grp 27 vs grp 65 battery

[stinkydogfilms]

Hello,
Im thinking about buying another battery to keep as a spare. They seem to last longer than the jump start boxes.

At Walmart I noticed a group 27 battery has 850 CCA while a group 65 has 700 CCA. The group 27 battery looks to be 1-1 1/2 inched wider than the group 65. Any benefits toward using the 27 instead of the 65 in a warm climate?

Thank you,
Mike

[GM_Guy]

Which one has the higher amp-hour rating? An 850 with only a 50a/hour is no where near as good as a 700cca with 100a/hour rating.

How often are you going through batteries anyway to need a spare kicking around? You'll need to constantly charge up the spare or it will be a pile of scrap also over time and hasn't done anything for you. Buy one of those li-ion boost packs. More usefull overall IMO.

Alex.

[GM_Guy]

Which one has the higher amp-hour rating? An 850 with only a 50a/hour is no where near as good as a 700cca with 100a/hour rating.

How often are you going through batteries anyway to need a spare kicking around? You'll need to constantly charge up the spare or it will be a pile of scrap also over time and hasn't done anything for you. Buy one of those li-ion boost packs. More usefull overall IMO.

Alex.

[gadget73]

If you're planning to have a spare battery on hand, it would make sense to have one that fits in your car, otherwise you're still buying a battery for the car when it quits and another one just to sit around.

I have a battery charger with a boost feature. I've had it for 15 years or so now. Battery booster boxes last maybe 3. I'd spend the money on a good charger and maybe a set of jumper cables rather than a battery to sit around and go bad.

[jaywish]

I am curious about those little Li boost packs. It will be nice to see how they work over time. They may make the common lead acid packs obsolete except for commercial use.

[stinkydogfilms]

I'm not really going thru batteries. I just like to have a spare and I'm looking for an alternative to the jump start boxes out there. I usually change batteries every 2-3 years. Most longer life batteries I've bought, mean you are buying a longer pro rated warranty. Not necessarily a better battery.

Thank you.
I do value the advice here.

[GM_Guy]

Stinky, if you are changing batteries every 3 years, you do not need a booster. If you do need a booster in that time frame, you need to step up in battery quality.

My first exposure to the LiIon boost pack was in a commercial setting. Color me impressed. This particular one was from Mac Tools. But yes, long term degredation is what I'd like to know about as well. And it started a truck with a dead battery at least twice.

Alex.

[gadget73]

Wal Mart batteries get you 3 years. I just finally broke the free replacement period on mine, and this is probably battery #4 or 5 since that original purchase. Its 3.5 years old and it doesn't seem to want to hold a charge anymore. The good batteries from Advance or Autozone have gotten me 5 or more the last few I've used.


Those little LiOn packs are way cool. Lots of capacity, tiny package. I'd buy one just for convenience, but same concern everyone else has. If they don't hold up worse than the SLA ones do and don't cost a bunch more (I haven't priced), it might still be worth having one. Car batteries are mighty pricey anymore, and they are not very portable. I've seen some of those little boost packs that are barely bigger than some people's cell phones.

[jaywish]

There were a number of them, the little Li packs, on sale for between $45-$50 around Christmas. A friend bought them as gifts for his family from Tooltopia.

[His Royal Ghostliness]

Is the battery going to live in the car all the time? Cause if it doesn't then it's pretty much money wasted. And if it lives in the car all the time, you might as well connect it to the main battery RV-style with an isolator - you typically can only draw from the main battery while car is running, yet both batts get charged, then if your main one dies you can hit a switch or turn a knob and now you can temporarily draw from the aux battery as well. In which case you might as well go big and drop in a Group-31 battery, that's the stuff big trucks use. Easier to find a suitable box for it as well, and you really do want a box, leaving a fully charged battery just bounce around the trunk is not something I'd consider wise.

[GM_Guy]

They are pushing them as a carry it in your glovebox device. I sure wouldn't, heat from summer time cooking it, and freezing the batteries in the winter. Freezing alone will be the death of the thing.

Alex.

[jaywish]

I believe that is why some electric cars have battery heaters. IIRC, sucks to get old.

[OilBurner]

Will a group 31 battery fit in our cars? or mine is more what im wondering..

Iv had several spare batteries around and they last just as long as in the car if you take care of them. charge them once a month or every 2 weeks..or store them on small solar trickel chargers... I even went as far as to build a capacitive desulphator (google this, i probably spelled it wrong) that works nicely as a regular battery charger, but also can bring shot batteries back to life if used properly and if lucky..

The quality of battery is also a big issue...from what i gather, most batteries are all made by only a couple makers, so different brands of battery are made by the same company...so Walmart, Autozone and advance are all made by Jhonson controls and supposedly suck...Napa is made by Deka...napa/deka and sears diehard are pretty much the best ordinary flooded battery...AGM and more exotic types may be a different case. Interstate and napa i have had first hand experience with as being long lasting and reliable, 10 years in some cases...I have had multiple walmart batteries that only last about 3 years... Trojan or USbattery are supposedly very good makers also and more cater to golf karts but they make some car sized batteys also...and i happen to know a local golf cart guy who can get me group 31 Deka deep cycle 12 batteries for less than napa...currently have 3 of them set up in the house hooked to 400W of solar panels, which then run all the lights in my bedroom and some in the kitchen.

[His Royal Ghostliness]

idk right now if a #31 will in a Panther in place of a #65, but I can check tomorrow... I've been having the Duralast Gold 65s lasting me 3 years exactly, matter of fact I have at least one right now that slowly loses charge when left to its own devices, gonna have it and its twin sister replaced under warranty shortly. This is a new to me issue tho, the last pair of DLGs rant just fine from day one till they quit all of sudden, I had maybe a day or two forewarning when all of sudden they no longer stored enough juice to start truck properly. Exact same thing happened with my Autolites before that, 3 years solid performance then one day slow to crank and next day dead as a door nail.

[DerekTheGreat]

People hate on 'em but I've been running Optima red/yellow tops for years in stuff. Red top in my old Ranger went for 5-6 years before my brother sold it so lost track of it. Ashley's TC and my TC are going on year two with yellow tops. Red top in Firebird went dead after it sat for 2 months. Have charger with boost feature, used that for 5 minutes, cranked over and holds charge still. That battery is about 4 or 5 years old now too, if not older...