I have been working on vehicles for almost 40 years now, since I was a kid working with my dad in the garage. I have seen a LOT of things. I have NEVER seen a battery last longer than 7 years without living its life on a charger, and even then I think the longest I ever saw was another year or so. So if you have gotten 10-11 years, you must be driving all day, every day, with very few stop/starts (which is where batteries really see their drain). For a NORMAL person, I would see an average of 5-6 years on a battery. On today's newer vehicles, 3-4 years seems to have become the new normal, which makes sense if you look at all the modules and components with 'Keep Alive Memory' (KAM) in them, which are all basically parasitic draws that are built in to the vehicle from new.

 

I drive around 3-5k miles a yr. The truck can sit up to a month without being touched, My drives are extremely short. I go a few blocks to the smoke shop to get my cigarette supplies, gas station, neighborhood walmart, or to take my youngest daughter to 5 below. Everything is within 2-3 minutes from me. I also have a stereo system that puts a big load on the charging system.

Lately I have been going out to my buddies to work on my project truck but is not normal use. A trip to his place is 30 minutes one way. Normally I will only go out to see him once every few months. He's 18-ish miles one way. If I happen to take my truck to my moms or my middle sons house, they are only 6-8 miles away roughly. Approx 12-15 minutes from my son and 15-20 from my moms. Right now I only drive my truck once a week but I have been trying a victron maintainer for the past yr roughly but haven't been using it much recently. Also to note, my aftermarket alarm system has a parasitic draw on the system as it's always monitoring and talking to the systems 2 way remote... and I always have a phone charger plugged in as well. Probably not a big draw but a draw none the less.

My truck never gets plugged in for the winter...talking about block heater. Prior to the past yr. I was taking and or picking the kids up from school across town and would sit with the truck off and listen to music for up to an hr.
The X2's in my truck are the second set of batteries since 2010-2011. I'll have to find the receipt but I think I got these X2's in 2022.

I got 9 yrs on my semi too, 4x Group 31 Enersys Die hard Platinums as well. 2014-2023. Just for the record, none of these batteries failed; they just showed signs of weakness and i replaced them to be safe. My semi batteries didn't live a proper life either and didn't sit idling. The truck did run long days when I worked but always shut off when sitting or waiting to load/ unload, shut down for the day, etc. Truck also sat unused for extended periods. Bunk heater ran for many hours during cold nights with truck off. Only time my truck idled was when it was below 20 during the winters.

I've never used a maintainer until about a yr ago and I only use it on my pickup and on my RZR. Thought i'd see what all the fuss is about and see if I notice any benefits. Not sure why you aren't having the greatest luck with your batteries and wondering if your maintainer is actually doing more harm than good for whatever reason

 

NO ONE around here gets that kind of time out of their batteries, driving like that. Short drives, stop and go, and everything you describe, are battery KILLERS. So either you are incredibly lucky, or you live where it is warm 100% of the time, or you're flat out lying. Like...what you're describing just doesn't happen.

 

That's exceptional because here in the Texas heat, they usually don't make it much past two years.

It's more than likely over charging the batteries. Almost every 6.7 I've hooked Forscan to, it shows the batteries being charged to 120%. This is often what causes the passenger side battery to boil over.

Also if you switch to AGM on a 6.7, you have to tell the PCM what type of batteries it's charging. If you just slap AGMs in, yes it'll work but they won't last as long as they should.

 

Let me get back to you on this...I have no reason to lie, I can only tell you that i've only bought 2 sets of batteries(Enersys rebranded Odyssey Extreme AGM's) for this truck since buying it in 2008.

I've been trying to reply without writing a book. There are many variables that have changed through the yrs as far as use goes, but truck rarely sees any long drives besides the past month or 2 and i've been using a maintainer for the most part, the past yr.

I'm starting to think 5-6-7 yrs for a non Enersys AGM can be expected and 8-10+ for the Enersys AGM's. So I guess, he's not too far off and is doing okay-ish

 

Sorry to have cluttered your thread and slightly derailed it.
I'm guessing you are using FLA's since you mentioned leaking. I'm not sure who is currently making the batteries for die hard, especially since autozone bought them out. It's possible they use 2 different sources as the walmart everstarts do. Have you considered AGM's?

sorry to come back around to this. I am not sure which manufacturer made your particular battery. I know there are only 3 manufacturers anymore and 2 of them probably have different tiers that get rebranded. I believe moderator Y2K has more specifics on all of it.

I personally only use Enersys rebranded Odyssey Extreme batteries. I would also entertain East Penn/ Deka but have heard hit or miss on how they last. If you haven't ever used an Enersys AGM, I would recommend to try them. As I mentioned, I use the Batteries Plus X2 branded Enersys now, since the old die hards are no longer and before sears closed, they switched to East Penn/ Deka. They cost more, but i think they are worth it.



I think I skimmed through this initially.
It sounds like you are mainly talking about FLA batteries. It also sounds like when i go out to my buddies. He has been his own mechanic since i'v known him. Most everything he works on needs batteries and or tires. Tires are rotted, don't hold air, etc. He works on tractors as well and they definitely always have bad batteries and tires.

I am not sure what types of batteries are used in newer vehicles. I think we have had good success with ours. My middle son not so much
Wife always gets the newer/ new vehicles. We had an 04 Audi A8L, they told the wife it needed a new battery; I believe the original lasted 6-7 yrs of us owning it and can't recall what yr we got it. In 2014/2015 we traded in the Audi due to costly issues and got her a brand new 2015 GMC Acadia. We traded the Acadia in in 2021(IIRC) for her current 2022 Honda Pilot Trailsport. the GMC never had the battery replaced nor had issues. Too early to tell on the Honda but so far so good.

Middle son bought himself a 2022 Subaru WRX in early 2022, he had to replace his battery last yr. Something kept killing the battery and it ended up failing.

Also, to answer one of your latest questions...I live in Colorado. I'm not sure how much location actually plays a role in battery life... probably another debatable topic, IDK. I definitely don't live where it's always warm, but some will say those states have shorter battery life expectancies. I'll leave it there, so i don't start a debate