The charger/charge rate really needs to be "sized" to the battery itself. The idea is to get it charged up in a reasonable amount of time, neither too fast and warping plates, or too slow, boiling electrolyte excessively.

If two batteries are connected in series, or parallel it's a single battery from an electrical standpoint. Either voltage is doubled, or ampere hour capacity. Usually a maintenance free battery wants no more than about 20% of the total ampere hour capacity (not CCA) as a nice slow charge rate. In the case of two big auto start batts connected in parallel that's 15 or 20 amps say, as a "trickle" charge. Most retail battery chargers are sized for a single auto start battery at 2/4/6 amperes. Too small.

You really want to get them a nice slow absorption charge over several hours together and cooking for a couple hours and get them equalized.

Be careful! There is tremendous stored energy in a battery, make sure there is plenty of ventilation. Fumes are toxic. Charging batteries also produce hydrogen, a defective battery can explode after charging during a start. Make sure electrolyte levels are topped off above the plates. A dead battery will freeze in cold temperatures, never try to charge a frozen battery or suspected frozen battery.

 

My battery problems ended once I went with Enersys Odyssey aka Sears Die Hard PLATINUM Absorbed Glass Mat batteries. I never plug in, and I don't care how long my truck sits, it starts. Such a joy. Seriously. And no leakage. Worth every penny to KNOW my truck will start. Six years of bliss so far (after the previous 8 years of H*ll jumpstarting Motorcraft lead acids... I am so done with Lead Acid).

 

Shaking your fist at the sky, eh? Well they are kinda pricey. $500 the pair, right? Throw in some new cables and installation, that oughtta be close anyway.

 

I don't know about shaking my fist at the sky. More like shaking my head at anyone who thinks the inconvenience of cheap batteries is worth the lower price. It isn't to me. I don't drive my truck everyday, and I cannot express what a difference it feels like between my truck having just enough energy to unlock the doors only to disappoint me at the turn of the key, versus firing right up after a month of mothballing. It's just awesome.

And that awesomeness did set me back about $450.00. I still have the original battery cables, didn't see any need to change those. The previous problem was lead acid batteries that simply do not hold a charge as long as AGMs, which have a 2 year shelf life without a restorative charge. That's the difference I experience and enjoy. For merely twice as much money, I get ten times more convenience. I shake my head at the alternatives.

 

AGM ? A whole nother story ! I use them in my ATV 's . Nothing better in a bike , atv , lawn mower ... A bit pricey .

 

Did u buy them from Sears?

 

This is a little off Christof13T's original topic, but adding to one of the more helpful tangents as far as AGMs for starting batteries go,

Most of our house batteries in the SMB-type world are AGMs. 250 Ah is the minimum. And a lot of guys run an isolator, or a separator to permit one alternator to charge both the house and the starter batteries. (IMHO, this never really works right. So I have two separate sytems.) One of the more knowledgeable guys over on the sportsmobileforum.com was burning up his starter batteries and installed AGM starter batteries so now he has a complete AGM set up. And he no longer fries his starting batteries.

May also be something you guys and gals with campers and AGM batteries might want to consider?

I will probably go Y2KW57's route when this set of Motorcraft's give up the ghost. Right now they are just sitting on BatteryMinders.

Merry Christmas!

 

Heck yes. At the time it made absolutely the most sense to get them from Sears. Here's a few reasons why:

1. Sears is open today. On Sunday. And on Saturday. And after work on weekdays, until 9 pm. These consumer and work friendly business hours are quite unlike most specialty battery shops that are closed on the weekends, and are only open 9-5 (but like to leave at 4:30) on weekdays. How does a working man make it to a shop that closes at 5pm, when his commute won't free him up to buy or exchange a battery until after 7pm?

2. Sears is in every state in the union, as far as I know. Even after our recent recession, there are still 5 or more Sears stores within an hours drive from where I am currently. If one Sears doesn't have a replacement in stock, another will. This is quite unlike a specialty battery shop, where there is only one store, probably not even in my state, and I have to deal with shipping a 60 pound battery, after explaining that it is spill proof and not like other batteries, bla bla bla. With Sears, I can just drive there, on the weekend, at night, and take care of business locally, within 20 minutes time.

