Stock battery is dragging after only 11 years

[Beaux Duke]

All this talk about batteries got me in maintenance mode. After checking all my vehicles I discovered my wife's 2007 has the OEM Chrysler battery. (I can't rely on my memory any more. I have to go look.)

I sold Interstate for a while when I was running a service station and attending college and I'll admit they had a good product. Their name just never pops into my head now when I think about a battery so I'll have to give them a look see.

Back in my glory days a battery lasted about 3 years and cost about $36 so a buck a month wasn't too bad. With the red tops running $150 and up I'd like to see a 10 year service life.

When I get good service I like to stick with what works but being semi retired now means price is a consideration. Since the Kubota worked well I want to give it some consideration.

Thanks for all the comments. I'll be thinking on this for a while or at least as long as the weather stays warm and the tractor keeps starting

 

[zmansmac]

My original Kubota battery lasted 11 years also. Sounds like a trend average. I replaced it with one from TSC, don't recall the brand. But the terminals were opposite the original and so I had to do a little rerouting of the positive cable to make it work. The negative side had enough slack though.

 

[dstig1]

I sold my old tractor to a friend from work a couple years back. I think it was a 2007 (L3130), but it is hard to know the year on a tractor... I bought it used, but pretty sure it had the OEM battery in it. He had to replace it this past fall as it would not hold a charge. So 8-9 yrs. It does appear they are lasting longer in the tractors around TBN, but probably just due to the intermittent use most SCUT/CUT tractors get.

 

[CurlyDave]

I have always looked at batteries as a dollars per year issue. For personal use, I have had good cost effectiveness from buying the top of the line ones from what used to be Kragen and is now O'Reilly auto parts. That is what is in my John Deere right now, and has been for the past 5 years or so.

Of course, if it goes bad, I can usually walk home and go get another one.

The two exceptions are my wife's car and my hunting rig, where I put a big value on reliability. I am a crusty old fart and if my car breaks down by the side of the road I can wait for help, but I don't want DW to have that happen. And I take the hunting rig places where walking home might take a few days. Interstate there.

 

[Garandman]

I have Optima Red Top in two cars. Put one in my WRX because it is 12 lbs lighter than OEM.

They are AGM batteries. If weight is not a factor I've found Odyssey AGM to be more robust. They are also sold as Sears DieHard Platinum. Expensive, worth it for us.
ODYSSEY battery - Performance Batteries

We buy AGM replacements almost exclusively. But you don't have to worry about cold cranking.

 

[wpabx2230]

I had to replace the battery in my BX2230 last week. Next month would have been 12 years. It was a Deka. I replaced it with the same battery.
I would be amazed if I get 12 years out of this one.

 

[ultrarunner]

Deka is not a name I'm familiar with in California...

 

[number two]

Deka/East Penn:most NAPA batteries,Parts Plus,Carquest Group 31 and larger.
Decent product.

 

[mjym]

hi i ha a 2005 bx1830 with 560hr and still have the same battery i check it with a tester and it still test full every monts i put a battery charger and when my battery will be dead i wil put the same kind of battery that kubota have

 

[newbury]

With twelve machines that take batteries... I'll keep buying the Wallyworld Everstarts and plan on replacements. I finally bought a battery tester and the first instance of trouble & they test as weak .... they're gone as a core charge.

hi i ha a 2005 bx1830 with 560hr and still have the same battery i check it with a tester and it still test full every monts i put a battery charger and when my battery will be dead i wil put the same kind of battery that kubota have

What do you guys use a a battery tester? I'm getting enough older vehicles that I'd like a decent tester.

 

[David_Kb7uns]

Have an older GM version of the Midtronics Micro 400 series battery conductance analyzer and find it predicting the overall condition of a battery. It once gave a good indication of a deep cycle battery I had on the dump trailer, but the carbon pile load tester also gave a good indication and the battery was found to have a bad cell when the specific gravity was taken of each cell. So sometimes the testers do not always work but most of the time they do.

David

 

[David_Kb7uns]

Have an older GM version of the Midtronics Micro 400 series battery conductance analyzer and find it predicting the overall condition of a battery. It once gave a good indication of a deep cycle battery I had on the dump trailer, but the carbon pile load tester also gave a good indication and the battery was found to have a bad cell when the specific gravity was taken of each cell. So sometimes the testers do not always work but most of the time they do.

David

 

[ultrarunner]

I bought mine about 35 years ago... was tired of guessing on batteries.

If I had a battery that wouldn't crank... I put it on the charger and then load test it with the tester.... basically pass or fail.

 

[TomSeller]

I had an OEM in a Ford last 15 years

 

[newbury]

I bought mine about 35 years ago... was tired of guessing on batteries.

If I had a battery that wouldn't crank... I put it on the charger and then load test it with the tester.... basically pass or fail.

What tester?

 

[ultrarunner]

It's a Silver Beauty 8556 150/300 amp battery load and regulator/alternator tester.

 

[Toolguy]

I just replaced the battery in my 2005 B3030. It would still start the engine but it wasn't cranking like it used too. I tested it with an electronic tester that said it was only 200 CCA when it is rated at 370. I put in a new Interstate conventional rated at 500 CCA. It starts like new again, now. 10 years is good service for a battery. Not that unusual, though. I have had others last that long. Most batteries I have had lasted about 5-7 years.

 

[mjym]

6&12 volt battery load tester

 

[Garandman]

Deka/East Penn:most NAPA batteries,Parts Plus,Carquest Group 31 and larger.
Decent product.

Deka is also the OEM for Harley, which seems to count, here. After scouting the options I bought an HD/Deka battery for my bike. They also have AGM models. High quality.

East Penn Manufacturing | Transportation batteries

 

[Beaux Duke]

It was 27 last night (probably "balmy" for some of you guys) and I went out this morning to see if leaving the OEM Nippon Denso on a charger for a few days had helped. Nope, it took a long time before the glow plug light went out and it only turned over once or twice real slow. I pulled it out and checked each cell with my ultra cheapo "floating ball" checker. 2 cells had none, 3 had two and 1 was still good. I was headed out the door to go buy a new battery when I walked past my sprayer. Staring at me was the old Optima 38 that I had bought in '05 and had replaced in late '13. I decided to see how it would fit. Turned out it was a lot smaller but the CCA rating was about 700 or 800 if I remember correctly (obviously not). I hooked it up and hopped up in the seat, turned the key and was happy to discover it had plenty of power to fire it up.
So for now my problem is solved till spring when I'll need to use my sprayer again.

Tonight I scoured the 'net and discovered that an Optima 34R has almost the same dimensions as the OEM battery. I also discovered that "R" indicates the posts are reversed meaning the positive is on the left side of a regular "34" and on the right of a "34R". I'm sure most of you guys already knew that but I'm tossing that out for the benefit of anyone following up later.

So now that I've bought some time, my next decision is whether to buy locally or online. I can save significant $$ from Amazon but there were a lot of reviews where people weren't able to get Amazon to warrant a bad battery. Apparently Amazon says take it to a local distributor and Optima says take it back to where you bought it.

Nothing's ever simple.