karl ruiter

I have lost their bus. card, but my iphone finds them as follows: Selco Battery. 2220 East Foothill. 626.578.9096.

I think that the lead plates and plastic housings in batteries are pretty much all the same (except optima) so it comes down to questions like: How well are the plates cleaned and prep'd, and how well is the acid solution mixed and prep'd. Perhaps it matters how fresh the solution is, or something. Maybe it is just a matter of knowing what you are doing. Anyway it has been hard to rationalize getting such great performace out of these guy's super cheap batteries. OTOH, perhaps I was just lucky....although that is certainly not normally the case with me and batteries. For example I typically expect about 6months out of a pep boys battery and 1 year out of a cosco battery. It has been a few years so your mileage may vary.

Take your old one for the match up as well as the exchange. They are open saturdays, as I recall.

I'm pretty sure they carry optima too, if you wanted to go that way.

VehiGAZ

What I'm reading is that what was a good battery 5 years ago ain't necessarily a good battery today, so there may be no data with which to answer the question.

Seems like the "reliable" brands (Optima Red Tops, Interstate, etc) have been having problems lately (formerly-loyal Red Top buyers on another forum were in agreement that they are not what they used to be), maybe isolated or maybe across the board. Is that a Johnson Controls problem or a model-design problem? Who knows...

H2

I was of the impression that batteries go bad as the lead plates deteriorate...and that the better batteries had thicker and/or larger plates. Dunno for sure.

For me, it's just as important to have a "strong" cranking battery as anything. Probably more important that long life. If a car is reluctant to start for some reason, a battery that sticks with it is important. Cold cranking power is important here in Idaho also. Cold can suck a lot of energy out of a battery.

Here in the wide open west, there's a lot of dirt between towns and you don't want to be stranded.

For example, in my Avatar...Mud Lake is only a gas station and a few buildings. I don't even remember seeing Lone Pine.

H2

polecat702

What a timely thread. I had to put a battery in Dee's 05 Tahoe last night. Bought another red top Optima to replace the factory Delco. One thing I noticed when I got the old battery out was that it was wrapped in foam to insulate it from engine compartment heat. I've never seen this before on a car battery. BTW, I picked up the new Optima at Sam's club for $124.74, most retail for $165.00, so saved a few bucks. 4 years is about normal for a car battery to last here in Vegas. The summer heat just kills them. I did notice that they also had the Energizer Brand batteries for sale also, never seen them before, but they were in the $100.00 price range. I need to replace the battery in my 87 Monte Carlo SS Aero Coupe next month to get it smoged and reregistered. I don't drive it very often, so thinking I'll try the Energizer and report back.

H2

After 12 hard Idaho sub-zero winters, my wife's beater Camry's original issue battery is cranking a bit slower on cold days so I decided to replace it with the same kind of battery (Batteries almost never last this long in continous use so somebody built that one "right.")

So I pop the hood to get the size and....it's a PANASONIC BATTERY! What? In a translucent white case w/Japanese markings on it.
The Toyota dealership now sells their own branded battery, black..and it's not the same.

No one locally sells Panasonic car batteries but I'll be looking for one when I next go to the big city (Spokane, WA). Any of you guys used one of these before? Since many Toyotas today are probably built in the USA, it's anyone's guess as to who makes the new replacements.
H2

6mil928

I posted on this a while back but didn't take off my blackberry I guess. Duralast is sold at Autozone here. I've had good luck with them. The ones I've had a lot of trouble with are the Walmart batteries can't remember the brand but the really suck!

dr bob

WAl-Mart stores here just changed battery brands. For the first time I saw a group 48 on their rack. It's four months old though.

I'm kinda locked in to the Duralast for a bit, at least while they replace them for free. Also grabbed a new ignition switch yesterday, on the off chance that a few symptoms from that switch actually mean there's a switch problem. New batteries have erased the symptoms each time so far. Sometimes the stater barely clicked and the dash computer would reset; 10 mins later it would crank and start ok, although not as briskly as usual. Anyway, new switch que'd for install next time I have a couple hours for the car.

Alan

In almost 10 years of daily driving the only times my 928 has failed to get me home has been the 3 times the battery completely died... thats why I have started (but not yet finished) installing a back-up (auxilliary) battery. Especially in hot climates - battery death can be a very sudden thing, and its no fun being stranded.

