Another Battery!

[Flogger]

Batteries seem to be a crapshoot the last few years. We've also had trouble with battery cables and connectors corroding. I ordered some nice looking brass battery connectors from Amazon. Although they looked nice, they formed a hard corrosion between the connector and battery post inside of a month. In spite of the red/green pads and sealed AGM batteries.

Finally found some vintage 1950's truck battery cables made out of stranded copper, with old fashioned soft lead battery post connectors. They work great, but I can't find anything like them for sale new.
Let me know if you find good copper cables and lead connectors.

rScotty

I make my own, crimp and solder them. Then I treat the small exposed portion and seal with heat shrink.

 

[aircommuter]

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!!

It must be one of those volatile inflation items that don’t count. Until you need one!

 

[dkmc]

So if you were in the battery business and you could sell a battery that lasts 5 years or 10 years which one makes more money? Bendix-Purolator sold Starter drives, each drive lasts 50k? or 100k? miles.
Then they switched to oil & air filters. Filters get throw away after 3-5-7k miles. Way cheaper to manuf. filters than starter drives.

 

[NUTTERDW]

12 volt Walmart battery in my 8N Ford tractor lasted an unbelievable 18 years ! Naturally when it failed I replaced it with another Walmart battery, that was about 5 years ago.

I have a Walmart battery in my farm tractor that has passed 8 years and still starts the tractor after sitting a month out more at a time.On my diesel pickup I have over 6 years on two Walmart batteries. Most of the time I only get around 5 years out of them

 

[JsJs]

As per their well known MO. "Planned Obsolence"
CHINA WINS AGAIN

 

[Gregster613]

I tend to buy batteries from Walmart and Interstate. Both offer multiple grades and I buy the better grades for the heavier plate construction. The only special treatment they get from me is an occasional start and run if they are not used on a regular basis. I would be pretty disappointed if I only got 5 years. Typically they go over 10 years for me. Regular short life in a battery is an indication of a problem over charging or a drain. One thing I always do is apply No Ox Ide A to the terminals EVERY time they are disturbed. Dialectric grease does an excellent job of protecting insidious moisture but not much else.

Flogger, You're one of those guys I'm "trying" to copy! I too use No Ox ID whenever I need to monkey around with the connections but that hasn't seemed to help with long-lifespan, just with keeping connections non-corroded.
Like most that have replied, it seems as if approx. 5 years is usual for most batteries. Then there are the usual few that claim 10 years or longer!
That was the main reason for my original post - I'm trying to finally get into that "exclusive" club!! Membership constantly evades me though!!

 

[Tacman]

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've been using a small solar charger over the winter for both my Deere's. I keep them in a shed, and running AC power out to the shed would be too expensive, so I tried my hand at solar battery charger/maintainer. So far, its worked great for the last couple of years.

 

[RESINC]

Years ago my battery just didn't seem to have enough get up and go in it. So finally after thinking about the different options I came up with a simple solution that has served me very well. I purchased a small solar panel, attached a negative and a positive cable with spring clamp ends. I then attached the solar panel to the top of my hat and then attached the negative cable to the left ear and the positive cable to the right ear. I now have more energy than the energizer bunny! Patton pending.

 

[Too many Kubotas]

Like most that have replied, it seems as if approx. 5 years is usual for most batteries. Then there are the usual few that claim 10 years or longer!
That was the main reason for my original post - I'm trying to finally get into that "exclusive" club!! Membership constantly evades me though!!

A couple of things that can help longevity:

Never let the battery go below 12.4 volts, that's supposedly when sulfation starts.
Use desulfation whenever possible, no matter what.

Minimize the voltage cycles the battery sees. They can take many thousands of shallow cycles, say from 12.6 to fully charged, but only a few deep cycles. That's why keeping them on a good maintainer is so helpful.

 

[smaywork]

I get my batteries at Rural King, typically around $79 today. My tractors get group 24. Typically last just around 5 years w/ no tender.

A lot of time, a just buy good heavy batteries for my diesel truck, when they get weak, they go in tractors or generators, Then go to things like diesel transfer pump or trail camera. Ha! A weak truck battery last forever on a trail cam. Kinda like hand me downs.