On Saturday 27 December 2003 10:10 pm, James Cameron wrote:

> Having moved into the outback about four years ago, we go through
> lots of batteries.  I had a new one today, it had been installed in
> May. The failure rate appears to relate to high temperatures and
> vibration on dirt roads.

I would agree with this experience.  I do a lot of 4x4 backcountry
driving in my Jeep Cherokee and my battery failure rate is twice what
my wife's is in her Honda Civic.  (She got 6 years out of the original
manufacturer's battery, I got 3.  We're both on our second
non-manufacturer OEM batteries now.)  My dad also does a lot of
backcountry driving and his battery failure rate in his GMC Jimmy has
been about 3 years to a battery also.

The "one cell shorted, voltage low" also seems to be the most common
failure for both of us.

I purchased a "off-road/4x4" version of the DieHard brand from Sears
recently.  I'll let you know in 3 (or more) years how it stands up.
;-)

Their claim is that it's better suited for off-road activity, looking at
the case, it appears to be a much more rugged construction, but not
sure internally how much difference there is.  LOL... hopefully some.
That or I'm a typical idiot consumer who'll buy anything.  :-)

I would have liked to have tried the Optima brand cylindrical batteries,
but the battery picked a bad financial time of the year to die, so I
"splurged" an extra $30 to get the "off-road" DieHard and we'll see how
she goes...

As a side note, I'm VERY hard on batteries and electrical system
components.  I have a bunch of Amateur radio transmitters installed or
not installed at various times of the year, depending on communications
needs.  All pull high current from the battery system, and I do
regularly use them with the engine off, so my battery tends to get
"deep cycled" more than it would in a typical use vehicle.  As a
comparison, my wife's car has a single transmitter in it and it's
rarely used except when the vehicle is in motion and the Alternator can
take up the load it creates.

--
Nate Duehr, nate@natetech.com

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