3. Sears priced the batteries as much as 30% less than the Odyessy branded batteries sold by the specialty retailers. That 30% savings, plus no shipping charges, made Sears the no brainer choice.

4. Before the Interstate lawsuit judgement in 2012 that basically motivated all battery manufacturers to withdraw from offering prorated battery warranties, Sears offered the absolute best warranty in the automotive battery business on these particular Platinum branded Odyssey batteries: 8 years... with 4 years guaranteed replacement, plus another 4 years prorata. Now that prorata warranties have been litigated out of existence due to some Interstate franchisee consumer abuses, the warranty is now just 4 years guaranteed replacement, no prorata afterward.

There are other batteries, including one lead acid battery by Motorcraft (called the BSD-65 Super Duty), that offer 4 year guaranteed replacement. I had those batteries, and in year 3 they needed jumpstarting once in a while, and by year 5 they were dead. I somehow missed my moment in year 4 when I probably should have pimped them for replacement. But by that time I had already decided that my next battery would be the Sears Platinum AGMs, because I had such a good experience with them in my other vehicle.

I'm now entering into year 6 with the AGMs on this truck, and the batteries are performing as snappy as the day I first installed them. No checking water. No cleaning terminal corrosion. No repainting battery trays... all the time I lost doing those chores was well worth double the cost of the batteries for me. I just hate dealing with dead battery issues, and I love not worrying about the batteries anymore. Love it love it love it.

5. Before trusting that the Sears Platinum battery was truly the same battery as the Enersys Odyssey, I looked for and found the press releases from both Enersys and Sears that announced the new partnership where Sears would rebrand the already well proven and respected Enersys Odyssey AGM battery (made in USA with 99.9% pure lead) as the Platinum Die Hard. I then contacted the people at Enersys, and requested the specification sheets to review. Long story short, Enersys recognized the same battery dealership issues that I identified earlier in points 1 through 3 above. Enersys recognized that specialty battery dealers are too inconvenient to deal with, and if they wanted to reach a broader market, they needed a partner like Sears. A store that is nationwide. A store that is open on weekends. A store that is open at night. Makes sense to me.

 

Y2KW57
Are you located in a cold environment? Sub freezing weather is usually death on batteries that don't get charged very often. Just curious.

 

Thats good to hear Y2K,We have trk,boat,camper,two cars loaded with them Odessy batteries.

 

Actually cold temperatures keep batteries fresh. The higher the ambient temperature the faster they self discharge. The problem though, is that in actual use cold temperatures increase the current demands with cold, thick sludgy oil and at the same time the current capability is also reduced.

You're right though, batteries often die at the first cold snap. But it was the heat that really killed them.

 

No. However, AGM batteries generally have a lower freeze point than wet cell batteries for at least a few reasons that I am aware of:

1. AGM's electrolyte paste is not in liquid form.

2. The freeze point of a wet cell lead acid battery is linked to the specific gravity of the electrolyte, and the ratio of sulphuric acid to water. A higher ratio of sulphuric acid lowers the freeze point, and a higher ratio of water raises the freeze point. The batteries state of charge factors into the status of the liquid solution. The higher the state of charge, the lower the freeze point, the lower the state of charge, the higher the freeze point. Wet cell lead acid batteries tend to lose their state of charge just sitting there, more quickly than the Odyessy design of AGM batteries, which can retain their state of charge at higher levels for longer periods of time without a recharge. Therefore, the AGM battery in this case is likely to perform better in cold environments.

3. Enersys states that their batteries can be left outside in the off season without fear of freezing concerns down to minus 40 degrees. I call plus 40 degrees F too cold for my blood, never mind my batteries.

 

ive been running them optima yellow tops since 2003 still starting the ol 6.9 diesel to -20f

 

I find this kinda crazy since the optima's have less cranking amps then my Everstarts. I would think CCA would be extremely important especially with a diesel in the cold.

 

i think its crazy they still work after more then 5 years!