@Y2KW57 for an extra $100 I could have had Interstate Battery stickers on mine.

 

I decided to quit messing around with my 3 year old Motorcraft flooded batteries before I have more corrosion. Bought two WM group 65 AGM's on-line. I'll pick them up tomorrow (assuming they are fresh) and let you know what I get. I'll also take a few voltage readings.

 

And it gets a little muddier. Your screenshot shows a 750CCA battery and the description says 775CCA. When I went on-line to order, I see the same photo but the description says 750CCa. When I click on specs, it says 775CCA.

I'll post what they have waiting for me.

 

I don't recall my ever saying that "Exide is now a brand, not a manufacturer."

Perhaps I was misunderstood, but even that is understandable, because nothing about the automotive battery business is simple.

Exide is indeed a battery manufacturer, headquartered in India, with a half dozen facilities in India.

Exide Industries

Exide Manufacturing Facilities

The Exide of old that most Americans think of as Exide, underwent several mergers, name changes, hostile takeovers, friendly acquisitions, and over the last 20 years, tortuous bankruptcy filings under various chapters, with the darkest cloud of debt being to the environmental liability from operating the largest lead recycling facilities in the USA.

Getting out from underneath the weight of toxic waste from the Vernon lead recycling plant in Southern California, where Exide was accused of threatening the health of 100,000 residents, and polluting 10,000 properties, of which the clean up of 2,500 properties already cost about $200 million dollars of taxpayer money (because Exide filed for bankruptcy, again and again)... is what drove Exide out of the battery business in the USA, selling chunks of the company to different entities until it no longer existed as its former self that once dominated the retail battery market.

With the help of a friendly bankruptcy court judge, the shadow of Exide Technologies was able to divest itself from their environmental liability, and divested itself from their battery business in the United States, selling operating (manufacturing, recycling, etc) assets to Atlas Holdings, which formed Stryten Manufacturing and Element Resources, and is now known as Stryten Energy. Exide sold its (now defunct) automotive battery distribution business to Battery Systems, which was then bought by a Continental Battery Systems (unrelated to tires, but the logo and color look strangely the same).

Exide Technologies continues to exist in every corner of the globe EXCEPT the Americas.

ExideGroup

Exide Technologies is an entirely different business than Exide Industries Limited in India, mentioned and linked earlier above.

One can compare the respective leadership of each Exide here:

Exide Technologies / Exide Group

Exide Industries

Below are a couple of US companies that inherited the business operations that formerly belonged to earlier USA based iterations of what was formerly known as Exide Corporation

Stryten Energy

Continental Battery, a relatively small distributor in the USA

This is in no way shape or form a comprehensive history, nor a complete picture of the present day status of Exide.

But this is intended to open up the door to some snippets of insight that can be pursued in more detail if interested, in order to dispel the notion that Exide merely exists as a battery marketing distribution brand label akin to Interstate. That is not the case at all, and should not be the take away conclusion drawn from anything that I have previously posted on FTE.

 

Yup, exactly.

Bob

 

I guess I did misunderstand - I read this and saw the "distributes Exide branded batteries made in India" and took branded to mean just that, as opposed to manufactured.

I apologize for my confusion.

 

Unbelievable work. Didn't actually think this was even realistically possible in such a short time.
Well done to both of you!


Yep, I agree; I also think it's regional. I'm in NEPA and also have the 775CCA (delivered to me)...hmm...what should I call it? We ought to give the various Walmart AGM Group 65 names.
There is also still that small distinction that Walmart includes in their description on the product-page where it lists "BOXED" on some but not on others. Wonder if that somehow changes which battery you get?

I was long aware of two different versions, based upon comments on Walmart's product page, but what is this third version? Has someone already posted pics of it that I missed?



Amazing thread; better entertainment than the best thriller on TV...at least to a battery nerd like me!

 

What kind of battery chargers are you guys using? Do the AGM's need a specific type of charger? I'm getting ready to upgrade the batteries in my '22 450 but I'm also looking to buy a nice charger for the shop. Recommendations??

 

See Post # 83 in this thread, linked below:

Hi-V Low-A Pulse De-Sulfation, Constant Current Bulk, Constant Voltage Absorption, Temperature Compensated Float

 

RE: chargers

I recently threw away some charges I had laying around because they were pretty much garbage. One was a NOCO Genius that was basically useless; nothing 'genius' about it.
Looking at the CTEK PRO25S (replacement of the one @Y2KW57 mentioned). That looks pretty good. Might have to settle for a CTEK 7002 due to budget.
Currently use a which seems to charge the batteries pretty well, but looking for something a bit more sophisticated.

My main issue with all the battery chargers I've ever owned, is that they don't put out a 12V voltage to kick-start a completely dead battery (less than 2 volts).

 

The vast majority of chargers have a protection circuit that protects the charger from a “completely dead battery” pulling too much current by severely output voltage.

Bob

 

I use the charger from Harbor Freight. I think I paid about $60 for it? It has settings for battery type, amperage desired, winter "storage" mode, etc. Shows voltage on a display. Set it and forget it.

 

I picked up a NOCO 2 amp charger when I started having issues with my OE batteries in 22. Turns out, it didn't really do much, so I replaced it with a NOCO Genius10. It is actually hardwired into the truck and I installed a plug on the front bumper that makes it easy to use. I don't even have to pop the hood! Anyway, I am quite sure that the CTEK charger that Y2K shared is quite nice, but I haven't had any issues with the NOCO Genius10 that I am using, and it has done what I asked it to do so far... at least that I am aware of.

I also keep a NOCO GB150 in the truck, which also works quite well. I had to use it to jump my truck off the other day when the OE batteries were dead... they wouldn't even turn the engine over, but the GB150 fired it right up!

 

I picked up two new group 65 AGM batteries from Walmart today. They are the 775cca model with the handle in the top cover.

I made voltage measurements with the Ford flooded batteries and after installing the AGM’s. In my opinion the results were inconclusive; too many variables. For example; the truck idled normally during all my tests with the flooded batteries. After I installed the AGM’s the truck shifted into fast idle during every test. I don’t know why, but perhaps because the system thought the new batteries were not fully charged; or maybe something else changed such as the OAT.

After testing, I decided to use the 100% “Battery Target SOC” setting and changed “Battery Type” to AGM.

 

I'm going to guess/agree with you that the truck sensed that you installed new batteries that were only halfway charged, if they were indeed at 12.4v.

If you had charged the new batteries on a wall charger until they reached a resting voltage of 12.7v, after the superficial surface charge was zapped off, before installing them in the truck, I wonder if the engine idle would have kicked up.

As you said, too hard to tell, as it was essentially below freezing at 30°F, and idle may have elevated due to that. However, the more I think about it, the more I believe it was due to the low voltage of the new batteries. If the idle up was temperature rated, with each test between 2-5 minutes long, the engine would have idled up with the FLA batteries, that were already fully charged. But it didn't. It only idled up during the AGM battery tests, where the AGM batteries were installed in a half discharged state.

I'm thinking now that if you put the AGM batteries on a wall charger overnight, and then ran the same test again... at the same time of day, in the same temperature, you might be able to see if the engine still idles up with the fully charged AGM batteries. Or not. Then we might have a better foundation for guessing.

I really like how organized you were with your spreadsheet. Nice work! It takes time to do that, and your time is appreciated.

And, the fact that you tested both flooded and AGM at the various SOC settings was seminal, and I hope contagious, where others do the same.

Even while no conclusions can be drawn as far as the influence of SOC percentage settings at idle for the period of time and engine speed tested, we can at least see voltage regulation at work, holding the fort in the 14.7v range, regardless of battery type or level of discharge.