From: Walt Konecny [wkonecny@wasatch.com] Sent: Thursday, March 23, 2000 9:51 PM To: 928 Subject: [928] Re: Battery Recommendations -----Original Message----- From: Randy Page Subject: [928] Battery Recommendations >Hello All, > >My 87 will soon be needing a new battery, and I want to get the best battery >that will fit. So, do any of you have any recommendations? > > Interstate MTP91 About 90 bucks plus tax. wk -----Original Message----- From: Pirtle, John [mailto:John.Pirtle@ceridian.com] Sent: Friday, December 01, 2000 1:46 PM To: 928 Subject: [928] Johnson Controls batteries I found the Johnson Controls website http://www.jci.com/bg. They make these batteries: DieHard (Sears) Duralast (AutoZone) Energizer Equalizer Eveready EverStart (Walmart) Interstate Kirkland Signature (Costco) Motorcraft (Ford) I couldn't tell if there was any differences among those brands, or if they are all the same. ?? According to the web site, a "car battery is considered charged when it is at 12.4 volts or higher. It is considered discharged when it's at 12.39 volts or less." 12.6 volts is 100% charged. "Battery acid is recycled by neutralizing it into water or converting it to sodium sulfate for laundry detergent...." John Pirtle Atlanta 87 Auto http://members.rennlist.com/pirtle http://www.928oc.org From: Walt Konecny [mailto:wkonecny@burgoyne.com] Sent: Sunday, September 01, 2002 11:31 AM To: 928 Subject: [928] Re: what battery? ----- Original Message ----- From: JP Rodkey Subject: [928] Re: what battery? > True, there are only a few battery manufacturers left. However, as a > general rule, they do not build batteries and stick different labels on them > at the factory. Most often, they are indeed different batteries. They > can look absolutely identical (obviously), but the materials, dimensions, > and tolerances of the plates can be very different. For batteries, testing > is done to determine recovery rate, charge capacity, and a bunch of other > parameters. That's correct, and one other way to compare similar batteries (besides CCA, etc) is to weigh them. I found the Interstate and the Duralast weigh exactly the same, telling me that the amount of material in the plates is the same. Also, when I pried the "maintenance free" caps off the top and looked at the plates, the number, size and spacing were exactly the same. The fact that all that is the same between the two batteries, that the Duralast costs about 60% (give or take) of the price of the Interstate, and has a much better warranty, did the trick for me. The two previous batteries I had in the 928 were Interstates, each of which lasted somewhere around 30 months. To get a new one, based on their pro-rated warranty, would have cost more than a new Duralast. Some people like spending a bunch of extra money on percieved value of brand names, be it on batteries or auto wax, which is ok, I just ain't one of 'em. wk