The longest lasting batter I ever had was on my 911. It was a DieHard. Installed in 1998, kicked the bucket in 2014. Thirty-four years would be amazing.

Hugo

 

The new AGM battery, called the BackBreaker H8, cost about $150 net after tax, 10% military (I'm a retiree) discount, and a $20 rebate. That is a fine price for an AGM with 900 (!!!) CCA. This one shows a production (or consume before?) date of 1/16.

The engine is definitely cranking more rapidly.

Drain is about 35mA, suggesting that it takes 0.42W to support the radio memory, the proximity-sensor for the door locks, and the alarm. That new battery can probably deliver 35mA until the next administration is sworn in.

Happy

 

Lost me on that one. What exactly is that..?

 

most practical mod i have done on my car is hard wiring a Battery Tender connector on the front grill. I plug it it darn near each time after i drive it. Prepping my self for a Tesla

 

When I approach the car, the doors unlock. When I walk away, they lock. Simple in concept, like RFID. I also installed push-button start and remote engine start. It's all keyless, and it works well. Difficult installation, though.
Amazon, $170 or so.

 

^^^ what system? Link?

 

Found it! And it's now less $$

http://tinyurl.com/zt6qbp2 (there are others)

PKE means passive keyless entry; the door unlocks/locks based on sensed proximity.

The pushbutton start required that I sacrifice one key (of the three that came with the car), which was cut and permanently inserted. A cylindrical housing for the illuminated pushbutton was added atop the original switch. A short tap puts it into the Accessory mode. Half a second push starts the engine. Looks fine and works brilliantly!

The system is daunting and installation instructions are in Sanskrit, which is why Amazon ordered the maker to clean up the translation. I fumbled my way through it and took twice the time as it would have with English documentation.

 

Followed your link, and see that Amazon has suspended sales of these units. Based on your description of installation challenges and those reported by others, it's not so surprising.

I write a LOT of tech manuals, operating procedures and instructions, engineering guides and other documentation. (can ya tell?). That's just for the products and services I supply. So I tend to read a lot of instructions that come with things, mainly for content, but also for style & presentation, ease of understanding, and more. Still, user instructions and installation guides for products like this often seem to be literal translations spit out by Google Translate or similar, unreviewed by anyone with a technical background and command of the English langauge.

I can't be too critical I guess, since my command of Chinese dialects is the square root of none.

----

Twenty-some years ago, a client bought a NOS steam turbine from an Italian company, with all documentation in Italian. So the client then bought a good translation program. thinking they would just feed in the text from the manuals and out would spill usable manuals in English. They then tried a translator person recommended by someone Italian, but with no knowledge of the technical side of things their first tries were worse than the software. I think I spent the best part of a weekend editing and replacing and clarifying several "translated" manuals into usable form, based on the years of Latin that the Sisters of Christian Domination had forced on me during my formative years. And good guesses based on context.

No telling how many import products are kept from good markets by poor, inaccurate, or non-existent documentation in the languages used in those good markets. Maybe there's a market for that!

 

Thanks and (MORE), please. Like:

Which Manufacturers use the better techniques and materials you mention? And...
How can a "civilian" battery buyer inspect a battery and know what they're getting?

For instance, does a weight comparison of batteries in the same group tell us something reliably useful?

Thanks,

ww

 

Weight is probably the easiest way to tell, besides price. Most any auto parts store that handles premium batteries will have three or four batteries for each model, maybe more if they handle several brands. Pretty much, anything that says Gold, Premium, Mega, etc, etc...will be more bang for your buck.

Truthfully, you will not find much information about what is inside the battery (on the battery or the manufactures web-site)...since battery technology sharing between companies is nonexistent.

Picking a manufacture is a crap shoot. But, staying with a widely known manufacture normally helps. I just did a quick search of Diehard, Interstate, Deka, Autocraft...and they all had a premium battery. My choice would probably be the Mega tron from Interstate, even though it is lower in CCA (730), which don't get to caught up in this number...since it mostly has to do with plate size, number and weight and how the battery acid reacts to those coditions, thinner plates...faster...thicker plates...slower. But, if you buy a premium battery with lower CCA...it will usually have a somewhat deeper cycle and last longer under severe conditions (cold weather). Now, if you buy a crappy battery with lower CCA...then most likely it just has less +/- plates inside. So, know the difference when talking to the salesperson.

Biggest thing about getting the best life out of your battery...is proper battery maintenance. I know, everyone thinks the battery is maintence free, since it normally says that right on the battery somewhere, but they mean internally...not externally. Make sure you keep your battery surface clean, since surface voltage loss is common on a dirt battery. Clean the +/- terminals regularly. And first and foremost...don't let your battery go completely dead. Each time you leave your lights on or create some sort of drain that kills the battery...you are diminishing its life tremendously.

Normally, under conditions where I live...I'd expect about seven to eight years out of a battery. But, I've had batteries last up to twelve...with proper maintenance.

Brian.