Walmart Batteries

chris142 said:

No problem with AutoZone batteries here. And killing a battery so you get a free one is unethical.

Click to expand...

Maybe I was getting a bad batch then. And unethical? HA! Walmart themselves is unethical. I worked for them and so did half of my family and a friend currently does. I've seen and so have they what walmart is really all about. So I don't feel bad at all. And, If I didn't do it, It would die shortly soon anyway.

maybe it's karma biting you lol

Maybe, but I've gotten better batteries since so its all good. When a company forces you to work off the clock though they preach not to, or you don't and they fix the clock so they can pay you less, screw'em. That's why I did it. So I worked off clock and LST the fix it so I could keep my job. Karma didn't get me, it got them. I'm not a the if by any means, but when you screw me, I'll get you back. May not be instant. May take a while. But I'll get mine.

I actually really like the Interstate ECONOMY series batteries...... Every vehicle I own had them, except my 07 which still has the batter that was in it when I got it earlier this year, which is actually an Interstate battery also, it's what IMPD/City of Indianapolis Fleet Services put in as a replacement.

THe Economy batteries are ~$40 bucks each.... they only have a 6 month warranty, but I've not had one fail...... I've bought 7 so far..... 2 sets in my 6.0 4 years on the first set, and going on 2 on this set (6.0's are EXTREMELY ******* batteries, 3 years is really good to get out of a set of batteries in a 6.0) one in a previous vehicle and one is the Jetta and the 00 P71..... I won't buy any other battery if possible.

If you have an Interstate All Battery Center, they are the easiest place to get them..... you can also get them from an Interstate Truck........

Here is the locator for Interstate..

http://www.interstatebatteries.com/DealerLocator/Default.aspx?ZipCode=&DT=201610221504377971

Thanks

Cruiseomatic said:

Used to back in the day, I'd get a walmart everstart battery, and every three years kill it beyond anything ( Pour all acid out, fill with hard tap water then overcharge for 20 minutes.) and take it back and get a replacement whether it needed it or not. I knew it was going to give before long and needed that truck to always start quickly and not need to worry. Can't do that now. One battery, One warranty. You can only exchange them once now which kind of sucks.

NEVER get a vatozone battery though. They are the WORST! Be its the bottom line or the gold line. Every 6 months they were dead. The manager actually insisted he check my alternator before doing a warranty exchange it got that bad. When everything checked out, He had no choice then the idiot said I wasn't the only one with this problem. I told him I'm one less, when this one gives in 6 months I'll get mine from walmart again from now on and never have to worry again. He didn't like that at all. Actually, I don't get crap from vatozone anymore. Orielly or napa now. Their stuff has gotten terrible in quality. Had a PS pump fail 3 weeks after I installed it....I left it and sold the truck instead. But when it worked, It worked like a dream.....

Click to expand...

Odd given that Johnson Controls makes both Wal Mart and Auto Zone Batteries.

Each company has a specification sheet in regards to performance. For instance, the Deep Cycle/Cranking batteries I buy have a minimum zero tolerance life cycle duty required by Auto Zones' spec sheet. So Johnson Controls manufactures the battery to exceed the spec sheet.

Now if the components are contaminated prior to manufacturing, the battery's ability to generate voltage will be severely curtailed. In other words the chemical reaction will not be able to sustain an electrical charge.

I purchased a battery from Sears about 25 years ago or so that continuously failed (went through 3 of them in less than a year). It was a 36 mos. pro rated battery and like clockwork it failed. The Service Mgr gave me the business and I never went back.

Turned out that the mfg had received contaminated lead. There was quite a few failures and Sears switched suppliers. I happened to be one of the lucky ones to buy a bad battery.

By the way, your practice is why battery warranties are what they are today. Batteries that fail are charted and tested statistically for failure mode analysis as to prevent future problems.

All Batteries today go through a thorough testing before shipment. The components are now tested prior to manufacturing for contamination and failure mode analysis. The finished batteries are then tested statistically for failure mode analysis again.

My friends at Johnson Controls were telling me all about some of the return batteries and the chemical analysis.

The whole reason behind checking the battery before you buy it. You don't want to purchase a battery that has been poorly handled which resulted in fluid loss. It will fail guaranteed.

