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Best Battery

Who's going to be the first to try a lithium car battery, for $1000+, that weighs maybe 15 pounds?

You mean one of those Braille batteries? I didn't think they were that expensive!
 



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I was just joking, poking the bear. There are many brands, and another popped up when I searched yesterday. They have a limited amperage charge capacity, 60 amps is typical, and that's too low for a car. They aren't practical right now, but they have lots of promise.

The LeFe I think it is, are the closest to a possibility, but you'd have to run about three in parallel to get the capacity to work with a car alternator. At $250ish and up, that's still way too much right now. But they do only weigh about four pounds apiece.
 






You mean one of those Braille batteries? I didn't think they were that expensive!

I don't know what battery Don was thinking of but for a group 34 Braille Lithium, how does MSRP $2466.45 sound? :eek: You could buy every battery your local parts store has on the shelf for that. Come to think of it, I bet that's more than most of us paid for our explorers!

18.9lbs


i34.gif


Braille Battery USA &nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp Lighter • Stronger • Faster -

1 year warranty. But only if you register with them in 30 days of purchase. If it does go bad, you pay for shipping and then your only allowed a maximum of ONE warranty claim.

Braille Battery USA &nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp Lighter • Stronger • Faster -
 






Here's the one I had in my Amazon wish list, to another site. It's among the better brands, for features etc, but due to the 60amp charge limit, it would take about three to be able to survive, and that would be enough to start a car. The sizes are small, using three together could be done, but as said the lifespan is unknown, untested for anything but small motorsports engines.
EarthX Lithium Batteries for Watercraft
 






Speak of the devil...my Kirkland battery (bought 11/2012, Mfg date 11/2012) died a few days ago. I replaced my Duralast Gold alternator a few months ago because it was acting flaky (while running, lights and gages would flicker), and I have to wonder if that did some damage to the battery. I went to Thailand on Dec. 10, returned on Dec. 21, drove the Explorer around town Dec 22-25 without issue, had a slow first crank/start on Dec. 26, and it dropped dead Dec. 27.

What I like about Costco is that they don't even have the equipment to test batteries, so there's no "we gotta put it on the tester" baloney. I got a replacement battery (Interstate, Mfg 12/2017) at Costco for $60 after tax and warranty credit for 40% of the price of the battery I brought in.
 






Home depot sells Exide brand batteries. I had one last 10 years they are US made.
 






Home depot sells Exide brand batteries. I had one last 10 years they are US made.

I didn't know they sold batteries. My local Menards sells Exide. Slightly cheaper than the local Home Depot.
 






Who wants to try this odd new brand? https://www.amazon.com/dp/B075R6QHVF/_encoding=UTF8?coliid=I3PSFDTNJYJH5A&colid=246RRPWYWS26&psc=0
It's a small 11x7x7" battery weighing under 15lbs, 65Ah rated. They make various sizes with similar cost per weight, up over 20lbs(but too long).

They've got many various sizes, none of which seem to be made to bolt down in stock applications. But the promise of longer life, lower weight, and supposedly less cost in the end, it's a good step, if they work out in normal applications. I'm waiting for something like this that seems to be believable to survive, for well over five years.
 






They don't last longer in real world usage. I suspect you'd be lucky to break two years. I've got smaller LiFe battery like that in the jogging stroller. It's got plenty of power to start a motorcycle (the original reason I bought it) but they're finicky on recharging and don't like being left unused for long periods. As I recall there's also some weird voodoo about how the amp hour capacity is rated and it's not really a direct correlation to the same rating on a traditional battery.
 






Ditto, yes, but the real issue I learned is they have hard limits on charging current, and with little resistance, they pull the maximum amps the alternator can make(as I read it). So only relatively larger LiFePo4 batteries might survive in modern vehicles. That odd new brand I linked to, has no information about their battery management systems, or the current max limit. I'd bet they are counting on real world testing by consumers, outside of their country. I'm not ready to be their guinea pig.
 






Well shoot...just noticed that my new costco battery doesn't have the same warranty as the old one:

Old Kirkland brand battery: 36 mo 100% replacement, then the following 64 months are pro-rated, for a total warranty period of 100 mo

New Interstate brand battery: 42 mo 100% replacement, the end.
 






Well shoot...just noticed that my new costco battery doesn't have the same warranty as the old one:

Old Kirkland brand battery: 36 mo 100% replacement, then the following 64 months are pro-rated, for a total warranty period of 100 mo

New Interstate brand battery: 42 mo 100% replacement, the end.

Does any brand warranty a battery for the next owner, not the original buyer? My new 92 Lincoln has an Interstate battery in it, and I haven't checked its age yet.
 












Does any brand warranty a battery for the next owner, not the original buyer? My new 92 Lincoln has an Interstate battery in it, and I haven't checked its age yet.

Possibly. Most warranties state "original purchaser," but my experience has been that customer service reps don't ask that question. They just check the manufacturing date, and if you're in-warranty they'll usually take care of it.

Costco is even better in this case. YMMV, but I got my Explorer used with Kirkland-brand tires. Costco had my entire purchase history as a member, so they knew that I probably wasn't the original retail purchaser. They still did free balance/rotations, though, and they honored the pro-rated warranty when I had a tire go flat.

My advice would be to give it a shot, and maybe mumble an answer if they ask if you're the original purchaser!
 






Thanks, that's what I thought I might do. This Lincoln I bought was not driven much(52k miles), and the electrical systems are the most fragile.They often eat batteries when not driven a lot. So the battery is kind of suspect to me, like the stock plug wires and all hoses etc.

I like that AGM Duracell battery too, I have the Sears version of it, and they were all made by a higher end brand. Sears wants to replace them with their Gold, which is not an AGM battery(I have one of those also).
 






Case "appears" identical. Specs slightly different with same 3 year replacement warranty.

Both made by East Penn/Deka, I think...
 












Was it the Odyssey brand who makes those?

Odyssey was manufacturing the Diehard Platinum, but I thought it changed for some reason
ummm.gif
 






That was the AGM battery they made for a short time. I don't know who makes the Duracell version, just a guess.
 



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I had a Battery Tender brand battery in an outdoor turnstile machine which is rechargeable. The output was always weak under a load compared to a lead acid battery which it replaced. I've been having issues with it not holding a charge all winter. It had to be recharged every week. Now I have a Harbor Freight 35 amp per hour AGM battery in the machine. So far it's been working in 10* F to 20* F weather for the past 2 days on the original charge.
 






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