My tester shows 749 CCA on the right and 699 CCA on the left. Looks like they're on their way down.

I told the mechanic I was probably going with AGM's on the next go-around and he said his favorite is Battery Plus's X2.

https://www.batteriesplus.com/produc...sel/sli65agmdp

I gotta keep my eye out for a sale, because man those puppies aren't cheap.

Note - The product description says 4 year replacement warranty, but the first review says 5 years. The things that make you go hmmm.

 

It was 5 years at one point, and then they dropped to 4.

 

Chris, did you ever charge them during their lives or just let the vehicle do its thing?

 

Should we be charging them occasionally? I've always let the truck do it's thing, but I've also always used lead acid.

Voltage set point on my DC Power is ~14.6V IIRC, I've never gone to AGM because don't they need more voltage?

 

Over the years, I've found that periodically putting them on a tender or charger keeps the capacity up and gives them a longer life. I also use my CTEK (NOCO similar) with its reconditioning function (~24 hrs), which really helps.

I still have my Wlamart 2016 batteries in my truck. Ten years ago, I would have said that was impossible.

Ideally, I try to do this to a battery three to four times a year. Between the vehicles, lawn, and farm equipment, I maintain a little over a dozen automotive-sized batteries. Keeping them in good condition saves me a fair amount of money. I've had threads here about this.

Hunting at the store for the highest capacity and lowest resistance, while trying to get two that are the closest in capacity.



Starting the reconditioning process.


Start to finish. Four years old at the time.

Resting for a day.



Two years later, now 6 years old. While my truck sat during the engine rebuild, these were rotated into use at the farm with the tractors. The capacities and resistance will change over a few days and days of use. These are the ideal post charge.

Walmart batteries are sourced differently in the Northeast compared to the Southwest. I believe the batteries here come out of East Penn and are sealed on the tops with a singular vent hole on the side.

AGMs need a slightly higher voltage and a different charge rate than voltage regulators designed for standard lead-acid batteries. However, people such as Mark and Scott seem to do fine. To optimize, it seems that the occasional charge/conditioning with the appropriate charger treats them well—probably like what I do with my batteries.

 

I always let the truck charge them. It gets driven almost every day.

I do have a NOCO dual charger. I guess I could see what reconditioning does for them.

I brought my Solar tester to the store when I bought the current set. Between half a dozen batteries I didn't see CCA's at or above 1000.

 

Are they freshly made, or is the date code a few months back?

Yours (Walmart) are definitely different from what I see here in Jersey. The 65 batteries are always manufactured in the same month, and you've seen that I always test over 1000. I've never checked the other group sizes, but I have seen those with production dates a few months out. I've never tested those. We often have a situation where I've seen the group 65s out of stock. I had to get one for the Lincoln LS last year when the kids vandalized the farm, and I had to go to three stores to find a group 65.

You should try doing the reconditioning, Chris. You seem to lose batteries much more, and it would be interesting to see how it might help.

I'm sure you've seen me post this before.

A typical graph used by vehicle and battery manufacturers in one form or another for standard lead-acid; a generality.




Autozone's post.



Maybe due to outgassing, the Walmart batteries down there have the old-style vent caps.

 

Roads are terrible down here, and then there is the deer lease.

In addition to the heat, vibration and impact can progressively shorten battery life also (doesn't have to be one or two bad impacts).

 

This is probably part of why mine die so consistently, and aways with a dead cell or leaking case. Too many ranch roads and pastures to bounce around in My son drives the wheels off of everything, and it's no mystery who he learned that from.

 

Thats the perfect reason to switch to AGM

 

Thats why I’ve switched everything over to AGM.. rough roads and trials. Hoping that’ll help extend battery life.

 

It has been discussed a lot already, but I try to manually charge both of my X2 Power AGM batteries (individually) AT LEAST every 6 months.

 

Yes, that’s my plan as well. Let me ask, do you pull them to charge them, or charge in situ? I’ve always been a little wary of charging anything with a PCM/ECM in situ.. Say a 2amp charge.

 

I always disconnect the negative cable and charge the battery in place.

 

Mine were purchased 10/5/22 and are dated 8/22, so they were probably all at least two months old at the time.


My experience says the red zone in the above graph needs to go a bit farther north.