[Ralph]

I was looking at my old Pontiac today, cleaned off the battery, and I guess I put the date when I installed it new in black felt marker, May 1997! I have never had to "trickle" charge it, or anything. The car sat in an open field for 2 years during -40 weather, and endless windchills that dipped below -65!! I connected the battery in the spring, turned the key and off she went, no problems. If anyone has any bad
Delco battery experiences, I'd sure like to hear'em? Before I got this Caddy from my dad, he installed an expensive Delco with 1000 cold cranking amps of power, so I guess I won't worry if I don't plug it in this winter.

 

[Ralph]

Delco batteries are the ONLY batteries you'll NEVER see me buying. Not because they aren't a good battery but because they are not servicable, nor do they allow for independent cell testing. And as for that cute little "eye" that Delco says is a good indicator for letting you know the condition of the battery, I'll debate that with any Delco rep, anyday.

I know that with some older batteries that were the so-called "maintenance free", we have taken off the concealed caps and filled them with distilled soft water so they last longer, so in a way, aren't they serviceable to a degree? I cannot remember if they were Delco or not though. I think the ones cars came with 30 years ago with the little caps made sense, they could be made to last a long time.

 

[Ralph]

Almost every time we replace a battery we use Delco ones. They always seem to last the longest. I did have a problem with one a couple years ago tho. After maybe a year after a couple starts the battery wouldn't have enough power to start the car again unless you put the charger on it overnight. We brought it back to Price Club and they said one of the cells was bad in it. I think the ones we have right now, at least the ones 2 of the bigger cars have are over 1000amp ones.

The green eye is questionable. It's only supposed to be for telling you that the battery has a full charge, etc... incase you're having problems but we've had at least one Delco before that after a while there was nothing in that hole and the battery worked fine.

We've also had a Ford battery that was probably about 8 years old when it was replaced, and the Interstate battery that's in my Cadillac has 1997 peeled out of it's installation sticker. The batteries we never seem to have any luck with are Canadian Tire ones.

Canadian Tire batteries seem mostly to be "Energizer" brand. I don't know if they are any good or not. I have heard that there are only about 4 companies in the world that make car batteries and one is called "Johnson Controls" or something? It certainly is true that cold winters are hard on batteries, but then I have heard that heat can be just as detrimental to a battery's longevity. Broughm, what part of Canada are you in? Our prairie winters are the worst!

 

[Ralph]

Optima.......are those those really small ones I have seen advertized somewhere, they are supposed to be more powerful than a conventional battery? I wonder how long they will last if they are new and unproven technology?

That little green eye is usually just black on ours. It turns green when it wants to.

I just remembered something. When my dad bought my Cad new in '91, it was in April, and it sat all winter outside. The day he took it home, they did a "quick charge" on the battery. After that it never held a charge very good. It would have to be charged every month, if I recall. So I guess I can be called a hipocrit, but it wasn't Delco's fault because I read that quick charging a dead battery is like slapping a baby in the butt with a shovel, not good! He should have got a new one under warrenty and complained.

 

[Ralph]

I have a 92 Eldo with the ORIGINAL battery it just died 3 days ago. That is insane for an oem battery from 92. I put my old high performance truck battery in my caddy and now this thing is great it starts right up in the cold the windows FLY up and down the lights don't dim when i do certain things. Ill let you guys know what brand it is tom. when i look

That's a good indicator of the battery strength, the lights dimming when using power windows, etc. On my loaded Grand Marquis, even with a 850 CCA new battery, the lights would dim if I put a window down. I don't have this problem with the Cad and the Delco. I have heard of a simple battery test, but you had better have a charger handy: leave your headlights on for 5 minutes, then try to start your car. If it doesn't start, you need some sort of maintenance on your battery or charging system.

 

[Ralph]

....I read that quick charging a dead battery is like slapping a baby in the butt with a shovel, not good!

Where the hell did THAT come from Ralph? Makes me laugh, and you're right but what a VISUAL!

Yeah, it was just meant to be a funny analogy, I hope I didn't offend anyone with a baby And of course I'm right!

We have a big battery charger, and it has the option to quick charge a battery from empty to full in 1 hour! I have read numerous times that it is good to just slowly "trickle charge" any automotive battery.