Battery time

[craig333]

I just spent a couple of hours trying to find what's draining my trucks batteries. No more than 25 milliamps was all I found. I was surprised to find they're already six years old. Where does the time go? I swear I just replaced them a little bit ago So the question is, what brand of batteries are you happy with now?

 

[Vic Harder]

I have dual optima yellow tops in my Duramax. They are constantly self-draining. 3 years old, had them tested, and they are fine. Better than rated CCA. So, batteries are probably very good, constant drain isn't helping. That will hopefully get figured out this spring when I can work on it again... (too cold now).

 

[fish more]

Craig, check out the Duracell Batteries from Batteries Plus. I have been using them in the camper and the boat with great success. Their warranties are good also, no proration, free replacement if they go bad.

 

[craig333]

Yeah, those get pretty good reviews and they sell them at Sam's Club of which I'm a member. So I have new batteries in the truck. I even managed to avoid hurting my back during the install.

I even think I found the drain in the Jeep. Half an amp going to the radio even when its off. I hate that radio anyway. So I was looking at Ebay for a stock radio. Hey, that looks familiar. Checked the junk cabinet and sure enough I have one. I purchased one for the truck a long time ago because the truck one accepts cassettes. I wanted to upgrade to one that takes cd's. Never installed it. Seems Chrysler saved a few bucks by using the same radio in a lot of different vehicles. Tomorrows project.

 

[DavidGraves]

The engine battery for one of our Dodge trucks has always had a ghost drain....

The other day I visited my storage building. As I walked past that dodge, the intermittent windsheild wipers activated !!!

Talk about a big ghost !

 

[Vic Harder]

That's hilarious, and could have spooked me pretty good had I been walking by at the time, knowing full well that there was nobody in it... cool!

 

[pods8]

I usually look around for who has sales on agm of the size I need (or a larger one if it fits) and then check on the quality of those. Many are rebrands.

Current truck is stock battery still. My old truck had a napa legend agm in it (they'll have online sales periodically you can order for store pickup). Our expedition needed a replacement recently and I got one size up interstate agm from costco.

 

[DavidGraves]

That's hilarious, and could have spooked me pretty good had I been walking by at the time, knowing full well that there was nobody in it... cool!

Vic....the truck has been stored for a month...likely interval on the wiper was about once per hour or less...... ???? Tell me when you figure it out.

 

[nikonron]

You likely need to put your truck to sleep and remove the key fob from close proximity.

 

[Vic Harder]

I had not even thought about the fob. I suppose that could do it. Most of my vehicles have never had a fob like that.