On Sun, 13 Feb 2011 19:57:53 -0600, CaveLamb
wrote:

John R. Carroll wrote:
Ignoramus9135 wrote:
My truck battery is dying, and I was wondering if there is such as
thing as a "better battery", or are they all created the same. Thnks

One of the first things I do when I pick up a used Vette as a project is
throw out the battery and replace it with a gel pack.
The other is to install a mechanical disconect. There is a local guy that
makes a "Half-Turn" gizmo that mounts on the terminal post.
That way all of the computers don't kill the battery if I don't start the
car for an extended period. That used to happen when I'd leave my car at the
airport for a
short trip that would turn into three or four weks on the road. Nothing
worse that a dead nattery at LAX after flying half the night to get home.

There are two varieties that I'm familiar with.
One is a high capacity version for running electronics equipment ( big car
audio amps and such) and the other is great for starting.
Gel pack's last nearly forever, don't require maintanence and seem to behave
well in high temp environments.
That's the reason I switched. Desert temps kill batteries.

My oldest gel pack is going on 14 years and is working as well as it did the
day I installed it.



I replaced one of the deep cycle gel batteries on my boat just before Christmas.

Both of them are 20 years old, but this one (due to a wiring mistake
at the bilge pump switch) got pulled down to 2.4 volts.

It never came back (obviously).


I replaced it with a marine deep cycle wet cell from Wally World for $65.
We'll see how that lasts...

Figure five years, not more.