Car and Truck Batteries

[RichZ]

I need to replace the battery in my pickup truck, a 2001 GMC Sierra half ton. It's not an everyday driver, I just use it for transporting hay and other farm stuff, occasionally pulling a small trailer. I only use it a few times each month. Is an AGM battery worth the extra price? They're supposed to hold a charge better for occasional use, but is that true? I notice now that I don't use the truck as much as I used to, the batteries don't last as long, usually just about 2 years. I've had good luck with Advance Auto batteries, and they now carry Die Hard batteries which seem to get good reviews. I used to always get Die Hard batteries from Sears. Then again, car batteries don't seem to last as long as they used to. I had to replace the original battery on my 2018 Outback (which I bought new) a few months ago, I didn't even get 3 years out of it! Original care batteries use to always last over 5 years, apparently they don't anymore.

So...any suggestions on what battery I should buy for my truck?

Thanks!!

 

[WranglerX]

Personally If its not a daily driver, and just used on ranch... Just put in cheap battery with battery tender..... I have about 6-7 year old Odyssey AGM in my Jeep and it has been awesome but it's there to support winching if I need to... Have maybe 15 year old AGM in my VW dunebuggy that gets started and run maybe 6-8 times a year and its still going (and not the bunny brand)... AGM seem to have better longevity then the "new" flooded cell batteries...

May want to do a little reading here....

** Car and Deep Cycle Battery FAQ, Battery Manufacturers and Brand Names List, and **

Battery consumer information and answers to frequently asked questions (FAQ) about car and deep cycle batteries.

www.batteryfaq.org

Dale

 

[the old grind]

Keep them all charged up. That's the key to long life. I have one tractor with an intermittent electrical drain. Disconnecting the neg terminal when not on the trickler is the norm. SLA/AGM/gel batteries have the lowest rate of self-discharge, but still will age faster if allowed to sit for weeks. Batteries that last longest are usually those that get used & re-charged every few days because of it.

I could recommend several maintainers & trickle chargers with a few caveats. First, use a fused pigtail. For 1.5a maintainers I fuse to 2a, for 3-4 amp I use a 5, and for ine with 2,4,& 8a manual settings I use a 10a. Be aware that some models (Blue Mickey, others?) will shut off after 72 hrs and indicate a fault. (misleading) Also, I've found that a 'cold weather mode' can be as valuable as de-sulphation. I check my maintainers when I check my traps. (usually daily)

Most tricklers/maintainers can be left on indefinitely, esp my favorite BatteryMinder 1500s. (5) Some will use proprietary (Noco) or reversed (polarity) connectors. One way to sort that out is to look what pigtails are recommended to 'buy with' whichever chargers. None are perfect.

This is my newest and it clicks all of the boxes for me, esp being more water resistant that the BM 1500s. <$40.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08FXD7P8P/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Here are some others with different feature sets (or lack), and some are rotated between vehicles to make the best of each. The 1500s have temp comp & seem to be the best at 'desulphating'. My trucks are only driven a few times/year. I haven't bought a battery in five.

 

[kf4uda]

Here is my suggestion. I have had very good service from these "silver series" batteries over the years:

Advance Auto Parts - Down for Maintenance

 

[RjCorazza]

Reportedly the DieHard Gold or Platinum (not sure which) is an AGM battery made by Odyssey. I just replaced my wife's Prius starting battery with the Platinum.
I also use several battery maintainers, and am partial to the Battery Minder desulphators.

 

[thclimer]

I'm not sure that the quality of batteries has decreased that much rather there has been a tremendous increase in the technology in new cars which places a drain on the battery. Without driving many miles each day other than city driving it hard to keep the batteries charged up. A trickle charger is a very good idea.

The auto/stop/start feature on new cars today is a huge drain that saves 0.0001 gallons of gas per year. Anyone ever thought about the impact to the environment all the batteries which that system depletes and have to be replaced and when the huge tow truck has to come give you a jump or tow you to a repair shop because the auto/stop/start system has killed your battery...ya those tow trucks don't burn much gas at all.

Sorry rant over!

 

[fried1765]

I need to replace the battery in my pickup truck, a 2001 GMC Sierra half ton. It's not an everyday driver, I just use it for transporting hay and other farm stuff, occasionally pulling a small trailer. I only use it a few times each month. Is an AGM battery worth the extra price? They're supposed to hold a charge better for occasional use, but is that true? I notice now that I don't use the truck as much as I used to, the batteries don't last as long, usually just about 2 years. I've had good luck with Advance Auto batteries, and they now carry Die Hard batteries which seem to get good reviews. I used to always get Die Hard batteries from Sears. Then again, car batteries don't seem to last as long as they used to. I had to replace the original battery on my 2018 Outback (which I bought new) a few months ago, I didn't even get 3 years out of it! Original care batteries use to always last over 5 years, apparently they don't anymore.

So...any suggestions on what battery I should buy for my truck?

Thanks!!

Buy a Battery Minder/Battery Tender/NOCO genius, and keep it hooked up when truck is not in use.
Most ANY battery will then last 5+ years!

 

[tibadoe]

Buy a Battery Minder/Battery Tender/NOCO genius, and keep it hooked up when truck is not in use.
Most ANY battery will then last 5+ years!

Agree. Use them and BatteryMINDers on all my batteries and 0 issues.

 

[PILOON]

On my CUT I permantly wired an intelligent minder as well as on my standby generator.
No matter how cold both are always fully charged and ready to go, and do we get old up here in Quebec!

 

[RalphVa]

I've battery tenders on the pickup, Miata and Isuzu generator driver.

Got a spare marine battery on tender in the carriage house to backup the generator's and the one on our gate.

The pickup and Miata have standard batteries, mariine on the generator and the gate.