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Originally Posted by Chief of the 60's

I never had any luck with NAPA. Carquest aren't have great either. There is an Exide dealer here, tried them once. Those could possibly be worse than a WalMart Neverstart.

They've only been Deka for a couple years. Before that they were Interstate/Johnson Controls.

[SRR]

Originally Posted by The Champ

Before I retired from the ACDelco/Motorcraft/Mopar warehouse distributor that I worked for, one of my diehard Interstate battery shops was frustrated by the Interstate dealers refusal to honor warranties after he'd already replaced the customers battery with a new one.

According to the Interstate dealer, the shop owner didn't know how to test a battery. The shop owner had been in business for 30 years (selling Interstate batteries the whole time) and was honest as the day is long.

As to pro rata warranties - I was so glad when ACDelco did away with the pro rata BS. If I remember correctly, they did this around 2012. The Advantage (entry level) had an 18 month free replacement warranty, the Silver a 30 month and the Gold a 42 month. All in plain English.

All the pro rata warranty ever did was piss customers off (after the free replacement period).

Yeah, after paying $170. for a battery getting $24.00 off in the pro-rate period creates a grumpy customer. I usually tell them just buy a new one and I'll knock off 10%. I deal with this kind of stuff every day. You guys that keep saying how great your 10 year old batteries are realize that they are USA made right? Your going to be lucky to get 3-4 years out of a "Hecho en Mexico" battery. The quality just isn't there when profit is the name of the game.

[mgarblik]

Originally Posted by 70oldgoat

I have a question about checking the voltage of six volt wet cell deep cycle batteries.

I have six, six volt Interstate wet cell batteries in my golf cart (36 volt system). I bought the batteries April of last year (about 14 months ago). I have maintained a charge on the batteries religiously between use since the batteries were new. The golf cart poops out going up a hill and I suspect one or more of the batteries may be bad. I want to check each battery here at home before taking it to a shop.

Using your above quoted testing procedure, what voltage should I expect to see for a six (6) volt battery after charging the battery and letting it set for 24 hours?

Thanks.

I really don't work with 6 volt batteries for cars or your application. But based on all the other batteries I do work with including all the little ones, when the battery is at or below it's generic voltage rating, it is dead. So I would guestimate the 6 volt batteries are dead at 6 volts if they won't charge any further and have sat 12-24 hours to remove the surface charge. Fully charged would be a little over 6.3 volts. Each cell is 2.13V. Little 1.5V AAA, AA, C, and D cell batteries are dead at 1.2-1.3V. Fully charged at 1.6V. I'm so cheap I check them with a voltmeter before tossing them out.

[64speed]

Originally Posted by SRR

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKo5iJ2rH7o

That’s why I buy them from Amazon I wouldn’t have a return problem. The one I had that died was past it’s warranty and they never even checked just send me another. I have one in my Yukon right now and it’s running strong. I will run another dual post style battery when I get my car running because with stuff like MSD and fuel injection that needs direct to battery connection I think it makes for a cleaner install. It’ll either be optima or ac delco

[Sirrotica]

Originally Posted by mgarblik

I really don't work with 6 volt batteries for cars or your application. But based on all the other batteries I do work with including all the little ones, when the battery is at or below it's generic voltage rating, it is dead. So I would guestimate the 6 volt batteries are dead at 6 volts if they won't charge any further and have sat 12-24 hours to remove the surface charge. Fully charged would be a little over 6.3 volts. Each cell is 2.13V. Little 1.5V AAA, AA, C, and D cell batteries are dead at 1.2-1.3V. Fully charged at 1.6V. I'm so cheap I check them with a voltmeter before tossing them out.

Having worked many years with aerial lift equipment, which the battery operated scissor lifts use a bank of 4, 6 volt batteries (much like golf cart batteries) the recommendation that Mike gave is spot on, 6.3 after the surface charge is gone is adequate. 2.1 volts if you check them with a VOM by sticking the probes right in the cells and you can also find weak cells by checking the cells next to each other.

I used to do this in the field to check batteries and if one out of the 4 has a weak cell, you're further ahead to replace all of the batteries instead of just one. In a multi battery bank the one in the worst shape will bring all the good batteries down to whichever battery is the worst, making your new battery act like used worn out one as soon as you install it. Unless the other 3 batteries are only a few months old you're going to ruin the newest battery in short order. Diesel trucks with 2 batteries are the same thing.

[242177P]

Originally Posted by mgarblik

I really don't work with 6 volt batteries for cars or your application. But based on all the other batteries I do work with including all the little ones, when the battery is at or below it's generic voltage rating, it is dead. So I would guestimate the 6 volt batteries are dead at 6 volts if they won't charge any further and have sat 12-24 hours to remove the surface charge. Fully charged would be a little over 6.3 volts. Each cell is 2.13V. Little 1.5V AAA, AA, C, and D cell batteries are dead at 1.2-1.3V. Fully charged at 1.6V. I'm so cheap I check them with a voltmeter before tossing them out.

Rechargeable (NiMH) AAs are rated 1.2V. Just tested a freshly charged pair at 1.36V. I like them, but some devices perform noticeably better with "inferior" batteries. I wonder why?

[bulletpruf]

Good tech here. I just had a second red-top Optima failure in the past 2 years so I'm giving up on them.

EDIT - what Group/size are y'all using?

[geeteeohguy]

Originally Posted by bulletpruf

Good tech here. I just had a second red-top Optima failure in the past 2 years so I'm giving up on them.

EDIT - what Group/size are y'all using?

