Battery Recomendations

I have heard some people claim that Optima yellow top gell cell batteries are the best, but I have not experienced them personally. The gell cells are designed to be nearly completely discharged and still rechargeable, unlike most lead acid batteries.

You could look into some that have a two or three year warranty on them. Some restrictions may apply.

 

Definitely, the yellow tops are awesome if Optima makes them to fit your application.

Also, unless Heavy Truck applications are different, you can get warranties much higher than 3 years.

Most of the top shelf batteries offer 3 year FREE replacement, then pro-rated after that. Just have to keep that receipt in the truck with you at all times.

 

Have your batteries checked with a load tester,if you have one with plates dilluted or separated and shorting out it will draw down the other batteries. Like the other driver said the inverter and small 110 husehold coolers use alot less dc. the colmans and others run all the time and run the batteries down. I have never had a cooler kill the batteries over night,it ussually takes over a whole weekend to run them down that much. make sure all your cables are clean and tight,inside and out,your grounds are clean,no rust etc. your serpentine belt is tight,the tensioner may have lost some spring pressure. If the belt is thin and well into the grooves or real shiny or cracked and dry rotted,replace it,save old one for emergency and part numbers if still legible. Some alternators with built in regulators have an adj in them from the outside to turn up the charging voltage etc. If its below 13 volts on your meter have alternator checked for output. You may get a low voltage switch and put it on line and before your voltage drops too low to start the truck it shuts off power to cooler. I think you have a shorted battery myself, load test all of them. You shouldn't need optimo batteries,.''

 

My Coleman cooler ran the batteries down this weekend. Had to jump it today. I kind of expected it, though. I had planned on working, but didn't get a call until late from dispatch and didn't feel like leaving at 8 pm on a Saturday night. Drained it into the 11 volt range, and would only roll over once.

That's the one thing about the Coleman-it should have a thermostat that shuts it down at temp. I've thought about getting a timer to set it up with an inverter so it won't run non stop.

 

On those coleman types, take the motor unit out and clean all the parts,it gets dog hair and dust and dirt in the fan and clean it really good. when you are done,spray all of it with wd40,especially around the shaft and bearings,it will run with less resistace and maybe save your volts for starting. I had one of them in the past,tk stops sell all the parts. i put a new motor in one and got about 4 yrs use out of it. good luck.

 

1st off get your electrical system checked. You then need to set it up with a system that will automatically shut power if voltage drops too low.

Second is when ever possible put a regular battery charger on it to top off the batteries. Make sure it is the kind that shuts off automaticly when batteries are fully charged.

This will help a lot. They also make dual purpose batteries. Talk to your local truck dealer or battery shop about these.

 

I just put in a set of four Intersate ECL batteries for under $400. If you intend on drawing juice with the engine off standard starting batteries won't last and you definitely want as many batteries as your truck's trays will hold. The "ECL" stands for "Extended Cycle Life", google for more info. Most folks think that the higher the CCA the better - but high CCA batteries have short lives if drawn down much. The ECL batteries are pretty low on the CCA but high on the reserve capacity:smt004 .

 

This may sound strange to some people, but I have a source of AC/Delco deep cycle batteries, intended and sold for marine use, and I used to swear by them. When a battery went bad, an AC/Delco Deep Cycle went in. I cannot find an exact reference to the exact model of battery, but they had a green bubble on top and had no filler caps on the top of them. My memory is weak, but I think they were in the "Voyager" category.

A mechanic clued me into them some years ago, and he made me a believer. He did some side work for me but worked full time for Frito Lay, and unless things have changed, that was what they ran in all of their trucks.