Help with Battery.

I'm getting my batteries replaced tomorrow, Freightliner Alliance brand, heavyhaulerss is spot on 3 yrs. They're coming out had to jump the truck on Mon.

 

The battery on monthly sale at the KC Mack stealership are Exide brand

Stopped by to pick up some parts and looked at the display

 

OMG some of the info here needs to be clarified. these things may have been said but it is worth repeating.

First it doesn't matter what sizes the batteries are, they are holders of energy, if one is a 750cca and the other is 1000, then you have an aggregate of capacity of the batteries in the set.

Second is if one is bad, assume all the others are too. One with shorted or caked plates will draw down the others and cause problems. so just replace all of them.

Third have the batteries load tested with a proper device. Load testing is just one way but not always accurate. I've got two things here, one is a 1000 amp carbon pile load tester and the other is an OTC 3183 battery tester. I have had batteries pass a 200 amp test with the load tester but fail me soon after, when tested with the 3183, it came up bad.

Fourth is don't buy into the deep cycle battery thing as your main batteries, mainly because they are not intended for the service they will see. If you need batteries to run things in your sleeper, then isolate the sleeper and use separate batteries.

just food for thought - a while ago I ran across a company here who was ridding themselves of a bunch Maxwell's Engine Start Modules, literally they were going to be put into the dumpster. They were testing them out in their fleet and they decided because of the hassle (read lack of electrical knowledge of the mechanics they employ), they were told to just go back to batteries and get rid of them. Well I took all they had, sold a couple to a friend who uses them in his medium duty trucks, and put one in each of a couple of my trucks. Now people have laughed at me for this but for the cost, and the performance I've got out of them, neither of the drivers of those trucks have said they had problems starting the trucks, while the others have.

by the by I've never heard of starters being fried by low voltage, I guess it is possible but I would think that if they do go bad, then there was a breakdown in the starter itself already. I have heard of them fried when they get too much voltage, like starting a truck with 24 volts.

 

May be odd, may not be fact. Extreme temps in either direction can and will hamper battery performance. Watching a movie in Nogales in July will take it's toll just as much as watching 4 minutes of streaming video in Yellow Knife in January.

 

I have three Thermo King Eon Agm batteries with a Maxwell esm. Plus, via an isolation switch, I have a pair of deep cycle 6 volt ( hooked up in series) golf cart batteries that I have hooked up to a 2,000 watt pure sine wave inverter plus my Espar bunk heater is hooked to this.
I also have a Webasto engine heater and synthetic oil.
I started the truck yesterday at -18C (0F) and with the Maxwell it spins like its summer time. I've used the Maxwell down to -29C (-20F) with success.
A previous truck I had sat all weekend at -34C (-29F) with no where to plug in. With a Espar engine heater the truck fired right up, but with regular oil it only had about 5 psi oil pressure and the ECM shut it down. After restarting the Espar heater and letting it sit for another thirty minutes enough heat radiated down that I was able to get enough oil pressure next time I started it. That's why I went to synthetic.

 

Lower voltage from weak batteries can cause excessive heat in the starter from prolonged cranking and increased amperage

 

That's what he claimed based on their sales data that batteries they sold lasted longer in MI than they did in AZ. Doesn't really matter to me one way or another but I would think that is some straight forward info.

 

yes.

 

I've been thinking about doing this myself. I currently have a bank of four batteries in my w9 and I'd like to have an isolated setup just to crank the engine and leave the others to power things while the engine isn't running.

How many batteries, type and size would I need to isolate to crank a 3406e during the Winter?

 

Use 1 capacitor. Maxwell I think is one brand. Same size as a truck battery, lighter in weight. Your other batteries can be dead and you truck can be started.
Good luck