Current Car Battery Choices

[PeterVX2]

I am up for a new battery for my VX II Commodore. I have had a Century Yuasa conventional lead Acid for just two years ( just out of warranty ).

Normally I would just buy another one of these but I an disappointed at its short life.

I have one of these Century Yuasa batteries in my weekend drive FG Falcon and it is almost 5 years old and still going strong.


The question,

Have sealed lead acid ( maintenance free ) batteries improved over recent years ?

Looks like the car battery market is all changing to these, both Fully Maintenance free and “Accessible” maintenance free.

Going back 15 years or so, they did not have a good reputation.

Is it better to hunt up a normal vented lead acid battery or take the leap to these fully sealed types.?

Appreciate any informed comments on this and user experience.



Cheers All

 

[dirty hands]

sealed battery's are as good as the alternator /regulator and work only if the green is showing

Global Yuasa Battery Co., is century batterys (Korean)

exide ( US ,singapore ,Australian )

a- Z of out what factory the battery other brand labels come out of

Lead-Acid Battery Manufacturers and Brand Names List 2016

 

[greenacc]

I now choose batteries based on price and length of warranty. Best time is when either supercheap or Repco or some other store has a storewide sale then go in and get the best battery you can find that fits your car.
How long was the warranty on your current battery ? Most are at least 2 years. I wouldn't buy one that comes with less than a 2 year warranty, it just shows it's a budget battery that isn't going to last long.
Century, exide, and Delkor are good but as i said don't get the cheapo version of any brand

 

[Drewie]

I have had my VX SS from new.

The original Holden battery was a Denso from memory, was only a small capacity something like 450cca, I changed it at 5 years as I thought 5 years is ok didn't want to get stuck up somewhere.

Next was an Exide 460cca that was in for 7 years and once again thought safer to change it even though it was still working,

Currently on a Century 620cca semi sealed maintenance free, I have opened it up once to check water levels, been in for 3 years so far, when I opened it up there was quite a bit of black residue under the caps which I think
is not a good sign.

Daughter's Mazda 3 has an RACV battery which has been in for 3 years.

Bit of a lucky dip I think, I always try and buy something with a 3 year warranty.

 

[oska]

no such thing as maintenance free, all batteries need to be topped up with distilled water and recharged if you're only doing short trips

check the water level

 

[BlackVXGTS]

no such thing as maintenance free, all batteries need to be topped up with distilled water .......................

You should be careful of making very absolute comments like the above because they are not always correct. There are a number of sealed batteries, Optima for one, that don't use the standard battery technology, require no maintenance and can be recharged using a domestic charger even if they have been fully discharged (by leaving lights on for example).

 

[vc commodore]

I now choose batteries based on price and length of warranty. Best time is when either supercheap or Repco or some other store has a storewide sale then go in and get the best battery you can find that fits your car.
How long was the warranty on your current battery ? Most are at least 2 years. I wouldn't buy one that comes with less than a 2 year warranty, it just shows it's a budget battery that isn't going to last long.
Century, exide, and Delkor are good but as i said don't get the cheapo version of any brand

I have a non-standard style battery fitted to my VC Commodore.....I went to buy a Centura battery for it, when they came on sale at a spare parts store....When I spoke to the shop assistant, the idiot made a claim that my warranty would be void if I fitted the larger battery (larger in length, width and CCA rating), than what it originally came with from the factory.

So I told them to stick it up their clacker and went through another company and got what I wanted, complete with 2 years warranty

 

[elless1]

I use supercharge battery's. Have for years.

 

[WHCapriceHBD]

I only use Optima in all my cars.

My WH Caprice runs an Optima red top with about 900CCA.

I converted to all Optima because I have 6 cars and the normal lead acid types were always dying and giving me grief every other year. Keeping up with replacing them was not worth the effort. Now none of them have any battery issues at all.

One of my cars caught fire majorly in the engine bay (wrote it off) and half of the Optima battery melted and boiled down into a heap of plastic with some terminals sticking out of it. For a laugh, we connected it to an old ute and it still started it. So we left the lump of plastic slag battery in it, and it ran that ute for the next four years before it finally died. That sold me on Optima.

I also recommend getting a good heavy duty battery charger capable of 16 amps or 20 amps with battery diagnosis/rejuvenation functions. I have a 16 amp heavy duty multi function charger and it does me well when I need it. (And don't loan it out to anyone)

 

[Darcon666]

Money is no option... O P T I M A...

Even if money is a problem... O P T I M A and make sure your alternator works very well.

/End Thread