no that winter is over hopefully,we have some battery special offers floating about,amongst the publicity is some good prices on optima red tops 1 are they that good? 2 whats the difference in all the numbers for 12v when the output all seems the same?
do you have a battery for a 753?
In my opinion, the Optima batteries are among the very best.
I have used Optima for several years, but, I like NorthStar AGM better.....
When possible, I use East Penn (Deka) flooded batteries.
I have found over the past 20+ years and in the past 4 Bobcats that Iv owned that I rarely ever got more that 1 year out of any battery regardless of brand. Rather than spend high dollar on a top of the line battery that I expected to be junk in 1 year I would go to Walmart and pickup the cheapest battery I could find. Just my 2 cents worth...
My opinion, not that it matters but I like AGM and use Odyssey, Lifeline, Trojan, Northstar For heavy equipment use CAT
I used the red top Optima in one of my pickups a long time ago. For winter performance they can't be beat. When they start to fail though it seems they fall on their face extremely quick compared to a standard battery.
Gunn, Alldodge and 92U----just SHAME on you for not using the "GREAT" ones, JD, Cat, **, Interstate, etc, etc-----I too join you on that "wall of shame"---shame on us!!! I've been at this for over 50 years. I have a JD 4020, 2 batteries, 24 volt---"cool" weather---no start!!! After about 20 years, with all of JD's help----no start...And then without any help from them---It is now a 12 volt, heavy battery cables, "welding cable", high speed starter and 1 (one) NorthStar battery, pops off every time!!!!! My 2 other JD have Optima or Walmart--and they pop off every time?!!! My trucks and cars are on NorthStar, Optima or WalMart----My Cat backhoe is about to get a NorthStar---- Shame on me, but I will never buy any of "the great ones" again!!! Thank you guys for your emails!!!!!
The batteries I prefer, not just because of the service life, but, because the posts are sealed properly to the case, are made by East Penn, and sold as Napa, Caterpillar, and Carquest, among others. I average 7 years on my group 30 & 31 batteries, even on my seasonal equipment. Just pulled an 11 year old East Penn 31 from my Leeboy paver because it only load tested at 600cca. And, unlike Exide, Interstate, Motorcraft, Johnson Controls, and ACDelcos, they never rot, corrode, or destroy the battery cable ends. The only battery size that never performs well here, regardless of brand, is the Group 48 batteries in my GM trucks.
Do you keep a battery tender on it to get that kind of lifespan?
Nope. Zero love thrown at them. I have been known to recondition 3 out of the 4 batteries in an excavator, and put them in straw blowers and other seasonal equipment. My last service truck had 12 year old Deka batteries that still tested good, but, it got new ones when the alternator died. Stupid 12 year old pete 389 here just got $300 worth of battery cables because the POS EXIDE one year old batteries rotted the ends of the cables out. But, they were "on sale" and I had a sizable credit at my Pete dealer. Best battery investment I ever made was my $70 ESI tester.
Optima was good before Johnson Controls purchased the brand and moved manufacturing to Mexico. I’m talking East Penn Manufacturing. Made in Merica’ and good people. Caterpillar = East Penn Deka = East Penn
Many Napa = East Penn Carquest = used to be East Penn, apparently now Interstate. I harken back to when Napa Nascar Select batteries were made by Exide. I didn't have single Exide battery that didn't rot one or both cable terminals in less than 2 years. And the best part is that I can buy the exact same battery as shown below, with a Deka label, for $89 from my East Penn dealer.
NAPA bats don't last for me, have several laying on the barn floor (4D, 31, 27). One of these days I need to find a place to recycle them. Dozer/Loader have CAT newer maintenance fee 4D's (175- or 178-something)
Local battery supplier had switched from Deka to Crown a few years ago when I needed new 4D’s and a couple group 65’s. Claims they are really good or better. So far no problems. Weight and price compare to Deka. Can't find any online complaints about them. Will see in a few years. Old timer once told me to buy the heaviest battery in the size you need. More lead equals better life.
As long as were talking battery and life. Has anyone else noticed that batteries just don't seem to give any end of life warning any more? Seems to me in my younger days that a battery would slowly start to get weaker and weaker until finally just not having enough power to do the job. Now days Iv had many batteries be just fine one moment and the very next start have nothing, full dead never to return. Just wondering if anyone else see's this same scenario?
Have seen this several times. Parked the car and a few hours, dead. Nothing. Same thing on the truck a few years ago. Just like a switch.
Can't say that I have.
HeyMcCall, $89 for a Group 31 DEKA is a smoking deal. I’ve been using the NAPA BAT 7236. They were $99, for a long time. Jumped to $109, recently. PROLink is great. I often have to air freight batteries. The haz-mat fees, freight and packaging costs more than the battery. I then discovered, I can ship AGM batteries with no haz-mat. In the instances when I have to ship a battery, I’ve been purchasing the DEKA Intimidator AGM from the local auto electric place.
