Time for batteries, so dragging this back up. Read through the thread to see what the current favorites are.

Truck currently has a set of AutoCraft Gold batteries from 11/18. Almost 5 years on FLAs that did a lot of sitting so not going to complain.

I'd love to do the AGM, but budget isn't there for $800 worth of batteries. That's looking at Odyssey. I also see an DieHard Platinum AGM at Advance Auto for about $500 for the pair. That's more doable, but they are only rated at 750 CCA vs the 850 CCA for the Odysseys and the current batteries.

EDIT: I also see a Duracell AGM at Sam's Club for about $400 for the pair. Those are 850 CCA, but I don't have a membership and doesn't show online if available at local store. Might be able to find someone to get me in.

Walmart seems well received and I like that for price and availability. Be about $300 for a pair.

Also seeing the references to CAT batteries. Seems like y'all like these, and it looks like they'd only be about $60 more for a pair. What advantage do these have over other FLA batteries?

FWIW I'm also going to get an onboard NOCO battery tender for the truck, and plug it in any time it's going to sit for more than a couple of days. That should help any battery have a longer life.

 

I run with Interstate batteries. Never had one fail on me, either on the customer's cars, or with my own. Costco has them on the shelf and the one time I had to use the warrenty system was because I had a drain from an accessory that I installed and wasn't aware of the drain. Truck sits in the garage until I need it which can be weeks at a time. Batteries went so flat, the dome light wouldn't even try to make the filament glow red hot, let alone make some light. Charged them up, truck started ok. Happened again. This time I found the drain and removed it. Truck sat for three weeks while we were out of town. No drain, but the starter did that characteristic machine gun sound of a very weak battery. So I went back to Costco and they changed them out, no questions asked on some three year old batteries. There was a very minimal pro-rate charge and I'm still using those batteries two years later. Some will say that the batch of Interstate that Costco sells is different than the ones that you can get elsewhere, but that has never affected me in my experience with using and selling them.
Right now they are $119.99 each for a group 65, 850 CCA battery.

If you want to splurge, the AGM right now is $182.99, but the CCA is 100 less. I don't think it would really matter in the real world, but just mentioning it so nobody misses that part.

 

^^^Ditto on Costco Interstate batteries. I have a pair and they have worked well for me.

I have read conflicting information about AGMs needing special care when charging. What is the FTE braintrust's opinion on this?

 

Those prices sound good, but no Costcos around here. Closest location is about 100 miles away

Not really considering interstate batteries. Not for product quality, a friend of mine has an independent repair business and has had issues with the company in the past.

 

Given that you are a hefty hunk of cerebrum in FTE's braintrust, what is your opinion?

Speaking from the opposite end of FTE's anatomy, in my opinion (and I realize everyone has an opinion down in this part of the body) any special care needed when charging a valve regulated sealed absorbed glass mat 12v battery is not so far outside of the normal parameters of a vehicle's charging system to give up the benefits of AGM.

But then the question becomes, are you referring to special care when charging with the alternator, or when charging from the wall (house/shop/garage)?

 

I too have thought AGMs are superior but have come across many anecdotes of premature failure in vehicles. I have a feeling the charging systems were not quite uo to snuff in these instances.

My primary concern, as you correctly guessed, is if a vehicle's charging system reguires any modifications to effectively care for AGMs. This was kicked off by an advertisement for a product that claims to be needed when AGMs are installed in vehicles. I was trying to determine if it is snake oil.

As for anatomy, I failed Biology in high school. It's probably why I was a virgin well into my 20s, amongst other factors.

 

I have a pair of AGM's (750cca) from the local Menards, FVP branded. I haven't had any issue with them other than I think I miss having a pair of 850cca under the hood on a cold day.

 

I will miss going to Menards.

 

My NorthStar AGM's with 930 CCA are still going strong after 6 years and 1 month of service. I bought cheaper AGM's for the other vehicles due to the curse I picked up associated with FLA batteries.

They were $569.98 shipped to my door in 2017 and are not that price now or ever will be again. When it comes time to replace the NorthStar AGM's, I will be looking for alternatives due to prices and value.

I have a NOCO 4A (I am pretty sure it is 4A) installed on the truck that keeps the batteries topped off when it is in storage in the back of our property.

 

no Costco here, only Sam's club and their meager selection left me wanting.

I went to Walmart and bought a pair of their 65N 850 CCA batteries at almost the Costco price.

