Deep cycle batteries...I'm pissed!!!!!

[Iowa 409 Guy]

Lots of long trips with the car trailer. My SUV is set up to charge the battery in the trailer. I'm sure if the trailer battery is low that the SUV battery is being overcharged, but it's not happening for a long period of time, so won't hurt anything.

If I recall correctly even a 2 amp charger will overcharge a battery if left on for long periods. Seems like after a while on a motorcycle battery the battery was hot.

Those battery tenders work great. I'm just to cheap to buy several so I move one around. Just don't put one on a discharged battery......the end.

 

[DonSSDD]

From what I read about batteries, it’s hit or miss to get a good one in recent years.

I bought a Kirkland battery in 2003, used it it the el Camino, then the 62, now in the 63. Never owned a battery tender. I charged it up in the spring, keep it full of distilled water, can leave the 409 sitting for a month or more and after a fair amount of cranking (due to gas evaporated in the AFB), it starts every time. Had a boat since 2003 as well, never had a battery failure. My battery charger has a Auto setting and I only ever leave it on for a day or so when charging anything.

I’ve had several of those crappy snowblower and ride on mower batteries fail though.

 

[boxerdog]

used a Optima yellow top deep cycle battery from 2008 in the Motor Home coach to run the water system , interior lights ,and start the generator until this year. Replaced with a Optima blue top deep cycle & starting battery. We'll see how long this one lasts. I always disconnect the ground cable when setting and not using.

I am with Dave on this. I use 2 yellow-top Optimas and a built-in Battery Tender, but the most important addition I made was a disconnect switch. So when I put it away, it gets disconnected and the BT plugged in. This is for the "coach" batteries. I also pull the ground off of the vehicle battery, which is a Motorcraft I think.

 

[rstreet]

From what I read about batteries, it’s hit or miss to get a good one in recent years.

I bought a Kirkland battery in 2003, used it it the el Camino, then the 62, now in the 63. Never owned a battery tender. I charged it up in the spring, keep it full of distilled water, can leave the 409 sitting for a month or more and after a fair amount of cranking (due to gas evaporated in the AFB), it starts every time. Had a boat since 2003 as well, never had a battery failure. My battery charger has a Auto setting and I only ever leave it on for a day or so when charging anything.

I’ve had several of those crappy snowblower and ride on mower batteries fail though.

my luck somewhat parallels yours Don as I will lose plenty of those smaller tractor batteries. I wouldn’t know which end of a snowmobile to jump on! I attribute my luck overall to using Granite Digital maintainers.
Robert

 

[Clint]

Last summer, Candy & I were in central Texas for Hayden's birthday. We had an extra day so drove down to San Antonio to look at new toy haulers. Sure enough, we found one we liked....brand new and brought it home. This was June 2018.

Fast forward to yesterday....tried to raise the front end of the gooseneck so I could drive the dually under it to take it in get winterized and nothing happened!!! Called dealership, and they said maybe the batteries need to be charged. Took both in today and found out that neither one will hold a charge!! WTF!!!!!! These are AC Delco batteries.

For all you campers....is this normal???? Buying new batteries every year or two???
Is there a preferred brand that is better than others??? I left the power cord plugged in all summer when it was parked here at the house.

Is this normal???????

Hell a Harley battery lasts longer than that.

 

[Iowa 409 Guy]

I wonder how old Phil's battery really is?

Barry, are batteries in these outfits like the tires, sometimes not up to date??

 

[skipxt4]

I know WalMart's car batteries, are pre-charged, and sit on the shelf getting older, till someone buys one.

 

[boxerdog]

I know WalMart's car batteries, are pre-charged, and sit on the shelf getting older, till someone buys one.

You know it's funny but I have a Wally battery in my '61 and 2 in my Dmax and they have lasted forever. Of course, they are jinxed now and will croak the first time it gets cold. I think I looked them up at the time as far as who makes them and which ones were best.

 

[Barry Taylor]

Dave, RV manufactures of trailers never ship them with batteries. The transport people have to put a battery on the trailer just for transport so the brake away switches will work. “DOT” Then the dealer just puts on a cheap ass battery that maybe gets it past the trailer warranty. FYI No tires on towable RVs shipped are balanced. Probably true for car trailers. Motor homes were the exception for the batteries and tires. Not sure because we were towable only. I did tell my customers that they were responsible for tire ballancing. I didn’t mention the cheap Interstate battery.

 

[skipxt4]

You know it's funny but I have a Wally battery in my '61 and 2 in my Dmax and they have lasted forever. Of course, they are jinxed now and will croak the first time it gets cold. I think I looked them up at the time as far as who makes them and which ones were best.

I have too, Dave. Car batteries. A couple years ago, I put a EVERSTART MAXX, in my bike. Took it out in Oct. and brought it into the house. Put it back in, in April. Was discharged, and wouldn't charge much over 11 volts. WalMart would only knock $ 10.00 off, on a new $56.00 battery.

 

[rstreet]

Some of our discussion focused on battery warranty. A friend of mine owns parts/battery stores and one of the big 4D deep cycle batteries he sells manufactured by a reputable battery company is warranted for 6 months. I swear I heard him correctly.
Robert

 

[Jim Sullivan]

I bought a battery for my 4 wheeler a couple years ago, it had a 12 month warranty. It went bad this summer. Bought another one it only has a 6 month warranty.

 

[IMBVSUR?]

Keep in mind that on some batteries, when they get real low or dead, they will not take a charge with conventional chargers. That doesn't mean they are actually bad. Some times you have to trick the battery into taking a charge. Some chargers will do this on their own like the Deltran we used at Harley. What I would do in those cases to make sure was hook up a 12 volt car brake light bulb to the battery to pull a charge. Then hook up a slow charge battery charger. When others were throwing away so called bad batteries at Harley, I could get them to charge and work and take a load test. Harley even came out with a bulletin stating this because they had a rash of batteries being replaced under warranty. However I believe most of the those were the glass matt batteries. Of course then there are the batteries that are just bad anyway. Or the batteries that have sat around on shelves for extended periods of time and then sold to customers or put in vehicles or trailers regardless of manufacture dates. Then of course most people don't check to see if there is a draw on the system ( milliamp draw test ) or determine what draw is normal for their vehicle etc. like memory in radios, clocks, and other accessories that will draw a certain amount normally.

 

[409gang]

I use to do a similar thing with dead batteries that wouldn't take a charge, I would parallel another good battery to the dead one with jumper cables and put the charger on. After awhile you could disconnect the good battery and leave the charger on the dead one. For some reason sometimes a dead battery wont take a charge without exciting it with another battery.

 

[64ss409]

I have a couple "automatic" battery chargers that will not charge a really dead battery unless helped with another battery as already mentioned. I also have a Century 10 amp "manual" charger that will charge a completely dead battery. It also works great to power trailer brakes or light circuits to find open/shorts, etc.