Battery experiences

RetiredUSNChief

RetiredUSNChief

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Anybody here have any experience with Duracell car batteries? I've never tried any.

My youngest's daughter (in college) will need a battery soon. It's not giving her any problems YET, but it's getting up there in age and a recent test put the CCA at less than half its rated capacity. She lives in a college dorm, so this isn't something Daddy can take care of at the drop of a hat if she does have problems, and she's going to be driving down to Florida soon to put her annual Universal Studios pass to work that we got her for Christmas. Pre-emptively replacing the battery would reset any concerns I have about battery problems for about 5 years.

I've really had no problems with car batteries in general. My experience (and opinion) is that if your battery makes it to 5 years, you've definitely gotten your money's worth out of it and any more is "living on borrowed time". My personal experience is that a car battery will generally get me to 5 years before I start having problems.

I generally compare prices at a handful of car parts stores and go with the best price for what I want. I've even had an EverStart battery from Walmart with no issues years and years ago.

The absolute longest I've ever seen a battery last is the one I recently replaced in my SIL's Cherokee last year...dated for 2006, that battery lasted 16 years! It was a Napa battery, so I just put another Napa battery in it. Can't argue with that!

The only car battery I can think of that I've had problems with (that wasn't related to, say, me running a linear amplifier pulling 70 Amps at full power and damaging my battery and alternator) is the Interstate battery in my wife's Expedition. It wouldn't start last summer and she had just had that battery replaced less than a year before. It was replaced free of charge, but wouldn't crank her Expedition last December when the temperatures dropped to about 10 degrees for a few days before Christmas. Jumped it and it was OK. So I'm not inclined to buy an Interstate battery at the moment.


Anyway, batteries are now running for about $200, give or take. A 2 year warranty is common, but a 3 year less so and adds a few extra Hamilton's to the cost. The EverStart from Walmart in 36R is about $100 with a 2 year warranty. (They apparently don't have the Maxx in 36R.)

But I just discovered Sam's has Duracell car batteries with a 3 year warranty, and the 36R would run $130. I'm thinking about trying this out.
 
I use the Duracell Marine Deep cycle batteries and have had good luck. They have held charge and lasted a long time… and I put a hurtin on them too, as I fish in high current areas and the batteries are always under load.

Otherswise, it’s generally Walmart batteries for most other applications. Just changed my truck battery a few months back and the one I took out was a 2014 Walmart battery! Same for my mower.
 
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I put a new battery in my moms car last year, the old battery was the original motorcraft battery from 2007.
I generally buy Interstate because they give us a discount. Isn’t Duracell owned by interstate or vice versa?
 
Burt Gummer said:
I put a new battery in my moms car last year, the old battery was the original motorcraft battery from 2007.
I generally buy Interstate because they give us a discount. Isn’t Duracell owned by interstate or vice versa?
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I think Duracell car batteries are made by East Penn. A lot of box store batteries are made by Johnson Controls and I think Interstate is its own company.
 
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Burt Gummer said:
I put a new battery in my moms car last year, the old battery was the original motorcraft battery from 2007.
I generally buy Interstate because they give us a discount. Isn’t Duracell owned by interstate or vice versa?
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I don't think so.

Interstate car batteries are made from three main companies, apparently: Johnson Controls, Exide Technologies, and Business Brookfield Partners.

Apparently East Penn Manufacturing has exclusive manufacturing rights for Duracell car batteries, and they're part of Proctor and Gamble.
 
Anyway, I haven't heard anything bad about the Duracell car batteries, and I figure I'd give one a try, especially since they come with a 3 year warranty at $70-$90 less than anything else I've considered.
 
Some of it would depend on the amount of draw on the battery. My wife’s van has power hatch, power sliding doors, power seats…so I bought her an Odyssey battery.

I generally go with whatever they have at the warehouse club, but I also carry one of those NOCO jump starters.
 
I have Duracell batteries in several vehicles and have not had any issues. I typically get them at Batteries Plus, which usually has the best prices and if you order on line and then go get it you get 10% off. If you are able to wait and watch, they run $10 rebates fairly often for the Duracell batteries.

Forgot to mention, they will install the battery at no charge, unless it is a vehicle that you have to disassemble half the car to install it.
 