My small gel cell battery is installed in the car - but is not yet fully connected up via a changeover switch etc etc

I think this is the most effective backup for main batteries that can never be 100% reliable (in fact very far from it...)

Alan

H2

On any used Porsche that I've bought, the first time I get under the dash, I replace the ignition switch with a new one. These things can cause problems, are a wear item, and it's no easy fix while "on the road." The first one I replaced on the 928 took me hours because of a recalcitrant top screw.

H2

dr bob

Alan--

I've loosely followed the backup battery project, but got lost thinking that your backup GC will see pretty much the same heat as the primary battery. I was thinking that a small Gc could manage the 'parked' loads, with the main disconnected until 15 is hot. Need enough to covercooling fan run-on after shutdown, any parked radio load, maybe some parking light or one-side parked-light load. So a 17ah GC someplace, about 25% of main capacity. Someplace I have a few BF FETs, need to find a home for them.

Keep us current on your project.

inactiveuser1

With talk on batteries and some of us are in colder weather and have to store the car.I bought trickle charger from Porsche dealer.They said some 928's are wired different some trickle chargers may work plugged into the cigarette lighter some may not unless the key is on.
I know I tried it and would have to leave the key in the on position for it to work.Who wants to store their car with keys in it and in the on position with other accesories on?
So went and bought a unit at a place like Auto Zone to mount seperate for a plug that goes direct to the battery.
This way its not going thru the whole wiring system either.
Took the ground strap off located under the tool kit.When in use just undue the tool kit and plug the trickle charger in.Stored for long periods of time it keeps the battery up which will help with battery life.
Its a quick install and nice to hide when not in use.
Mounted in behind tool kit on angle allows to put the tool kit in place when not in use.
Hot wire goes to positive side of battery used with inline fuse.
The body of the unit mounts right with the ground strap which provides a very good ground.

Alan

It is indeed a 17Ah battery. it will probably be a little cooler than the primary battery (no exhaust load) but it won't be much better. However the usage will be a little kinder with normally very little load and no starting surges and rapid recharge cycles.

It is important to monitor both batteries continuously somehow - else your backup may be dead by the time you need it. My thoughts are to have the backup be responsible for some very low power items (alarm/locks/clock/ECU mem etc) - and be disconnected except when running. This way it will be apparent if the backup fails for any reason. This also has the advantage that you can isolate most of the system yet keep critical memory/time/protection functional. Still in the implementation phase...

Alan

Alan

Thats a good idea as a way to use the common plug in types without any modification.

I have my whole trickle charger installed in the car permanently so I always have it with me. Its mounted in the front fender area permanently connected to the front jump post and plugs in (to 110v) via a socket in the grille area. That way if I should ever forget - it just pulls out of the socket (its never happened yet - but was a consideration against a rear plug-in option...).

I keep the (bright orange) power lead in the car so it can easily be plugged in anywhere (sometimes also needs an extension of course).

Alan

inactiveuser1

That sounds good too.I wanted to keep it direct to the battery so it isn't going thru any other system in the car as it has to go thru a fuse 1st even before it goes direct to the battery.I have a inline fuse before the battery if anything goes over a few amps it will kick out the fuse before it harms anything in the wiring.
In the back behind the tool kit the unit is away from any road grim,water rain etc and also can put the plastic plug back in place when not in use to keep the plug in area protected.
What shortens the life of the battery is when a battery is discharged,sulfur deposits form on the lead plates. Sulfur oxidizes the plates and can shorten battery life.When sulfur deposits become large enough they can short out the plates and the battery will fail.Any short or longer term storage its good to use the trickle charger if anyone hasn't already put one on.

dr bob

Bought a new maintainer as part of the last battery failure research/analysis. The old one originally charged to 14V, and shut off until voltage dropped below 13V. Nothing fancy, just on and off. Old was the Schumacher 1.5a model, the brick originally intened to strap to the battery to charge it and keep it warm.

The new one is also a Schumacher 1.5, but is not in the waterproof case so it's not really a ride-along, especially in one of the boats. The new one has much better smarts built in. The unit charges hard on initial connection, to something just north of 15 volts. Then it cycles voltage up and down some, with the charge rate adjusted some based on the initial time to charge, but stops short of 14 volts after it 'learns' the battery charge characteristics. So it's exercising the battery once it's charged, which should reduce sulfation significantly in stored batteries on maintenance. Still less than $25 at the local Wal-Mart.