Best batteries for our trucks

[Greenlee]

17 hours ago, Mopar1973Man said:

OEM batteries were 750 CCA for 2nd Gen. Being there is two batteries its actually 1,500 CCA.

 

The only one that is different is 1st Gen trucks with group 31 batteries and typically 1,200 CCA. 

That's with 2 batteries as well on the 1st Gen? My batteries were $268.00, found the receipt today. I have never owned any vehicle batteries that lasted more than 4 years, 3 years is probably more accurate. Must be more to it than the average person knows or deals with, I'm happy you can get such a long period. The 2 new batteries in my 12v are 4 months old and the set prior were brand new, had to put them in shortly after I bought it. On the new batteries one shorted out and the other had 1 or 2 bad cells(?), anyway in 3 years I have only put about 7K miles on this truck. It doesn't matter, I'm used to buying them every 3 or 4 years anyway.

[NIsaacs]

1st gen only has the one group 31.

[Mopar1973Man]

2 minutes ago, NIsaacs said:

1st gen only has the one group 31.

 

Correct. From 1994 Dodge started installed two batteries which were group 65's from that point on. 3rd Gen has a different battery.

[SteveOOO]

I have modified my battery boxes to hold HD-950CCA works great  -10 rolls that motor over good  

[Guest 04Mach1]

I've been visiting the University of Google researching battery technology since this thread started and have found information is biased according to what the person writing the information preferred personally... My curiosity is peaked on batteries now so I'm gonna keep looking for science backed facts to determine the best battery depending on application.

 

I know I've been noticing alot of newer RVs using AGM for the house batteries and with idle laws being enacted in various states class 8 trucks are utilizing AGM for auxiliary batteries. Most of the time starting batteries are still standard lead acid batteries in RVs and class 8 rigs. The lead acid batteries typically only last about 3 years at most in a class 8 rig.

 

The Optima yellow tops in the 01 are about 6 or 7 years old now and I'm curious about their state of health so I'll load testing them soon. I'll have to post up results.

[SteveOOO]

On ‎10‎/‎18‎/‎2018 at 11:44 PM, 04Mach1 said:

I know I've been noticing alot of newer RVs using AGM for the house batteries and with idle laws being enacted in various states class 8 trucks are utilizing AGM for auxiliary batteries. Most of the time starting batteries are still standard lead acid batteries in RVs and class 8 rigs. The lead acid batteries typically only last about 3 years at most in a class 8 rig.

 

The Optima yellow tops in the 01 are about 6 or 7 years old now and I'm curious about their state of health so I'll load testing them soon. I'll have to post up results.

You are correct, AGM Lead acid batters are the best bang for the dollar, I run 6 - 6volt golf cart batteries running my 30ft 5th wheel.... Correction if one doesn't drain there AGM bellow 20% you can get 5-8yrs out of them. my batteries never drain below 12.2V and that's after 5 days of use. Fully charged is 13.42V then recharge them with a 4stages charger. 

Edited October 21, 2018 by SteveOOO

[Mopar1973Man]

11 hours ago, SteveOOO said:

Correction if one doesn't drain there AGM bellow 20% you can get 5-8yrs out of them. my batteries never drain below 12.2V and that's after 5 days of use.

 

Bingo. Discharge rates have to be limited as well as charge rates to keep the venting under control with AGM batteries. Where a lead-acid has a much wider range of operation, handle larger loads for long times and discharge at quicker rates. Then lead acid can be charged much faster because moisture loss can be replenished. 

 

Your talking about a mere RV. I'm talking about a 3 bedroom, 2 bath 2 story house. Powered by a 4kw inverter for the last 20 or so years. Hydro and solar powered. 

 

Edited October 21, 2018 by Mopar1973Man

[JAG1]

One advantage I see with AGM's is there faster charge acceptance rate and it is my understanding that longer charge time with wet cells means they also have larger storage capacity. So I think AGM's have their place when its often difficult to give batteries a full topped off state of charge.

Edited October 21, 2018 by JAG1

[Guest 04Mach1]

51 minutes ago, JAG1 said:

One advantage I see with AGM's is there faster charge acceptance rate and it is my understanding that longer charge time with wet cells means they also have larger storage capacity. So I think AGM's have their place when its often difficult to give batteries a full topped off state of charge.

That's where I'm at for batteries also. It all depends on application.

 

I got 10 years out of the Walmart Maxx's in the 97 12 valve before they wouldn't spin the engine after a grid heater cycle. I went with the same batteries again when I replaced them in February of this year.

 

I've got 15 years on a AGM in the old Ford that is basically a trash hauler and snow beater that sees months of not running or even starting but still spins the engine very well with never being jump started or even charged by anything other than the Ford 70 amp alternator.

 

The 01 Cummins has always been the guinea pig so right after I bought the truck it had mis-matched batteries so I went over to Advance Auto Parts that had a good price for the Optima Yellow tops and I bought 2 of them for around $520.00 out the door about 7 years ago. They're still spinning the engine great even in frigid weather. Maybe it helps the engine starts very easily, most of the time a bump of the key starts it and never has had extended cranking on the batteries so they've never been drained down plus I've had LED headlights, dome lights, and Fog lights for about 4 of the years the yellow tops have been in the truck. The only real load puller is the grid heaters.

