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So i just spent the last few hours driving around to 2 different Walmart's on a mission to return my 750's and get the 775's that @HorizontalHunter got. Drove all the way to 1 and they had the dept locked up and said nobody had the keys to open it ( which later a manager of a different store told me was wrong and that somebody there should have had the keys to unlock whatever i needed to get to but whatever i had already left pissed off) So i drove to 2nd store and waited about 20 minutes for someone to come help me and long and behold they had them! So i grabbed 2 and headed home. They are still dated 12/24 but obviously are the 775cca.
Yeah, I probably should have put something on the terminals... I will probably get around to it...
As to the Everstarts vs higher priced batteries... this time it did come down to cost for me. I have paid a lot more for batteries a few years ago when loading my camper up with LiFeP04 batteries, so I am not lost to paying a lot of money for batteries. And there is actually a Batteries + store just down the road from me, which really made me want the X2's, but it was the timing... We just came out of Christmas and I still have a couple of birthdays coming up, so I went with the Wally World specials. My plan was that these would get me through about another 3 years or so and I can decide then if they are still worth getting again, or if they were not that great and I just go with the X2's. I don't know... but we will see! Either way, even these are most likely equal to if not better than the Motorcraft batteries, and they costs less too!
Not to de-rail the thread here, but what has happened to batteries in the last 8 years that they seem to suck so bad? I have a battery in a JLG 450 AJ with a Deutz that was put in 6/14 (10.5 years old!), that usually sits all winter long (late Nov - Mar) in an unheated shed, gets used maybe 100 hours a year, with lots of start stop. I had another pair of factory motorcraft batteries in 2016 F-450 CC, that lasted til 8/23. Have another pair of batteries in a Skytrak 6042 that I don’t know how old they are, I didn’t put them in, but they are still going strong and I have had that machine for 5 years. The list goes on. All FLA. Random use of maintainers on SOME of them but not constantly on any of them.
In my ‘21 F-350 6.7 starting to see signs of the batteries going south. Looking at options, looking to go to AGM, and the X2’s at 350 a piece only claim a 4 yr warranty their website SAYS they should last 3-5 years. I’ve put two FLA batteries in the wife’s explorer in the last 5 years. Whats changed? And thank you for all this AGM battery talk, after reading may just go with the Wally World versions as they have the same warranty as the X2s and are less than 200 a piece, if they both are only supposed to last as long why bother with the extra 150 a piece.
Not to de-rail the thread here, but what has happened to batteries in the last 8 years that they seem to suck so bad? I have a battery in a JLG 450 AJ with a Deutz that was put in 6/14 (10.5 years old!), that usually sits all winter long (late Nov - Mar) in an unheated shed, gets used maybe 100 hours a year, with lots of start stop. I had another pair of factory motorcraft batteries in 2016 F-450 CC, that lasted til 8/23. Have another pair of batteries in a Skytrak 6042 that I don’t know how old they are, I didn’t put them in, but they are still going strong and I have had that machine for 5 years. The list goes on. All FLA. Random use of maintainers on SOME of them but not constantly on any of them.
In my ‘21 F-350 6.7 starting to see signs of the batteries going south. Looking at options, looking to go to AGM, and the X2’s at 350 a piece only claim a 4 yr warranty their website SAYS they should last 3-5 years. I’ve put two FLA batteries in the wife’s explorer in the last 5 years. Whats changed? And thank you for all this AGM battery talk, after reading may just go with the Wally World versions as they have the same warranty as the X2s and are less than 200 a piece, if they both are only supposed to last as long why bother with the extra 150 a piece.
Okay guys. I believe I nailed down who the manufacturers are of each of the two different Walmart branded Everstart Platinum AGM Group 65 batteries are, between @chadstickpoindexter and @HorizontalHunter . I have not had time to look up the 3rd version yet.
It took less than an hour, but I still feel like I should charge something for this information, only because I was so driven to find out with absolute certainty, despite private label obfuscation, I even recruited my better half, who holds nearly a half century of career experience in one particular industry, with the last 40 years in the distribution business of that industry, to help me out concurrently as an independent cross check.
And I didn't tell her what the product was. If I had, she might have said "Pfftt. A truck battery? Why don't you just go to Walmart and get whatever battery they have in stock?" Which of course, is the very crux of our current forum problem to solve. I couldn't tell her that.
So I made up a curiosity within her own industry, involving unrelated manufacturers that I knew she would be familiar with, and asked her to find an accurate, no marketing clickbait BS means for identifying those manufacturers that she already knows by their GTIN code,... online.
(The most recent 33 volume set of the complete Thomas Register in my library, occupying 7 linear feet of shelf space, is dated 1999. No longer relevant today, but I can't bear to get rid of it, as it cost an arm and a leg that I wish I still had now that my remaining arm and leg have been broken by inflation)
She came back with the same verification process that I had came up with earlier, so I'd call that double validated, since she had no idea what I was actually looking for, and used an entirely different means (and much saner mentality) to arrive at the same result in identifying a verification process.
And for that matter, she probably doesn't even realize that I have sinfully priced Enersys Made In USA TPPL AGM batteries under the hood of every vehicle in our driveway. So y'all keep that little no expense spared secret to yourselves. Otherwise, I'll be heading to Walmart the next time I need a battery.
But at least I now know who makes which Walmart battery in the Platinum AGM Group 65 size. And I don't charge, so you will know too.
1. The Walmart Everlast Platinum AGM Group 65 batteries bought by @longhaultransport and @chadstickpoindexter were manufactured by Clarios, which means they were made by Varta, a wholly owned manufacturing division of Clarios, owned by Brookfield Partners, who bought the battery business of Johnson Controls back in 2019.
