My turn to buy a battery

[David Wayne]

I never reply to threads concerning "how long my battery lasted" for fear of jinxing mine.
Well times up, just had to replace the original in my 2005 Kubota L3400. I don't expect
the new one will last half as long.

David

 

[HawkinsHollow]

Mine only lasted about a year and a half. Luckily they put an Interstate in it, ran over to the Interstate Dealer and got a brand new one for free.99!!!

Forgot to add.. The old one leaked pretty bad causing a bunch of corrosion. Nothing crazy awful but still a pain to clean up and deal with going forward. The Interstate guy hemmed and hawed a bit about giving me a new one but saw the catastrophic failure of their product and had pity on me.

 

[RandyT]

My original Interstate lasted 6 months and replaced under warranty. The replacement battery lasted 18 months and then replaced under warranty again. I have had the best luck with Napa batteries in my tractor. Battery lasted 6 years. New battery is another Napa and has been in use for a year now. The first Napa battery was the 5th battery in my tractor. So 4 batteries in the first 9 years.

 

[SPYDERLK]

Strange. I buy the Interstate Group 34 #8850241 from Costco for around $90. It is a 1000CA/800CCA battery. Best price Iv found for the capability. I adapt them for everything. There are ~10 in service - no special preventive maintenance. MTBF is around 10yrs. The only failure I had w/i 3yr replacement was probably my fault. Costco gave me a new one.

 

[5030]

My take on flooded cell batteries..
1. Brand don't matter unless it really cheap
2. I never buy a battery from a mom and pop shop, always a volume dealer.
3. I never buy a battery with dust on top
4. I always buy the largest sized batter that will fit in my battery tray.

Flooded cell batteries begin their useful life when the electrolyte is added so if the battery is sitting on a shelf somewhere waiting to be bought, it's slowly depleting it's useful life. Just because you buy it 'new', it's not new at all. It's busy shedding lead oxide inside (suphating) and that is what eventually kills a flooded cell battery. Brand is not important at all.

Finally, when I buy a new battery I trickle charge it until it's 'full' before I install it. Batteries all loose charge when sitting. and I change out ALL my starting batteries every 5 years, no exceptions. I need my units to start reliably.

I always buy any battery with the most CCA I can get. The higher the CCA rating is, the more lead plates there are inside.

Right now I'm running Delphi Group 31's with 1200 CCA in each of my tractors and I bought them both at a volume dealer, a heavy truck dealership. Most heavy truck dealerships have a heavy turnover in starting batteries.

That 'new' battery you buy in reality isn't new at all.

 

[oosik]

I replaced my OEM battery two years ago. It was ten years old. It still worked - but you know how that can go. I got a new Odyssey group 31 AGM battery. 1150 CCA. Spins the starter like a tornado.

 

[5030]

I replaced my OEM battery two years ago. It was ten years old. It still worked - but you know how that can go. I got a new Odyssey group 31 AGM battery. 1150 CCA. Spins the starter like a tornado.

Not all that impressed with AGM's in general. Cost is very high and AGM's are not really meant to be starting batteries. Having said that, I do have a Hawker in my KLR and it's been a good battery. Optima's (Johnson Controls) on the other hand are IMO, overpriced junk.

As a rule, any flooded cell battery after 5 years is living on borrowed time. Besides air filters on tractors, starting batteries and their physical connections have to be the most ignored components.

Finally, it's not the cold that kills a battery, it's the summer heat that kills them. The reason why the expire at the first cold snap is because a cold engine requires more starting amps than a warm one and that old battery cannot deliver the beans anymore.

 

[Teachu2]

The Exide battery that came in my Kioti celebrated it's 7th birthday by refusing to take a charge. It was a messy one, leaving behind lots of acid droppings. I decided to eliminate that mess, and research lead me to the NAPA The Legend Premium AGM Group 34 battery. Pulled the old battery, scrubbed the battery compartment with a mixture of water and baking soda, rinsed thoroughly, blew it out, sprayed it with Rustoleum Rusty Metal primer, followed up with Rustoleum 2X Pro. Let it dry overnight, replaced the positive cable clamp, installed the new battery with dielectric grease, and am very happy with the power it delivers. Paid $177 OTD for it with the new clamp. Time will tell how long it lasts, but I shouldn't have acid spillage!