[Greenlee]

On 10/18/2018 at 4:43 PM, dripley said:

I am short tripping for now. 175 miles on Mondays and Fridays with short trips in between. When my jobs to far to drive home I see alot short tripping. That has not been the case for the past 3 years though. 

I see now that mine are prone to go out. Not enough drive time even though they seem to always spin the engine just fine. Like everyone is saying, it depends what you are using the batteries for. I always paid top dollar thinking the best one's are the most expensive but that has nothing to do with it. We have a 2015 Buick LaCrosse we bought with 7K on it, my wife drives the wheels off. I've always checked the batteries and fluids but 3 weeks 5 weeks ago at 56K the battery went out, no warning, just all stop. I don't know what I could have done differently to make it last longer. A lot to learn about batteries or at least a lot to learn for me. Great information.

[SteveOOO]

6 hours ago, Mopar1973Man said:

Solar is good solar is good! 24 - 30 batteries makes me smile.... Love off grid all day long... Thanks Mopar man! 

 

Bingo. Discharge rates have to be limited as well as charge rates to keep the venting under control with AGM batteries. Where a lead-acid has a much wider range of operation, handle larger loads for long times and discharge at quicker rates. Then lead acid can be charged much faster because moisture loss can be replenished. 

 

Your talking about a mere RV. I'm talking about a 3 bedroom, 2 bath 2 story house. Powered by a 4kw inverter for the last 20 or so years. Hydro and solar powered. 

 

 

Edited October 21, 2018 by SteveOOO

[Royal Squire]

My dodge had agm batteries when I bought it. Because they are pricey I probably never would have purchased them since 2 are required, however, it sure is nice that the tops and terminals are always clean!

[Mopar1973Man]

16 hours ago, Royal Squire said:

however, it sure is nice that the tops and terminals are always clean!

 

Never had a corroded terminal to this day. None of my batteries have ever needed the terminals cleaned. I've never changed or repaired a battery cable. I'm one of the Dodge Cummins owners with OEM battery cable in perfect condition. Don't need the high price AGM for clean terminals and battery tops. These battery cables are 16 years old still look awesome!

 

 

 

 

These cables are over 20 years old and never been cleaned either. Lead acid deep cycle batteries...

Edited October 22, 2018 by Mopar1973Man

[Marcus2000monster]

I don’t have any issues either since I first cleaned them and oiled them. 

[Mopar1973Man]

3 minutes ago, Marcus2000monster said:

I don’t have any issues either since I first cleaned them and oiled them. 

 

Bingo... 

 

What is the only material that sulphuric acid cannot eat? Plastic and glass. What is plastic made from? Oil. So if you keep even a light coating of engine oil on your terminals they will never corrode. As you can see from my pictures it doesn't take much. Lot better that globs of grease or the spray red terminal junk that stains your clothing and PITA to wash off you. 

Edited October 22, 2018 by Mopar1973Man

[Marcus2000monster]

Just now, Mopar1973Man said:

 

Bingo... 

 

What is the only material that sulphuric acid cannot eat? Plastic and glass. What is plastic made from? Oil. So if you keep even a light coating of engine oil on your terminals they will never corrode. As you can see from my pictures it doesn't take much. Lot better that globs of grease or the spray red terminal junk that stains your clothing and PITA to wash off you. 

Yep I learned the trick from you and it worked! Not only that but I used a couple squirts of WD-40!  Now I just got to move my Fass power wire to the PDC. 

[Mopar1973Man]

4 minutes ago, Marcus2000monster said:

I used a couple squirts of WD-40!

 

I've been known to use PB Blaster silicone spray. 

[JAG1]

1 hour ago, Marcus2000monster said:

Yep I learned the trick from you and it worked! Not only that but I used a couple squirts of WD-40!  Now I just got to move my Fass power wire to the PDC. 

I do not know a lot about this, but I believe leaving the lift pump hooked to the battery is a little better because W-T says our lift pump motors also toss a lot of ac noise into the system. Now we talked a lot about this stuff over the phone, but never talked about this specific connection, only how the lift pump motor housing should be grounded etc.

 

On edit; I'm wondering also if a failing L/P motor can place undo load on the PDC in any way. We just saw a thread about a burnt PDC

Edited October 22, 2018 by JAG1

[Mopar1973Man]

32 minutes ago, JAG1 said:

On edit; I'm wondering also if a failing L/P motor can place undo load on the PDC in any way. We just saw a thread about a burnt PDC??

 

No. Because the lift pump is not hooked up to the ECM for power supply this is only going to happen with DDRP pumps. The current load is at the PDC power stud.

 

Just with the ground wire mod and what I can measure for AC noise its so low now it's not even a worry to me. For W-T he's a ham radio operator so the RF noise he's chasing makes a difference in radio performance. He does have a wod for the pump motor to filter that out if it that big of a problem but 99% f us are just daily driver and not using Ham Radios while we drive. 

[JAG1]

Thanks for taking the moment to explain that.

 

Your oil trick on the battery terminals works great for me too. I was always cleaning those things about twice a year or more.