Walmart is everywhere, and the 3 year warranty is nice.
I keep a Battery Tender on all of my vehicles pretty much year around.
so I expect to get many years of good service out of them.

AGMs just want to be charged to a higher voltage, but if your system is up to snuff, it will do that okay.

Interstate builds most of the batteries in the USA, but you will find local labels on the battery case, and the specifications vary wildly as to what the retailer wants them to meet.

for my Golf cart, after the Trojan's died ( 17 years service )
I could not afford Trojan's price point,
went to the local Interstate store and laid out $1,440 for a new set for the golf cart.

we use it as a tractor around here, it is always hooked up to a trailer, so we can carry debris to the burn pile, or water trees, etc...

 

I go enough for the both of us...

 

Rarely an alternator will fully charge an AGM battery. It is a good idea to charge them periodically with a smart charger w/ reverse pulse technology. If you use a solar panel, make sure to have a solar regulator/charge controller. When the battery reaches full capacity, most solar voltage regulators switch to a float charge mode to prevent overcharging. Take the time to read the manufacturers recommendations on charger specifications and proper charging procedures. Proper charging will squeeze even longer life out of these extended life batteries.

 

I’d steer towards an entry level AGM if budget allows. I did this with the last battery I bought…a group 24 size for strapping to a trailer while transporting it. Interstate Dual Purpose AGM I got from the local marine joint. It was about $225 plus core charge and tax IIRC, so not quite the budget buster the higher end TPPL AGM are. This is a battery that gets handled a lot so I wanted a dry/sealed one. If they are only $182 for the Interstate group 65 I’d pay that to get into the AGM club.

 

Thanks for the feedback. Weighing the options, it looks like WalMart batteries and a good battery tender are going to win out this time around. Already stated my thoughts on Interstate Battery, I've seen too many negatives on the other entry level AGMs. Entirely likely that those other negatives (mostly short life) are the owner's fault, but I'm not going to pay more to end up with something that has the same life expectancy.

If we actually saw bad cold weather around here and/or I wasn't planning to install the tender the AGM might hold the advantage. The price and availability of WalMart FLAs is winning out, combined with having that extra CCA (likely overkill) over many of the entry level AGMs. It seems like many of the entry level AGMs aren't lasting any longer that these FLAs and I can find WalMarts almost anywhere should I need a warranty claim away from home.

I'll probably pick up batteries on Wednesday, and a Noco tender soon. I'll be driving the truck almost weekly for the rest of the year, so I figure the new batteries whould be ok unless I have other problems. Well, that and I need to slow down on the Amazon spending a little bit.

In the mean time I need to decide on which NoCo tender to get. Probably the Genius 2 or 5. The direct mount version sounds good on paper and slightly cheaper. but the regular 2 and 5 seem a little more versatile with the detachable leads. Have a second set of leads with clamps and it's easy to pop it off and use it elsewhere. The 5 amp is probably overkill for a battery maintainer, but I like that it has a built in repair mode.

Maybe I need more than one? My other charger should be able to do everything the NoCo can other than the forced charge for severly drained batteries (and maybe lithium mode, but I dont own any), but it's not as compact and convenient as being able to leave installed.

 

Well if you think a 5 amp is overkill you won't like the 10amp Noco GenPro I went with


I've had it under the hood for about 4 years now. I randomly plug it in throughout the year. In summer it's usually after I mow and have moved the cord from the 5th wheel off the grass to mow. The next day I'll move it back to the 5th from the truck when I leave for work.

​​​​​In the winter I have it and the block heater plugged in on a smart plug that is programmed to come on 90 minutes before I leave for work, or whenever I tell it to from my phone. That pair of FLA batteries lasted 6 years before I prematurely swapped them out way too early for AGMs due to a misdiagnosis. Randomly throwing a smart charger that has the desulfator option on batteries throughout the year will keep them topped off and desulfured extending their life much farther than just relying on the alternator

That's also why I went with a 10 amp. I wanted it to be able to top the batteries off in the winter in the 90 minutes I have the block heater on. Plus it ensures the glow plugs drain is negligible to the batteries' health when they are topped off vs the chance of being undercharged right off the bat. If you are going solely for a maintainer that will always be plugged in a 2amp is all you'd need. I'm glad I went with this one since it has the options to select lead acid or AMG or lithium. I also have their Genius1 1amp. I use it for the mower, generator and Vette, but those get plugged in for much longer time periods on much smaller single batteries so the lower amp doesn't matter as much as the larger capacity the 7.3 batteries store