Funny battery story; I was working on a Bobcat T300 (basket case) in Dutch Harbor of all places, last August. I needed a group 31 battery. Visited the local NAPA and the nice NAPA Lady had exactly one, very dusty, BAT BAT 7236 on the bottom shelf with a 3/18 date code sticker on it. I paid something like $275 for it w/$30 core. Now, with my new prize, it spent a day on the charger to bring it back to life.
"End of Life warning" now that is good!!! Never heard it put that way before, but, I have enjoyed that several times!!! NAPA--another of the "great ones"!!! I was running 2 12V batteries, went to JD, only had 1...Went to NAPA, they had 2---wet, been in stock 3 years!!!! YOU do know, that if 2 batteries are not MADE at almost the same time, they don't work good together??? Another one of those things I have learned over the many years of the battery WARS that I have endured!!!!! DEKA---I have never heard of them before------THANKS to all of you for telling me------I gonna look at them---thank you!!! Thank you, and the very best to you and yours!!!
I mix and match different aged batteries all the time, BUT, using my $70 tester, I ensure that they're close in value before doing so. And, my $70 tester is used on every new battery I buy, and, in 25 years of buying batteries, I've only ever had one Deka deficient off the shelf, and it was a 3yr old Carquest.
load tester, or inductive or whatever the new stuff is?
Mine is a rebranded ESI 720 that I got from the MAC tool guy 15 years ago. The 2 gripes are the slow scrolling to get to 1000cca, as it starts at 500. And, I have to connect to the lead sub base on steel studded batteries. It won't read right on the 3/8 steel stud, if it reads at all.
I learned something interesting when I looked a different brand of one of those. The instructions had a big red warning that if you used it within 30 minutes of charging the battery, it would give a false bad reading. They said to always let them rest before testing, after driving or using a charger. I started messing with my local NAPA's tester, and it definitely did this. Somebody drives up and they test it immediately, a fair battery would test bad, and good old one tests fair. They said it helped their battery sales when they got it.
I might have a little bit of input on older batteries and sudden failures. Back in my apprentice days, just a few years ago, I had to go to school at night twice a week. The instructor in the electrical class had cut a 4D down the length of the case so we could see the internal construction and laid each half on its side so you could look down on all the exposed cells . You could see all the pretty pink plates and there was lots of debris in the spaces under the plates. Most of those spaces were nearly full and on one you could see where the flakey looking stuff was actually touching both sets of plates on each side of the cell. He explained the battery had three failures. The obvious one was the full space which he explained was lead that had flaked and fallen of the plates into the space below. So much had fallen that it shorted out the cell and killed it. He also told us that when lead falls off the cells it kill the capacity of the battery as well. Not as much lead for the reactions, so not as much current to turn a slow starting engine. The biggest reason for the lead falling off was vibration. He then explained why battery hold down fixtures were so important. No hold downs and batteries get banged around in the compartments and then the fail prematurely. Finally he pointed out the pink color of the plates. He noted the correct color should be white and that these plates were pink because the battery had been dead for a long time. The pink was lead sulfate and the sulfate acted like an insulator preventing the cell from passing the amps for charge and discharge. Letting machines sit all winter with no charging application to keep the levels high meant plenty of time for the sulfate reaction to take place. I've also observed over the years since that class that water levels that decrease over time and expose the plates to the air seem to speed up the sulfating process. The take away for me on that class was to make sure the batteries were secured so they couldn't vibrate and/or get banged around from being loose. Keep the water levels high and find a way to keep the batteries charged through long periods of shut down. I've used solar powered chargers several times on machines that were sitting in used equipment yards at dealers. I use the float chargers on my motor cycle and ride lawn mower. Those batteries used to be lucky to last two seasons. Now with the float chargers on them I'm getting at least four years. I've been hearing some good things about the new lithium technologies and expect a whole new set of maintenance instructions to come up over time on those. I'm not sure at this moment though that the initial price makes them cost effective yet. Time will tell.
Same here a couple of weeks ago. Parked the car one evening, electrical system was fine. Following morning there was only about enough power in the battery to work the central door locking and light up the dash. Starter motor - forget it. And that was in consistent 70-80 degree ambient temperatures, all the engine has to do normally is turn over maybe one revolution and it fires.
I just had this happen on my hummer that has two AGM duralast batteries in it. But, that thing had sat for a number of weeks without its normal tender.
Yup, had the instant dead battery syndrome, it sucks. Park truck at bank, cash paycheck, dead battery....call for help, spend paycheck. Ed