How old are your batteries and how to keep them in good shape?

[buck12]

I replaced the battery on my JD gt235 last week. I think it was the original battery and the mower is an 02 model. My original atv battery lasted seven years. The replacement atv batteries last three years at best. I have often wondered why oem batteries last so much longer? Are they really better batteries or to the charging systems not work as well with wear.

 

[skylarkguy]

I'm working on a ford for a guy. When he dropped it off he said the battery was good and he remembered "just putting it in". Well it wouldn't hold a charge and upon examination the date sticker showed it was 12 years old...time flies i guess.

 

[yelbike]

I'm working on a ford for a guy. When he dropped it off he said the battery was good and he remembered "just putting it in". Well it wouldn't hold a charge and upon examination the date sticker showed it was 12 years old...time flies i guess.

Thats so funny.:laughing: I was told in a tech seminar a long time ago. When people put in an air conditioner or furnace in their house it was considered NEW in their own eyes for many years to come, but if some bought a house and their AC was only five years old they would consider it old themselves.:drool:

 

[DieselMonk]

Lots of good information in this thread here. As for me, I didn't have good luck with Walmart batteries. Those have the highest failure rate. A high quality battery is usually good for 5 years without doing anything to it and abusing it hard. Like some of you had or have same trouble like I do, when in one year something like 7 or 8 batteries fail. That spells lots of $$$ for me. Having bought some Walmart, Canadian Tire, Auto Choice, Catarpillar etc batteries, and some of them are junk from the beginning, I try to weed out the bad ones and try to stick with the good ones.
What I really notice is battery weight: Lighter batteries by weight, same size, are not going to hold up as long as heavier ones.
Some of you use a "desulphator". I have some different ones as well and use them. That hopefully saves me 1200 to 1500$ on batteries this year.
My problem is that I use all my gear from spring to fall. Then I use one tractor for blowing snow over the winter time. Last year I put all my toys away in October and never touched it until New Year where it never started again till March 1st. Kinda hard on the battery, in a unheated garage. If I look in my batteries, most of the time there is white stuff (sulphate) in there. Some cells more than others. Of course what happens is that while glowing the tractor, everything else goes dimm, aka the battery is on it's way out.
So I got some desulphators, a few different brands and try those. You guys have any luck with these?

 

[Jerry/MT]

Last year I ended up needing new batteries for just about everything. Generator, tractor, dozer, car etc. By the time I counted it all togeter it was like 1200$ to get new ones. I had everything from a 3 month old battery to a 7 year old battery that showed signes. Worst ones were the ones from Walmart. Best ones were original equipment battery from NH and Catarpillar.

It is very common around here for the batteries not lasting long, due to sulphation (everything is white in the battery). Anyone else has problems like this? I swear some batts are already sulphated around here sitting on the store shelf.

I heard all kinds of tricks to desulphate batteries. From an electric wire fence spiker, to some other very crude methods and then some commerical ones.

What works and what doesn't? I am doing some tests myself and the outcome will hopefully be interesting.

the battery in my Ford 4610 (4DLT) was new in 2004. Last summer.it would not take a charge and whenIi opened the caps, it was low on water. I bought a little booklet on ebay about battery maintrenance about a month before this happened and it recommeded disolving 10 tablespoons of epson salts in a quart of heated distilled water and putting that in the battery.

I don't usually fall for these knds of concoctions but I felt I had nothing to loose by trying it. So I did. The battery took a charge and I've had no more problems with it. The replacement battery was $125-$150 and epson slts were a few dollars

 

[Danno1]

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One thing that wasn't mentioned here, a new battery needs to be charged SLOWLY the first time. This has a huge effect on batt life. One of the older solar power threads on this site dealt with this subject.

I have a WM batt in my van which I think is around 4 yrs old and no probs yet.

Oh, and you can't just pour the acid in and then throw it in the vehicle. It does need to be charged with a proper charger first. And slowly as I said above.



This might be why some get 8 yrs out of a batt, and others only get 3. Maybe???


.

 

[jonyyuma]

Lots of conflict here on life of the product. If i need a new one, I always make sure it is only 3 mos or less old...The dates are on the side of all the battery cases..take a look..the dealer wants to rotate his stock, so you get the oldest, and a better chance that suphication has started, before you bought it..The dry ship and then fill batterys were what the Military used and shipped...

 

[ultrarunner]

Always liked Interstate and received excellent service...

Does anyone know if Interstate has changed their batteries... seem to be very expensive and only provide average life..

Had a great Dealer in my city... very service oriented and did whatever it took to get the product out... one day he is informed Interstate is consolidating territories and he lost his franchise...

Oldest Battery right now is going on 12 years... OEM Toyota Corolla battery in Mom's car.

She did leave a dome light on once so it was totally dead... seems it didn't hurt it since it is still going strong...

 

[tglass]

What about gel batteries? My best experiance is with a good trickle charger and auto shutoff. Cheapest I've found is from Harbor Freight at between 4.99-6.99. Put them on everything and find when I want to start something it starts. Haven't saw much an electric bill increase and never had a discharged battery when I try to start one. Some of my batteries are well over 5 yrs. old and still no problem. I even use one of these on my gate opener with a lawn tractor battery attached.

 

[Rayrla]

I store my tractor, mini ex, dump truck, pu, and a car during most of the winter. All of the vehicles/equipment receive low miles/ low hours of use. With the exception of the mini ex, all batteries are from Walmart. With the exception of the car and tractor, I remove the batteries, clean terminals and surfaces, and charge before and after layup. Batteries are stored in an unheated detached garage. The oldest battery is over ten years old and used in the dump truck. The pu battery is about seven years old, while the mini ex battery, from Advance Auto, is about six years old. The tractor battery is about eight years old. The car battery which was replaced this summer was less than a year old. The previous month was stamped on this battery when purchased. I did note that the warranty had changed to 36 month free replacement from 84 month prorated replacement that I had on the seven year old pu battery. Perhaps this is an indication of how long the current Walmart batteries will last!