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Ike re a the ol truck battery I took out a few weeks back. It still has power, but I couldn’t take the chance of it being dead, when I came back to the boat ramp after a day on the water. Same brand / model battery went back in the truck…

1A371686-C4D8-4A15-9913-DCEE53C0F858.jpeg
 
FWIW, I have had very poor luck with Napa house batteries recently. Two duds replaced under warranty for my truck, and a third in a Honda that is already struggling to start in the cold after three years.
 
Chief, I have a LOT of batteries in equipment here on the farm (probably close to 40), so longevity / cost is important.

For years I bought Autozone's Duralast Gold batteries, as they had the best warranty and gave great performance for the $. But several years ago they reduced their warranty and I noticed that the same replacement battery was lighter weight than the one that it replaced. I interpreted that to mean that the lead plates had gotten thinner.

So I checked around and switched to the Duracell batteries from Batteries Plus. So far I think that I've had one replaced under warranty, and only one that did not make 5 years or longer.

I've had good results in some of the heavy equipment that had Interstate Batteries too.
 
Supermatch said:
FWIW, I have had very poor luck with Napa house batteries recently. Two duds replaced under warranty for my truck, and a third in a Honda that is already struggling to start in the cold after three years.
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Interesting that there are many good stories about Duracell batteries, but others … including yourself, have issues with NAPA batteries… both are made by East Penn. there must be variances in the materials and not just the label that’s slapped on them. No NAPA for me!
 
Pop N Shots said:
Ike re a the ol truck battery I took out a few weeks back. It still has power, but I couldn’t take the chance of it being dead, when I came back to the boat ramp after a day on the water. Same brand / model battery went back in the truck…

View attachment 586030
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By the date sticker, looks like that battery made it just shy of 9 years. Not bad at all!
 
I use DieHards but had to get a DuraLast 3yr from Autozone as the DH were not in stock.
Johnson Controls sold off the battery business to Canadian VC group and is now called Clarios, they are the largest manufacturer in the world,
they make the DieHards, Duralasts, and many others.
Be sure to verify the date code on the new battery is correct, they tried to sell me a two year old battery at AutoZone two months ago.
 
I'm still a fan of buying Costco Interstate batteries even though our last battery only lasted a year. Best prices anywhere I have found and come with a 3 year warranty. I replaced my wifes battery in her Sequoia in January 2021 and it died on her a year later. I took it back up and they swapped it out no questions. I think I have them in all our vehicles except mine since it is still running on the factory battery. We tried out one of their AGM batteries in my son's Tundra and it seems to be working well. I even bought one for my mower last year from Costco and it was half the price of the cheapest at NAPA.
 
Ferrisfan said:
Some of it would depend on the amount of draw on the battery. My wife’s van has power hatch, power sliding doors, power seats…so I bought her an Odyssey battery.

I generally go with whatever they have at the warehouse club, but I also carry one of those NOCO jump starters.
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Current draw from the battery, if the electrical system is working properly, should be zero with the vehicle running because the alternator carries all the load.

If the vehicle is not running, then the current draw comes from the battery, the biggest (short duration) draw being the starter. After that, headlights and whatever other electrical accessories people may run when the car is off.
 
RetiredUSNChief said:
Current draw from the battery, if the electrical system is working properly, should be zero with the vehicle running because the alternator carries all the load.

If the vehicle is not running, then the current draw comes from the battery, the biggest (short duration) draw being the starter. After that, headlights and whatever other electrical accessories people may run when the car is off.
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The people in your life must start the vehicle before using all the electrical stuff. Mine do not.
 
We just swapped out batteries with her doing all the work.

Well...I did the heavy work of lifting the batteries, but she wouldn't have an issue with this if she had to do it on her own.

It's the actual mechanics on cable disconnection/reconnection and the clamp she needs to do in order to fix the process in her memory. She'll be able to do it on her own in the future, if necessary, and that's what's important.
 
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RetiredUSNChief said:
We just swapped out batteries with her doing all the work.

Well...I did the heavy work of lifting the batteries, but she wouldn't have an issue with this if she had to do it on her own.

It's the actual mechanics on cable disconnection/reconnection and the clamp she needs to do in order to fix the process in her memory. She'll be able to do it on her own in the future, if necessary, and that's what's important.
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But can she reset the clock/radio presets/etc?
 
We bought a set of Duracell's from Batteries Plus last year for the golf cart. It was the best deal. So far, so good... Also, bought an oversized Costco Interstate AGM for the Gator. I think Costco extends the warranty over the factory warranty to 3yrs, which was a decision factor.

