Alternative Battery Options (1 Viewer)

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With the recent quality of AGMs... I'll stay with flooded. I have 35 AGMs on a pallet headed to the re-cycler because they won't accept a charge with less than 24months of use. We've sent them to the local resellers that have tried to "conditon" with no luck.

WORTHLESS

Odyssey, Optima and Northstar... ALL s***.
That is too bad. I wonder if the buyout of Northstar by Odyssey caused more issues than good.

I am now on year 8 of a Northstar AGM that started in my 11 Cruiser and transferred to my 16. Still works great, although I carry a GB150 just in case, which is an awesome device.

I do tend to put my rigs on a tender as I have 5 cars and rotate them, but my 200 hasn't been charged for over a year at this point as it gets driven regularly. I also run my fridge off it when camping on the weekend, and it has been awesome.

While I am sure undercharging AGMs can impact life, it is overheating and overcharging that is the likely culprit that kills most. In the past, all of my prior flooded batteries died in high heat. I am guessing the same will eventually happen to the Northstar on a hot day in the future.

Being in the cooler Pacific NW and spending a lot of time at my house in Montana in the summer I am sure helps longevity. Still, with multiple weekend trips running a fridge and having it start, and knowing it will start at a much lower % than flooded batteries, I have been happy with the purchase. My 40 and 62 get a lot of dirt duty so haven't offroaded the 200 too hard either, which I am sure the generated underhood heat could be a culprit as well.

This is the first I am hearing of recent quality issues, I wonder if others are complaining as well, as outside of the long-time poor quality red tops, I am not seeing many other complaints online.

Have one in my FJ62 as well, but only a couple years old. At idle I usually see 13.8v and slightly over 14 when I idle up around 12-1300, even when warm. I have seen 60 series external regulators go bad and spike voltage, just hoping it doesn't happen with the internal regulator on my 62, as I am sure that would kill an AGM or any battery real quick.
 

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