2. The Walmart Everlast Platinum AGM Group 65 batteries bought by @HorizontalHunter are distributed to Walmart by FVP (which stands for Factory Verified. Proven.), which is a wholly owned division of Factory Motor Parts, who also distributes Exide branded batteries made in India, and Korea, along with ALTASBX in South Korea.
So there you have it. Mystery solved. If nothing else, we know that neither of these Walmart Everstart batteries were made by "JCI", as some may still be tempted to assume even 6 years after the fact.
I have no opinion on which battery is better... but since both chadstickpoindexter and HorizontalHunter installed batteries at the same time, we may form an opinion over the next 4 years.
Thank you for running this down. It is a shame that we don’t seem to make much here anymore. The world has indeed become a small place.
I have never had AGM batteries before and It will be interesting to see how they perform in the long run.
Thanks again for all your help and all the information you contributed to this thread.
JCI hasn't made batteries since 2019. Clarios (Brookfield Business Partners) bought JCI's battery business back in 2019.
Originally Posted by Y2KW57
{SNIP}
1. The Walmart Everlast Platinum AGM Group 65 batteries bought by @longhaultransport and @chadstickpoindexter were manufactured by Clarios, which means they were made by Varta, a wholly owned manufacturing division of Clarios, owned by Brookfield Partners, who bought the battery business of Johnson Controls back in 2019.
2. The Walmart Everlast Platinum AGM Group 65 batteries bought by @HorizontalHunter are distributed to Walmart by FVP (which stands for Factory Verified. Proven.), which is a wholly owned division of Factory Motor Parts, who also distributes Exide branded batteries made in India, and Korea, along with ALTASBX in South Korea.
So there you have it. Mystery solved. If nothing else, we know that neither of these Walmart Everstart batteries were made by "JCI", as some may still be tempted to assume even 6 years after the fact.
{/SNIP}
Thank you for that research effort - it was tedious I'm sure. Glad to see I wasn't losing my memory as badly as I thought. I worked for JCI back when they sold off the battery division. They sold EVERYTHING - not just the brand names, IP, etc. The manufacturing plants, the sourcing contracts, all the IP, etc. went with the sale. Your research did point out an interesting tidbit - Exide is now a brand, not a manufacturer. Same with Interstate - they simply put their name on and distribute batteries manufactured by others. Just like how, in 2019, Advance Auto Parts bought the "DieHard" battery name from Transform Holdco LLC, the parent company of Sears and K-Mart.
Back in 2005 I bought an Optima Red Top from Costco for my 2004 Lightning. I finally replaced that battery in 2016, right before I sold the truck. Over 160,000 miles on that battery as the Lightning was my daily driver from 2004 - 2016. Years later, when I worked for JCI, my company discount was 50% off MSRP for Optima batteries. We were allowed to buy two batteries in a calendar year. Shipped to my house the Red Tops were $125 each. When JCI sold the battery division off, that awesome little perk went the way of the Dodo. 11 years of almost everyday use, in hot Florida for the first four years and in sometimes cold Tennessee for the latter seven years, it remains the best battery I've ever owned in any vehicle. It was AGM - before AGM was really a "thing" in automotive applications. .
Not to de-rail the thread here, but what has happened to batteries in the last 8 years that they seem to suck so bad?
I'm going to test my memory from reading dozens of battery threads two years ago when I bought my AGMs. Every battery on the market except two (this is the memory test so may be wrong) is made with recycled lead. The X2 agm and Odyssey Extreme agm are the only two that use pure virgin lead. They also contain the most lead as noted by their weight. All the others are made with varying amounts of recycled lead. Not saying any battery is perfect. Even the most expensive can have a fatal flaw.
The other factor besides planned obsolescence, may be the increased amount of electronics in vehicles the last 8-10 years. Especially the last 4-5! The increased draw is just unreal compared to the older trucks.
Installed the new batteries today, reset the BMS, and changes the battery type to AGM. I didn’t make any other changes to the charging profile like SOC and the like because I really have no factual basis to change them from the AGM profile defaults.
I am so glad that I made the swap. The driver side battery was gassing so bad that there was battery acid residue in the battery tray. I will CLP flush it out good in the spring, when it isn’t 25 degrees out, and repaint the hold downs as well as the drive side hold down is a mess from the battery gassing.
Anecdotally I will say the truck turns over much faster and the headlights are noticeably brighter to my eye.
Thank you to all that contributed the this thread. The wealth of knowledge here is a terrific resource for the members.
This is the output of my alternator(s), measured at the battery, with the system set for "flooded" and "120% Battery Target SOC". Measured last year when I was installing DC-DC converters.
.....It is hard to learn what one already thinks they know, and questions help crack the shell around what is thought to be known, to see what else there is to discover.....
Thank you for "inspiring us by helping us to be inspired in the context in which you exist".
Now I have to consider going up to 115% after I dropped it from 120% to 100%. Reaching for the Excedrin.
This is the output of my alternator(s), measured at the battery, with the system set for "flooded" and "120% Battery Target SOC". Measured last year when I was installing DC-DC converters.
This is a valuable data point, worth requoting, to emphasize the value of this observation.
And the observation is also worth testing again, under various conditions, under the current 100 setting, before reverting back up again to try the 115 setting.
Thanks for your contribution, and also for your kind words.
Installed the new batteries today, reset the BMS, and changes the battery type to AGM. I didn’t make any other changes to the charging profile like SOC and the like because I really have no factual basis to change them from the AGM profile defaults.
Bob
I posted my 2024 as-built values the other day in this thread if you want to compare SoC values to yours. My truck came with AGMs from the factory.
