Agree, good batteries. But, batteries are consumables, they are all going to die. So it best to shop for service/availability/warranty/price. Costco is a great source, unfortunately somewhat size selection limited. Some have had good results with walmart batteries, easy/quick warranty service. We are fortunate to have an account, good relationship with the local Interstate warehouse, great to deal with.
Kevin,
Most Interstate Battery outfits are independently owned, but I suspect they set a pretty high standard for partners. Good service was a plus back when I used to buy a lot of batteries from my Interstate dealer.
Your point on batteries being consumables brings two things to mind. Since Interstate does batteries...yeah, that's it...their stock is pretty fresh in general. I've been in their local warehouse and have enough experience to see they run a tight shop in terms of turnover and fresh stock. Just enough to satisfy customers needs, with regular restocking.
The second point is a broader one on batteries as we tend to know them in our automotive applications, usually some form or variant of basic lead-acid battery chemistry. And this had input from our Interstate guy, off the record, but forthright as they do stand behind their warranty on this for lengthier periods...
I used to be involved in supporting fleet maintenance for a large grocery wholesaler. Batteries in your truck-tractors are important, but every modern diesel has several, plus a driver who's paying attention to how it's starting, etc. On the other hand, you typical reefer unit has one battery and operates unattended most of the time. Going for absolute reliability is important with reefer batteries. You can't just throw a new battery in every season, which we had a problem with some techs taking an easy out for things they didn't want to dig too far for -- and sometimes justified to get a load out of the gate on time. But as a management strategy, if you want near-absolute reliability from your battery, change it every 4 years.
Why? It's the basic limitations of lead-acid battery technology. Yes, there are ways to generally extend it, but they all suffer from the fact that the plates in your battery are being altered to less efficiency and becoming brittle and subject to vibration damage. Riding in the nose of a semi for 4 years extracts a cost. BTW, I'm no expert on battery chemistry, so that's the best way I can put it from a conversation more than a decade in the past.
Interstate does stand behind their warranty. But it doesn't cover things like loss of a load, obviously, no more than if your fridge went down at home. And their batteries rarely cause any issues short of that warranty in applications other than semis. That sort of hard use does cause a few more problems than say, riding around in a LandCruiser, All I can say is try putting anyone else's batteries in that sort of service and see what happens.
Thus, I typically R&R the primary battery in my personal vehicle every 4 years. YMMV
I'm sure the Interstate battery would likely start thingts the full 85 months, but I have extraordinary expectations from my 80, just like I did when I helped send $100,000 loads of frozen meat out the gate.
