| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| VinceM | Just had a RedTop battery failure in my Prowler after 3 years 3 months. I didn’t remember that it only had a 36 month warranty. The car isn’t my daily driver and the battery is on a charger designed for AGM type batteries when it’s in the garage. I think that the Optima RedTop being a “premium” with a premium price should last longer. I know now a days many batteries have 36 month or less warranties. My Sears Die Hard lasted 10 years before I replaced it. Looking for recommendations on a replaced battery? This message has been edited by VinceM on 04-16-2020 at 07:45 PM |
| LSK | If you have Advance Auto Parts in your area look at their batteries. I have had good luck with the Autocraft Gold in my vehicles. I use Interstate batteries in our business backup generator. I change them out every 3 years and have never had a failure for it to start up during the weekly test or a power failure.
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| Hoagie1 | I have had good luck with AC Delco batteries. |
| garysss | I usually go to Costco. I think they have interstate batteries now. I think warranty is 36 or 42 months full replacement, years ago they had 3 yr full and 6 yr prorated.
I normally get 10 years of more out of my battery. |
| dskatt | Most batteries sold in the US are made by Johnson Controls or Exide under numerous brand names. Just make sure you get the right battery group (34) and that the store sells lots of them , because the clock on a battery’s life starts on the date it’s manufactured not the date it’s sold. This message has been edited by dskatt on 04-16-2020 at 08:43 PM |
| hemidan | Maria (my wife) drives a 2014 Scion IQ. I just replaced the battery due to age. I probably could have gotten 2 more years out of it. The car is a 2014.The Toyota batteries are warranted for seven years with three year no pro-rating. They are about $110.00. I have used their batteries for 21 years and never had a failure. I always replace them when the car is about 6 years old routinely. Wish me luck with my Optima Red Top that I just purchased for her Prowler. I have been using the Optima Yellow Top the ($260.00 one in my supercharged Hemi Road Runner since they came out and got between 6 and 7 years out of them. So far no complaints! |
| hemidan | Gary! you are doing great with your batteries. What brand do you usually buy? |
| ed monahan | I buy mine at Sam's club. I took one back WITHOUT a receipt and they looked it up and replaced it. Paying a lot more doesn't equate into a better battery, part of it is dumb luck, I think. |
| padroo | My 2006 Dodge Dakota still has the original Chrysler battery in it. The Walmart batteries I have bought are made by Johnson Controls. I had one fail on a trip and they replaced it for free without any paperwork. I think when the new battery goes in under warranty the three year warranty starts again. |
| Gary Donovan | Hi Vince,
The best thing I ever did for my battery is installing a "kill switch" on the ground terminal. Since I drive the Kat intermittently, it keeps the residual voltage which is always
present when in the garage from sapping the battery capacity. I am on year 10 on my Advanced Auto parts Gold battery. It's easy to install and takes seconds to flip on when you want to enjoy a drive.
I realize by un-powering the car, the computer has to "relearn" your driving habits, however, I've found this not to be an issue.
If you drive the car regularly, this is probably not necessary.
In my case, keeps the battery alive!Gary |
| VinceM | Thanks for all the great comments and recommendations. With our “lock down” I have a lot of time to weigh the pros and cons of all the options. Will advise on what I decide. |
| Weezy | My 99 came with an Interstate when I bought it some 5 or 6 years ago or so. It started to lose power after 12 months or so, so I bought the battery tender and keep it hooked up most of the time. Absolutely no issues since |
| VinceM | I ended up buying a Duralast Platinum AGM Battery from Carquest (Autozone). Listed for $199.99. Their web site had a $50 off deal when purchased on-line. My local store gave me the same deal. Out the door price $162 with tax and core. Looking for a recently manufactured Group 34 battery turned out to be a problem The places I called didn’t have 34s in stock and would have to order it with estimated delivery dates from 5 to 14 days with no way of knowing when it was manufactured. One store did have one that was 10 months old. I ended up with a Duralast Group 24 dated Jan 2020. The Group 24 is 1 inch taller than 34 which isn’t a problem with the Prowler. Time will tell how this battery performs. |
| Don Keebles | I have a blue top. Came across a good video from the manufacturer. A lot of people scrap batteries because it won't charge and we think are dead. What you do is connect to a good battery in parallel. Put 10amp charger on good battery. Mine was about 4v before I did this. After charging overnite unhook the connection and connect directly to the bad battery and charge again overnite. Brought mine back to full voltage. The manufacturer says you should get up to 8 years on a battery. Apparently a charger won't bring back a dead battery if you hook up directly, you have to trick it to charging by using the above method. Was new to me and worked so thought I'd pass along. There is a utube video explaining this also. |
| ed monahan | Great tip. Thanks. |
