Another Battery!

[Sawyer Rob]

I bought a walmart batt once, it didn't last a year and totally failed. Walmart replaced it and that one made it just over 2 years.

These days I buy group 31 batts, and the best ones I've bought say Interstate on them.

SR

 

[Indiana haymaker]

I went out to use the tractor and move some wood chips around. Turned the key and nada, zilch, no clicking, no lights on dash, nothing. 5 years and 21 days on the Legend from Napa. I was sort of surprised because ever since I put that Legend in on 8-01-2019 it's had a BatteryMinder 1500 hooked up and plugged in.

I was hoping that would get me 10-15 years of life from the battery, but nope! So I'm not sure if the battery just had a specific lifespan or if my BatteryMinder Chargers are just not up to snuff; or I was expecting/hoping for to much! Probably the last!

I guess I'll just have to stick with a 5 year lifespan on batteries. I know that's what a lot of you have all said but I was sort of hoping to beat the odds and get a battery to last for a really long time! I ran down to Napa and got another one and I'm still "hoping" for a "long" lifespan but I'm not going to hold my breath!!

$110.00 in 2019 and $224.00 in 2024, $114.00 difference for the same darn item - that "probably" won't even last 5 years this time! Go figure!!
Oh well, I need my beast to fire up at any moment that I have the need so that's what it takes. It's just sorta hard to accept that big of a change in cost for the same darn thing!!

I have found that automotive batteries last less time in anything off road. Commercial batteries have fewer plates but they are further apart which helps prevent bridging between cells, so the batteries last longer. I have also had trouble with some of the battery tenders that start to discharge the batteries, for some reason they just quit working, if you put a voltage tester across the tender leads it might show no voltage, so it discharges the battery

 

[Too many Kubotas]

I often wonder the effect the constant stop/start when at traffic lights of some newer vehicles has on the life of the battery and the life of the starter.

I recently bought a used car that has the dreaded stop/start feature. It's not a big deal to push the button on the dash to turn it off, but when I found out that it has two batteries it peaked my interest.

Sure enough, there's a normal size battery and right next to it is a very tiny one. Having two batteries hooked together isn't ideal, but these are of very different sizes, far from identical.

Found out that the small ones tend to last 2-3 years and costs just under $200, often (predictably) taking out the good battery in the process. Thanks to the internet I learned how to delete the little battery with no ill effects.

 

[Too many Kubotas]

I have also had trouble with some of the battery tenders that start to discharge the batteries, for some reason they just quit working, if you put a voltage tester across the tender leads it might show no voltage, so it discharges the battery

One drawback with the older BatteryMINDers is that if the power goes out they do indeed start depleting the battery. With maybe six of those in use, it's no big deal to unhook them if the outage is prolonged. And that's if the generator wouldn't start for some reason.

An intelligent maintainer usually doesn't put out any voltage unless hooked to a somewhat good battery, so testing with just a volt meter doesn't prove a thing.

 

[tbear640]

A good battery well maintained will last 4 to 5 years. I had one make it to 6 years, but that is about the limit of a wet cell battery.

I haven’t heard encouraging results about the gel batteries much other than the prices that are exponentially higher than the acid based batteries. When it comes down to it that $400 price tag would buy three batteries easily and leave money for a new battery tender. That’s figuring 4 years a battery which comes out to 12 years but if I can get 5 years out of just one or two the cost efficiency would be much higher. Either way if I had a drive way that’s about a mile then at 4 years I’d probably be looking to buy one for backup and still come out with a savings over a $400 bill up front. I get mine from Costco and have not had any problems with the interstate batteries that they have.

 

[grsthegreat]

I had an interstate battery on my tractor that only lasted 2 years, but the local interstate supply house in town gave me a new one under full warranty. Was real happy about that….but it should last longer than 2 years.

 

[Too many Kubotas]

I haven’t heard encouraging results about the gel batteries much other than the prices that are exponentially higher than the acid based batteries.

Never did try a gel battery, just regular wet ones and AGMs, both of which are acid based.

Probably wouldn't even know about them if it wasn't for chargers with a setting for gel batteries.

 

[Grumpycat]

KH? Restrictions against "price gauging" will mean controlled price at $224, but no batteries available. Maybe no fuel neither.

Hopefully I'll have my PV solar system operational before then.

 

[Bavarian]

I agree with KennyG....crap shoot. The original battery in my Kubota B2620 lasted 11 years. I replaced it with a new battery 2 years ago with, after lots of research here, made by Johnson Controls with high CCA's and after two years it sounds so sickly cranking over you sometimes wonder if it's even going to start.
Not sure what I'm going to buy next.

High CCA is your problem.

The plates in the battery are packed close to gain the CCA. But in rough conditions, the plates start to vibrate and start to touch each other. That's causing them to short out and they destroy themselves internally.

Go with a lower rating and they will last longer.

 

[Bavarian]

12 years on the tractor battery. No tender, nothing. And we need to start it in winter. Yes, in winter.