I seriously looked into batteries a couple of years ago because of the golf cart and East Penn and Johnson Controls seemed to make everything. And ratings/experience were all over the place from one to the next.

I've mentioned before, I think one of the biggest factors killing batteries is short drive times, resulting in short cycle charging. In urban environments, batteries hardly get any charge time before they get shutdown and then get another heavy draw to restart the vehicle again. Not to mention low engine speeds in stop and go traffic and heavy continuous draws from A/C blowers, sound systems, etc. As a result, average batteries are only holding partial charges.
This was explained to me by a Sears service manager decades ago when I asked him why he was putting my battery on the charger. He said everyone should do this, periodically hook their battery up to a charger, to bring the battery back up to spec.
Where I live now, everything is at least 30min away with good cruising speeds in between. So, I don't have to worry about it as much.
 
How old is the battery? Check to see if it has warranty left. I just had to replace my truck battery. Came.out.one morning and it was not dead, but graveyard dead. Nothing would come on. Took it.out.and went to NAPA which is where it came from fully expecting to drop $200 on a new one. Gave the counter guy the battery number and he looked it up. Yep, over $200 for a new one and only 2 years warranty. Then he asked me about the date on it. Told him I thought it was 2019. He said it makes a difference. We went out to the car to get the date and when he looked it up it still had warranty. Saved me $85.

At the end of the day this is your baby girl. Change the battery and buy piece of mind.
 
I had a Diehard last seven years, I drove 150 miles four days a week. Sears counter man said he found that hard to believe, check my receipt and date code. Seven years
 
Schattenreiter said:
How old is the battery? Check to see if it has warranty left. I just had to replace my truck battery. Came.out.one morning and it was not dead, but graveyard dead. Nothing would come on. Took it.out.and went to NAPA which is where it came from fully expecting to drop $200 on a new one. Gave the counter guy the battery number and he looked it up. Yep, over $200 for a new one and only 2 years warranty. Then he asked me about the date on it. Told him I thought it was 2019. He said it makes a difference. We went out to the car to get the date and when he looked it up it still had warranty. Saved me $85.

At the end of the day this is your baby girl. Change the battery and buy piece of mind.
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Turned out the old battery was 4 years to the month. Super Start.

It hasn't been giving her problems, but it did test less than half it's CCA. If she weren't away from home at college and planning on going to Orlando next month, I'd probably let it go a bit longer.

But an ounce of prevention, you know. Being on her own like she is, it's a disorienting experience to have car problems away from immediate family help.
 
RetiredUSNChief said:
Turned out the old battery was 4 years to the month. Super Start.

It hasn't been giving her problems, but it did test less than half it's CCA. If she weren't away from home at college and planning on going to Orlando next month, I'd probably let it go a bit longer.

But an ounce of prevention, you know. Being on her own like she is, it's a disorienting experience to have car problems away from immediate family help.
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Agree. But it would be a far worse experience to get a phone call saying dad I need help.
 
Follow up on my daughter's battery. Still going strong, not a hint of problems. Battery terminals clean as a whistle, so no leakage evident. Strong starting, still.

Annoyingly, my wife's Expedition battery is getting on my nerves. It's an Interstate battery. Never had one before, but the mechanic we took (he's retired now) our vehicles to all the time was an Interstate battery dealer, so that's what my wife had put in the vehicle while I was out of town. It lasted about a year, then went dead. Jumped the vehicle, worked fine...few days later, dead again.

It was under warranty, so it was a free replacement. However, the terminals are covered in acid now, and that battery is only about a year or so old now, too. I'll clean the terminals and cable connectors and put some terminal goop on it. But first sign of problems, I'm replacing it with something else.

HOWEVER...it's my wife's vehicle and she doesn't like Duracell...so I suspect she won't want a Duracell car battery in her vehicle. Maybe I'll just tell her I'll put a NAPA Premium in it if she hands over the $100 difference in price.
 
I have had good luck with batteries from Walmart.
There are two in my truck, one in my antique car, one in my modern car, one in my wife’s minivan, and one for the winch on my car trailer.
The 4 year old battery on the trailer is abused..
It sits for weeks without use and only gets charged when it gets low or I am planning on a trip that will require a bunch of use. The other batteries are at least 3 years old - most likely more.
 
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