Bret4207
At the casting bench in the sky. RIP Bret.
FWIW- on a tractor site I belong to a very scientifically minded member came up with some interesting observations a couple years back. He went to Wally World and bought 2 batteries of the same group, CCA, etc. The only difference was the warranty. One was the value line and the other the Maxx line or whatever they call it. One was like $59.00 at the time and the other was $130 something. He weighed them, checked all the specs online and on the battery, did his best to count plates in the cells, everything he could think of. They both had the exact same case, down to the casting marks. Everything he could find indicated they were made at the same factory. The sole difference he could ascertain was one had a very limited warranty of about 30 days and the other had a 5 year warranty. Everything seems to say that the extra cost is that warranty- which isn't a "free replacement" anymore, it's pro-rated as I found out when a 3 year old battery with a 5 year warranty ended up costing me $60.00 plus to replace!I through the charger on it last night. Before that i took the jeep on a ride for about an hour. When I plugged the charger on to it last night it said the battery was at 49%. It is one of the new style smart chargers. I highly recommend them. i never made it out today to check on it. but I can see from the window it is charged and is maintaining it from the color of the light on it.
The clamps are tight and spotless. Absolutely no corrosion anywhere. I can't believe what they want for batteries now. It seems that I have 3 vehicles that have weird sizes and not all manufacturers offer a battery except their most expressive one they make.
I bought 3 of the value line group 24's a couple years back. 2 are still working line, one died because I forgot it was in a machine that wa a hard starter and I ran it down and never got it charged back up. It froze, and that is usually a death sentence for a battery. I can't say I would be willing to pay twice or more what a battery costs just for a pro-rating warranty.