Good to know Batteries are still slowly getting better.

In the OKA I initially used a large Ca cranking battery. It died in 2 years.
I changed to a large "4WD" battery. It lasted 3 years.
I suspect the wet batteries died from physical abuse (corrugations).

I then fitted a 120Ah Fullriver HGL series AGM (designed for standby power use) and it is still alive and well 6 1/2 years later.

It is also compatible with the AGM house batteries and can be charged by the solar via 2 way a VSR if required, which is a bonus.

Cheers,
Peter
OKA196 motorhome

Robin, with the advances in new battery types, I wonder how long the lead acid type will still be the battery of choice?????

Gday
So Robin, when you change the old battery, is it still ok as a back up battery , or just no good for anything?

.
Robin, I really do find myself agreeing with you on this.
After a lifetime of association with batteries of all types I still feel an empathy with the basic flooded lead-acid battery.
There have been a number of latter-day alternatives but they often seem to bring assorted shortcomings with them, not the least vibration sensitivities!

My brow furrows when I read of other people attaining 6, or 7 years performance from their battery where I have never got far beyond three years. So as you, in the interests or reliability, I replace my batteries at about 3 years and consider my good fortune that they did not die beforehand in some remote location.

I too am running Exides, cranking and deep cycle, but am considering changing to hybrid cranking/deep cycle at the next changeover. Maybe from the Exide 'marine' range. At that point I may also be able to give my fancy dc-dc charging the flick and go to simple solenoid isolation.

Your last line.... "well made basic batteries with incremental improvementrs seems to have worked for me" says it all I believe.

Got 5 years out of a pair of ACDelco Ca batteries in the camper trailer. They struck me as a lot less fussy to live with than the current Ozcharge AGMs. All deep cycle.

Surely this post is a troll. Do any of you live in this century? Quarter the life, twice the weight and almost no ability to be discharged. Gotta love those lead acid batteries.

If you don't know what I mean, phone the operator, ask to be put through to an Internet service provider, get a connection and get your great grandkids to explain it all.

The Lead Acid battery isn't going away anytime soon. It's proven technology, it is able to be constantly improved, and it's fully recyclable.

In some places, 95% of LA batteries are being recycled. America is still building new, state-of-the-art L-A battery factories.

There are more improvements to come yet in the L-A battery field. The addition of silver and calcium to L-A batteries has improved their performance substantially.
There are constant improvements in examining the grain structure of the cast lead, and fine-tuning the lead plate fabrication processes, to improve battery performance.

There is an international organisation called the Advanced Lead Acid Battery Consortium (ALABC), headquartered in North Carolina.

ALABC are dedicated to enhancing the capabilities of the lead-acid battery to ensure its competitiveness in various energy storage markets.
The next, improved L-A battery of note, will be the Lead Acid/Carbon hybrid battery.

Already, the Bi-Polar L-A battery is in production. Bi-Polar L-A batteries produce power from both sides of the plates - unlike standard L-A batteries that only produce power from one side of the plates.
The result is more power from less weight, more power efficiency - and the bi-polar batteries can be produced on regular battery-making production lines at very little extra cost.

ALABC

As far as current batteries go, I can only relate my own experiences over 5 decades of owning a large array of vehicles, plant and equipment.

I used Cat batteries in earthmoving plant because vibration is a major problem for batteries. Vibration shakes the plates and cracks them, and they fail.
In addition, sludge buildup in the bottom of the case, from lead decomposition, shorts out the plates, and the battery fails.

Cat batteries have plates bonded to the bottom of the case, so they resist vibration better. Cat batteries also have more clearance in the bottom of the case, so the sludge can reach higher levels without shorting the plates.

Heat is also a battery killer. Keep your batteries cool and they will last longer. Most modern engine bays get very hot, and a battery location where that heat can reach the battery is not good.
The ideal battery position is well away from radiator heat, exhaust system heat and turbo heat.

As far as battery brands go, I can state without a word of a lie, that I have had a Japanese Yuasa battery last in a ute for 9 yrs and 6 months - and a Supercharge Gold battery in a ute last for 10yrs and 4 mths.

These were both exceptional life from batteries - most batteries struggle to reach 5 years - but I have no problem recommending both brands, as I've had very good life from these brands repeatedly.

I currently have a Supercharge Gold in my Hilux that I scavenged from "Bombs Away", a car scrapping operation.
I paid $30 for it, and the date of manufacture is July 2009. It's been in the Hilux for nearly 2 years and it still performs admirably.

When I bought this battery, I charged it overnight, using an electronic battery desulfating device called Infinitum.
I swear this little device is well worth the relatively small amount of money it costs.

The U.S. Military use them, so it's not dubious "tinfoil hat" technology - it simply works. The desulfator "pulses" the charge current to break up sulfation, and this prolongs the battery life.

I currently have 3 Exide Extremes, which promise to be good batteries, but I have not yet had them long enough to form an opinion on them or to report on their lifespan.
When a battery manufacturer offers 40 or 48 mths warranty, you can be sure you're getting a very good product.

Cheers, Ron.

I got 3yrs and one day out of the battery in my new cruiser ute.

I got it tested a week before I set off on holidays, it checked out ok.

I guess I was lucky, as I was only 25k from a town, could have been out in the wilderness when it happened.


Cheers.

Great post! Lots of info and banter! For the moment I think I will still keep buying N70Z Exide Endurance 4x4 batteries. I change both about every 4 years, they are joined in parallel to support my thirsty 90 Litre fridge/freezer. Whe we start to see more Lithium on the rack than lead/acid, it will be time to change. At the moment, battery purchase is a personal choice but new technology in all areas normally becomes cheaper as the costs to develop is recouped. So I look forward to buying cheaper and hopefully more reliable Lithium batteries in the future! Michael.

Yes batteries have certainly improved over the yrs but if you only keep them for 3 yrs regardless of the reason then do you really know how much they have actually improved and how reliable they can be over a longer period of time. Not trying to put your claim down but it still seams there is some doubt about how good they can actually because you only trust them for 3yrs which is not very long. Personally I think at least 5yrs would be closer to what the average battery is good for trouble free these days if the correct batteries are being used and maintained. Also you could say luck has something to do with it I have usually had a good run out of batteries where some people have a lot of bad luck.