 

[deereman75]

I have actually had pretty good luck with Kubota branded batteries. They're priced on par with the cheap junk that has given me trouble, but seem to hold up as well as any battery I've used.

 

[Doughknob]

My take on flooded cell batteries..
1. Brand don't matter unless it really cheap

I always buy any battery with the most CCA I can get. The higher the CCA rating is, the more lead plates there are inside.

Brand do matter in any given size. Some brands use more lead with different geometries inside.

Also, CCA can be had with different plate geometries. But physical size is certainly a big part of more CCA too.

 

[Doughknob]

I have always had the best luck with the WalMart upper line of battery. I forget the name, but they get good reviews in car mags too.

 

[Gregster613]

Teachu2 said..."NAPA The Legend Premium AGM Group 34 battery"...that's what I went to in my TYM once the original died and it has worked very well so far. But, mine is also kept on a battery maintainer whenever it's not being used for work. Have had no problems since it was installed.

 

[4570Man]

I used to use Napa batteries and they provided good service. Then they changed hands and I don’t shop there anymore. Now I use RK or Walmart batteries. I change equipment more often than batteries so maximum lifespan really isn’t my top priority.

 

[Oaktree]

I have always had the best luck with the WalMart upper line of battery. I forget the name, but they get good reviews in car mags too.

I've also had good experiences with Walmart batteries. Could just be that there's high enough turnover so they're always fresh, but one would think that some of the chain autoparts ones would be the same and they're not always. Won't buy another O'Reilly's house brand, I've had multiple ones stop taking a charge after only a year. Napa ones seem to be good, but they're pricey (like everything else there).

Speaking of battery failures, it used to be that as a battery aged, the internal resistance went up making the voltage lower (slower cranking). Nowadays, it seems they work, they work, they're completely dead. No in between.

 

[LouNY]

I have come to the conclusion that as I replace batteries they will all be AGM's.
The complete lack of corrosion on the terminals of the ones that I have had is the biggest selling point to me.
Most of my batteries never see a battery minder or tender, the exception being my Harley and I have not see
any evidence that the tender has saved me any batteries, on my 3rd in a 2014.
Fortunatly the tractors don't have a lot of hidden battery consumption like the new trucks and bikes do.

 

[ultrarunner]

The BX23 still original battery...

Must be 16+ years now.

I do have it on maintainer and stored in basement... temp year round 58-62 which probably helps?

 

[Oaktree]

Most of my batteries never see a battery minder or tender, the exception being my Harley and I have not see
any evidence that the tender has saved me any batteries, on my 3rd in a 2014.

Don't think I've ever gotten more than 3-4 years out of motorcycle batteries regardless of type. At least in my snowmobile it's easy to get at to jump/replace, my ATV not so much.

 

[czechsonofagun]

I just replaced the 51R in my Kubota, the old one was from 2/2014.

 

[Gregster613]

Teachu2 said..."NAPA The Legend Premium AGM Group 34 battery"...that's what I went to in my TYM once the original died and it has worked very well so far. But, mine is also kept on a battery maintainer whenever it's not being used for work. Have had no problems since it was installed.

I thought I'd add to this since I recently had a "perplexing" problem. My BatteryMinder1500 - which I've had ever since I posted this the first time - all of a sudden stopped with the "regular" flashing of lights which denotes it's working as supposed to. Only the top light, which is supposed to always be solid green, designating power on, was working - but it was a flash on, then flash off, but in a subdued manner.
I went through my checklist manual - which is very non-helpful - couldn't find any actual/factual reason for a failure. My battery showed 12.7 amps, so why wasn't it continuing to work as normal?? I moved the unit to another battery and it worked as it was supposed to!? It took me about a week to realize that - if the unit itself worked - "Maybe the ring terminals were the faulty portion of the perplexing problem!" I looked deeper into that end and found that the 15Amp fuse was faulty! I had forgotten all about there being a fuse in that section! All is back to normal now but wanted to share the fact that sometimes simply overlooking the simplest of things can cause drama and "stress" that we don't need in our lives.
I'm back to happy now and if there are any other BatteryMinder owners out there I hope this will "remind" you to check for fuses first! I even placed a call to the help center, but I was outside of their hours of operation for advise...and I'm now glad of that now because they would have asked me if I'd checked the fuse and I'd have said "Duh!" Never to old to learn! Greg