstate batteries (http://www.interstatebatteries.com/estore/default.asp)in my Dodge diesel pickup trucks.  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 02-28-2004 01:49 PM                        The main thing is to get a battery that hasn't been on the shelf too long. All batteries have a cryptic "date code" on them somewhere, usually on a sticker. If you're patient enough and look at enough different examples, you can crack the code. One manufacturer I know of (East Penn, I think) uses letters A through L for the month, and the last digit of the year. So, January of 2004 would be A4.  |  IP: Logged Daryl C. W. O'Shea Film God Posts: 3977 From: Midland Ontario Canada (where Panavision & IMAX lenses come from) Registered: Jun 2002 posted 02-28-2004 06:43 PM                        Interstate batteries are great. You can weld with the darn things. AC Delco batteries are pretty good too... some models seem to have weak side posts though (stupid side posts).  |  IP: Logged Paul G. Thompson The Weenie Man Posts: 4718 From: Mount Vernon WA USA Registered: Nov 2000 posted 02-29-2004 12:47 AM                     I have had excellent service from the Les Schwaub brand that are sold from the Les Schwaub Tire Outlets. I have also had good luck with Die-Hards. Interstate batteries would be my third choice. I have had poor luck with Excide. However, all of them are good on warrenty claims.  |  IP: Logged Erick Akers Arse Kicker Posts: 201 From: Dallas, TX, USA Registered: May 2001 posted 02-29-2004 12:47 AM                     My vote for best battery would go to the OPTIMA Jell Cell !!! I've had the same one for 5 years now without a bit of trouble.I have used just about every brand of battery out there. As there are only 3 Automotive battery manufacturers out there Interstate, GNB,ect. I Have to agree that the Interstate's have loads of power,but they have a very low lifespan and can catch you off gaurd when they develope a bad cell. But there is good news, Interstate has become the official distributor for OPTIMA !!! I will never go back to a standard Lead Acid Type. JELL CELLS ABSOLUTELY RULE, AND KICK MUCH ARSE!!! Erick  |  IP: Logged Steve Kraus Film God Posts: 4094 From: Chicago, IL, USA Registered: May 2000 posted 02-29-2004 09:10 AM                    Consumer Reports did their last review of auto batteries in the 11/03 issue. If I can find one I'll let you know what it said. Good information about batteries: www.batteryfaq.org Note that batteries of traditional, low maintenance, or maintenance free construction each have slightly different ideal charging voltages. As most auto voltage regulators are not adjustable you should use the type of battery the car came with. Read up on this: http://www.landiss.com/battery.htm  |  IP: Logged Scott Balko Expert Film Handler Posts: 136 From: Redwood Falls, Minnesota, USA Registered: Apr 2000 posted 02-29-2004 11:26 PM                     I've always had excellent luck with AC-Delco. There are trends with many brands. I've gotten fantastic life out of a no namer that was in my suburban when I bought it, but with these kinds of batteries, luck is definitely hit and miss. I agree with what was said here about the exide. I had some real problems with the Die-Hard a few years ago, and it kind of soured me on them. I would take the AC first and an interstate second.  |  IP: Logged Jeff Taylor Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 601 From: Chatham, NJ/East Hampton, NY Registered: Apr 2000 posted 03-01-2004 08:04 AM                     I'm going to second the vote for Optima. My kids build trail jeeps, and with all the winching and crawling out of difficult situations using the starter to pull the car they get one hell of a workout and seem just fine after. Look for them in any 4WD specialty outlet and expect to pay roughly double a regular battery.  |  IP: Logged Erick Akers Arse Kicker Posts: 201 From: Dallas, TX, USA Registered: May 2001 posted 03-03-2004 01:54 PM                     Actually Jeff, Autozone,O'Reily and Sam's Wholsale Warehouse are carring the entire line of OPTIMA Jell Cell Batteries now!!! Sam's Has the best prices on them that I have found anywhere. When I bought my first OPTIMA Red Top I paid twice as much as they cost now. The price has come down conciderably on them and they cost about $10.00 more than your average 900CCA battery. Seriously Mark, Check in to them, you won't be dissapointed!!!  |  IP: Logged Jeff Taylor Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 601 From: Chatham, NJ/East Hampton, NY Registered: Apr 2000 posted 03-04-2004 10:48 AM                     Thanks Erick. Now you tell me, I just bought a new Interstate for my "extra" Grand Cherokee that sits around most of the time. If I'd known how much they've come down I would have chosen a red top.  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 03-04-2004 10:47 PM                     Erik, Can't use a GEL here it gets up to 105+ in the desert sometimes. Heat is worse than cold on batteries and I like to hang out in the desert areas in the summer They're pretty cool places to explore....such as this area out on the Pony Express Trail. It was 104F on this day out there. So here's what I did. I ended up with another Exide. After checking around I found out that WHERE you buy it from does matter and in my case NAPA had the best warranty of all of them with an 18 month customer satisfaction warranty. After the 18 months the battery pro rating starts and is good for another two years after that. This battery acted up when it was just one year old and Auto Zone would not replace it. NAPA says they will replace it with no questions asked during that first 18 months which seemed fair enough to me. Thanks for all the input! Mark  |  IP: Logged

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