Howdy Zeb!
I just recently bought a pair of wmart ( the biggest cold-cranking - 65 month warranty ! ) batteries for my 87 6.9 and love'em- my fuel gauge was showing 3/8 tank ( front ) and I started to have problems like bucking, dying at stops, etc. It turns out I was running on empty, and had to stop and purge the fuel system of air 3 times to get to closest fuel stop. Those batteries did a K.A. job, even after I took all the line-bleeding and filter-burping steps, cranking many times w/o a proper charging interval. I am an electrician, so I understand these details a bit better than most, and I'm IMPRESSED for now.....
Also-ANY vehicle that calls for TWO of such large batteries must NEED them!! I had a job rebuilding starters and alternators, and learned that the BEST THING YOU CAN DO FOR THOSE BATTERIES is MAINTAIN YOUR STARTER- It uses the most power, thus puts the biggest strain on them, so take it out annually, strip it down and clean & inspect the commutator and brushes. Your batteries will have to work a shorter start-time if the engine is turned faster and the glow plugs warm up better. this also means that they charge faster, lessening the load on your alternator, too!

I've been maintaining diesel fleet trucks since 1978. One thing I learned is that the more CCA's a battery has the more fragile it is. Except for trucks that encounter below zero conditions the super high CCA's just cost more and fail faster since all of the plates are thinner to make more amps while still fitting in the same case size. for instance there are group 31 commercial truck batteries in 750, 850 and 950 CCA. I always use the lowest CCA's. Usually get min 4 usually 5 years life.

I have been using Battery Systems and have gotten 6 years out of each set of group 65 in the two Fords. But they changed MFG and now I'm going DEKA. I'll let you know in about 4 years how they did!

Group 31 will always be the best when it will fit. They are everywhere, a competitive commercial fleet part. A poor group 31 is better than a group 65 or group 27. Group 65's were designed for Lincoln's not diesels.

I have been hearing a lot of good things about DEKA, and I live in an outta way town. I am going DEKA next time I need batteries.

Deka Batteries are manufactured by East Penn Manufacturing. A lot of information on their batteries and where to purchase them:

http://www.eastpennmanufacturing.com/

The batteries cost a little more, but from everything I've read they are worth the investment. I currently cannot afford them so I have to make the best of what I can afford.

I tried to use Group 31 Batteries in my bus, but they would not fit. The ones that were in it when I first got it were Group 24 I believe. They were smaller than the ones I replaced them with.

I had to do some research and that's where I came up with the dual purpose marine batteries - Group 27. They can handle a lot of extremes given their construction. Deka has a battery that would work, but it is out of my $$$ range given the purpose of The Bus.

I use three batteries that are stored on the side of the bus in their own battery box. So Deka batteries are more of a wish list item for me.

One last comment on the Walmart deal.... Your not hurting Walmart by destroying the battery so you can get a new one. Your hurting the manufacturer. Walmart is extremely cruel to their vendors. When I was with RCA, we had a whole warehouse full of returned VCR's from Walmart. Problem was, we didn't make a single one of them. Customers would buy a new RCA VCR, then go home, set up the new one, and put their old one in the box and return it for a full refund. Walmart never checked the contents. They would stick it to RCA, and when RCA would complain, they would point out that 85% of their sales were through Walmart, and that they would have to just suck it up or go out of business. Eventually, Walmart's policies caused the later anyway, and the company that brought you color TV, satellites, the DEW line, various defense technologies and much more became a memory.

Agnem said:

One last comment on the Walmart deal.... Your not hurting Walmart by destroying the battery so you can get a new one. Your hurting the manufacturer. Walmart is extremely cruel to their vendors. When I was with RCA, we had a whole warehouse full of returned VCR's from Walmart. Problem was, we didn't make a single one of them. Customers would buy a new RCA VCR, then go home, set up the new one, and put their old one in the box and return it for a full refund. Walmart never checked the contents. They would stick it to RCA, and when RCA would complain, they would point out that 85% of their sales were through Walmart, and that they would have to just suck it up or go out of business. Eventually, Walmart's policies caused the later anyway, and the company that brought you color TV, satellites, the DEW line, various defense technologies and much more became a memory.

Click to expand...

Your in business for yourself now, so you have to deal with people like this directly. One of the downsides of having a business. Hopefully there are more upsides than downsides though.

DaveBen said:

I have been hearing a lot of good things about DEKA, and I live in an outta way town. I am going DEKA next time I need batteries.

Click to expand...

I bought one for my jeep Monday. Was the cheapest in town actually. It's an agm battery and was $101+tax