Replacement batteries for cars & trucks

My pickup battery is warning me that it is about to retire. It tested at about 200 CCA on the tester and is rated for 700 CCA and the starter turns noticeably slower. It is about 6 or 7 years old so it has to go. I am wondering if anyone thinks the Optima batteries are worth the extra cost or not. I think they are AGM but do they last longer than the others? Are they worth the extra money? The truck is driven a few days a week and gets about 5,000 miles a year. I am leaning towards the cheaper lead acid at about half the price of the Optima.

The local auto parts store here has seconds, I've been buying them as they are half the cost. No trouble yet. Last one had a tab cracked off that I wouldn't be using anyway.

Depends on the cost. The "Gelled" batteries usually don't leak, and never need to be Toped-off. They handle deeper-cycle draws/drains than lead acid, without damage. They are pricey.
Three cheap Walmart LA batteries, or one good quality AGM battery. Decisions, decisions..... Also, you should use a AGM-capable charger if you ever need to charge one.
I'd love to have an Optima in everything I own, I like them. But I usually go the cheap route, and get walmart.

I'd just buy a new regular battery. However I'd also make sure it was manufactured by Johnson Controls. Optima is one of their brands and they do a lot of private label battery manufacturing. Whatever brand you are considering go out of your way to select the Johnson Controls one. I've had very good luck with them. Do a search on the opinion of others, some claim all batteries made by Johnson are the same, just a different label and warranty.

Their major private label brands are:

Advance Auto Parts
Les Schwab Tires
AutoZone Murray’s
Discount Auto
ATU
Pep Boys
Blain’s Farm & Fleet
Sam’s Club
Bosch
Sears
Carrefour
Walmart
Costco
Walmart Canada
Feu Vert
Interstate Battery System of America

In trying to find a list of battery brands manufactured by Johnson I came across this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstate_Batteries

I'll leave the comments to others, I've never come across anything like it.

My father used to buy Pep boys batteries for his vehicles. They were noticeably smaller for rated capacity than the ones he took out. Problem with them was they always died just out of warranty. Had that happen 3 times so that was the end of buying batteries from them. Anymore, i just go to Autozone or Advance auto. I do remember having a great Interstate battery years ago, had that in a few vehicles. If you do go buy one, they have date codes stamped into the case, so get the newest you can find.

Johnson controls makes batteries for everybody
So does Varta and one other that coffee will not recover this morning

Point is there are only three major battery producers left and EVERYBODY buys some part number or another from one or a combination of each --- so it makes no difference what the brand label says and you will not know where the origin of manufacture is.

Warranty -- its prorated so deep that once your past the free replacement, well just forget it.

Thanks for the input from everyone. I was at Wal-Mart tonight and they sell one from Exide for $80, 36 month free replacement 9 year pro-rated warranty. I am going to get this one when I can get the old one out to take in to cover the recycling fee. I hope by next weekend. The last time I noticed a week battery and said I have to soon replace it, it eventually let me sit, in the driveway, lucky for me.

Nobody and nothing I have read justifies spending the extra cash for an AGM battery for automotive use or at least my application.

Yanche; I have never heard that before, news to me too. That would not influence my decision one way or the other.

Sting; there is a big battery manufacturer near Allentown, PA called East Penn Manufacturing Co., Inc. Most or all of their batteries are sold under the Deka name. I thought Exide is or was a manufacturer.

Optima are the best for the buck IMO. Johnson controls (interstate) bought optima when I was still a interstate dealer. We put a red top optima in our monster truck, upside down, in the back right in front of the rear bumper. we needed a bit more weight. it went thru things it wasnt designed for. the serious deep cycle marine bad boys went in my boats and they never failed to perform .

you can take an optima and throw it in a snow bank for 2 years, pick it up charge it and use it like it was new. i think there great. havnt bought one in several years so I guess they are still made the same with the spiral wound technology.

rolls batteries are also fantastic for battery bank building. 2 volts at a time.....

i would not buy an optima battery......if you do not use the vehicle often, they fail......plus they cost alot.......i have been buying new out of date batteries from autozone lately for my personal vehicles for 25-35 bucks....so far so good lol

My 1997 Ford Van has a Motocraft battery. It is the original one!

My Dad used to say "When buying a battery take a pair of scales with you. Weigh each one, the heavier, the better, period". That is probably still true today.

lincolnmania wrote:i would not buy an optima battery......if you do not use the vehicle often, they fail.

ANY lead acid battery wants to live it's life in a charged state. If you let them get low and they stay that way, they will die a faster death. The only reason common car batteries last at all is because they are immediately charged each time they are used. The Optima... I think they are great, but, a bit too much money for normal automotive use. If you are going to pound and vibrate a lot, they are the one to have.

Hey, Freddy I just changed the battery in my 97 Explorer in the spring of 09. Never had a battery go more than 6yrs before. The Explorer is my extra and I don't drive it much. My pickup gets used every day and I have to put (2) batteries in it every 5-6 yrs.

lincolnmania wrote:i would not buy an optima battery......if you do not use the vehicle often, they fail......plus they cost alot.......i have been buying new out of date batteries from autozone lately for my personal vehicles for 25-35 bucks....so far so good lol

I left a 22 ft boat in my front yard for two years one time with optimas and was amazed when i uncovered it and it fired right up. as well i left one in a 85 ramcharger over a year it too fired right up. this was 5-7 years ago. have they started short -sheeting like many companies??

lincolnmania wrote:i would not buy an optima battery......if you do not use the vehicle often, they fail......plus they cost alot.......i have been buying new out of date batteries from autozone lately for my personal vehicles for 25-35 bucks....so far so good lol

Optima Battery warranties -- the ones that are justified are rare. Like anything, yes sometimes you get one. A very vey hi percentage of Optimas are warrantied due to misunderstanding. When one does finally succumb to user abuse and the voltage is low - well it didn't take and hour to draw it down and it will take more than an hour on a trickle charger to bring it back. Most users draw an Optima below 12.4 volts and think they can simply drive the vehicle and recharge the battery.

FALSE - The car charging system will not recharge an Optima

When an Optima is drawn below 12.2 volts it may take days to recharge on the bench connected to an amp source that will not overheat it.

Once I learned this - I began to buy the dead trade ins from the core pile - charge them for days - My first pair powered a diesel tractor for two years before further service was needed - You won't get that from a traditional lead acid dead battery core.


But for all that -- at three times the cost - unless you need that sort of service - I wouldn't buy one.

gaw wrote:
Sting; there is a big battery manufacturer near Allentown, PA called East Penn Manufacturing Co., Inc. Most or all of their batteries are sold under the Deka name. I thought Exide is or was a manufacturer.

yep -- that's the third -- I also am a big fan of used batteries - most again, as above - are simply returned because the owner didn't recharge correctly.

If you take care of an Optima, they are virtually indestructible. 12.6 is MAX voltage for these ... rather than the normal 12.8V. Most people don't even check voltage........ & the ones that do will assume that is low & throw it on a 20A charger for too long & shorten it's life quite a bit. You also shouldn't charge over 14 volts for any length of time with those, if you want long life. Same goes for gel batteries.

I use gel batteries in my kick start motorcycles -- I wish I could find one big enough for automotive use ... although I haven't looked for one. Gel batteries can be neglected for years & still hold a charge. I have one in a push mower that's over 5 years old .... still has 12.2V & I haven't charged it for 2 years! I put a gel batt. in my RD ..... one less thing to worry about.

I have a 4 stage charger that works great for maximizing battery life. The temperature sensor is the key.

just personal experience i guess.........i've had three newer optimas in customers cars go bad in the past couple years