We stopped using Optimas at the shop about 10 years ago when their quality tanked. In my GTO's, I've used Walmart Everstarts....the one in my '67 went 16 years with no maintenance, and the one in my '65 went 15 years. They were $29 batteries at the time. Now they are $120. Group 24. I recently bought 2 RayOVac group 24's from Batteries Plus, at $54 each. One went into my '83 Toyota, the other went into my '65 GTO. Both have over 550 CCA capacity, and both work just fine. Like tires, the prices of batteries seems to have quadrupled in the past 10 years or so.

[bulletpruf]

Originally Posted by geeteeohguy

We stopped using Optimas at the shop about 10 years ago when their quality tanked. In my GTO's, I've used Walmart Everstarts....the one in my '67 went 16 years with no maintenance, and the one in my '65 went 15 years. They were $29 batteries at the time. Now they are $120. Group 24. I recently bought 2 RayOVac group 24's from Batteries Plus, at $54 each. One went into my '83 Toyota, the other went into my '65 GTO. Both have over 550 CCA capacity, and both work just fine. Like tires, the prices of batteries seems to have quadrupled in the past 10 years or so.

Thanks for the input. I ended up getting a Napa battery for my 66 Fairlane but had to go with another Optima red top for the 68 Lemans. Even though it was less than a year old, O'Reilly's wouldn't refund me. They would only exchange it for a new one. Hopefully this one will last longer.

[Heybuck]

Interesting about the Optima red tops.

I bought my first Optima red top just on 17 years ago, ran it in my daily driver for some years and when selling the car, I took it out and put it in my '66 Grand Prix. When it hit about 12 years and I was going on a long trip I decided that maybe it was dangerous to trust it so I bought a new Optima. The second one failed after only 4 yearsbut the first one will still swing an engine in the garage with plenty of gusto. Its always connected to a 1600mA maintenance charger.

I also fitted an Optima red top into my wife's 1988 Acura Legend and that battery was still in the car when we sold it. I guess it was about 9 years old when we sold the car about 5 years ago.

Optima's are just too much money nowadays to risk one failing after only 4 years.

[SRR]

FWIW I just warrantied two Optima's that were sold in 2017, both tested bad. I store damaged two others, yellow tops that went bad on the shelf! 3 years old. My idiot boss insisted I didn't charge them "correctly" so we did it his way... still bad.

[geeteeohguy]

Originally Posted by SRR

FWIW I just warrantied two Optima's that were sold in 2017, both tested bad. I store damaged two others, yellow tops that went bad on the shelf! 3 years old. My idiot boss insisted I didn't charge them "correctly" so we did it his way... still bad.

Yeah....we used to use them exclusively. Until they started to fail in the first 18-36 months. The quality went down the drain, and they were pricey. I put a NAPA battery in my Tundra about 3 years ago. The good thing about NAPA anything is the service....they are everywhere and stand behind their products. Not cheap, like my Ray-O-Vac finds, but WTH.

[dataway]

I can't make heads or tails out of battery quality. When it comes to conventional lead acid batteries ... I've had OEM GM last 10+ years, and OEM GM last 3 years. I've had cheapo batteries last as long as Die Hard Gold, I've had cheapo batteries fail quickly, I've had expensive batteries fail quickly and vice versa.

[mgarblik]

Originally Posted by geeteeohguy

Yeah....we used to use them exclusively. Until they started to fail in the first 18-36 months. The quality went down the drain, and they were pricey. I put a NAPA battery in my Tundra about 3 years ago. The good thing about NAPA anything is the service....they are everywhere and stand behind their products. Not cheap, like my Ray-O-Vac finds, but WTH.

There are two reasons I use NAPA batteries.. One is I like the black case. They don't stick out like a sore thumb in the engine compartment of my customers stock cars. Second, and most important: My NAPA store is always there standing behind me when I have any issue of any kind no matter what. They never leave me twisting in the wind when a part fails, period. Just had a NAPA Legend battery fail at 35 months, It's a 72 month battery, 2 year free replacement. They gave me a new one no charge. The pro-rate would only have bought half a battery. That's why I am fine with paying $10-15 more up front for their parts. Are they the best? I doubt it, but the service makes up the difference.

[sdbob]

I use NAPA also.local store guys are helpful,really I've gotten life out of mine.

[Sirrotica]

Originally Posted by geeteeohguy

We stopped using Optimas at the shop about 10 years ago when their quality tanked. In my GTO's, I've used Walmart Everstarts....the one in my '67 went 16 years with no maintenance, and the one in my '65 went 15 years. They were $29 batteries at the time. Now they are $120. Group 24. I recently bought 2 RayOVac group 24's from Batteries Plus, at $54 each. One went into my '83 Toyota, the other went into my '65 GTO. Both have over 550 CCA capacity, and both work just fine. Like tires, the prices of batteries seems to have quadrupled in the past 10 years or so.

I was curious who makes the Ray O Vac automotive batteries that Batteries Plus is now selling, as I bought a Dura Cell auto battery from them for my 05 GTO last year, which was made by Deka/East Penn. Deka/East Penn also makes the Ray O Vac auto batteries so just same battery, different stickers on them.

[TAKerry]

I have never really given that much thought into buying a battery. I recently had to replace the one for my T/A (after which I found out it was the alt. that was bad) and simply went to Auto Zone and asked for the most powerful they had that would fit in my car! I think it was about $160 without the core. I looked at the optima's only because i see them advertised frequently but their price was about $250! New battery works just fine. I dont have a clue what the brand is.