best battery brands

[jawsfree]

Oh Boy I guess I got everyone really worked up here. I did not think that this question would get everyone so riled up.

I know from my research on automotive batteries that there are differences on component quality. I have purchased duracell batteries from Batteries Plus for my cars in the past but I have found that when I purchase my car battery from Ford that they tend to last much longer. I believe they use better components to achieve longer life for the OEM batteries. I wish there were some independent source that can tell us the difference on quality components. I think Consumer Reports does some battery testing but I am not sure if they do those test on Golf cart batteries.

[dundeebarnbuggy]

I would trust BGW reports [decades of testing!] over Consumer Reports [week of testing?] anytime!

[Jd62]

I'm really not sure, don't hesitate to corect me, but i think that crown was the batteries club car used to put as “oem”... maybe they still do like i say i'm really not sure.....

[TahoeDawgZ71]

I prefer Trojan batteries over anything else on the market. Crown batteries would be a close 2nd place, a VERY close 2nd place. I think the only reason I rank the Trojans higher than the Crowns is because they've been proven to me for a longer period of time, but the Crowns seem to be just as good as the Trojans to me. US batteries are also good batteries. Not too fond of anything else.

[HarryT]

Club Car has been using PD (Power Drive) batteries since 2008 that I know of, probably much longer. They start to get weak at the 3 year mark on our course which has really long hills and is very hard on batterys. On our 2012 carts I replaced about 12 batterys. When the first battery went bad, I replaced the whole set in that cart. With the five that were still in pretty good shape I would use them to replace the next batteries in other carts as they went bad. When all were used I would replace all the batterys in another cart and repeat the process. That took us through the fourth year until we replaced the carts. We are in the third year with our new carts and they are starting to use more water but are still holding up pretty well. Most of the batterys will probably make it through 4 years. Our course is in the foothills of the Blueridge mountains so we get some cold weather but are open all year so the cold does not help the situation.
On all the private carts I work on, I use Trojans.
Harry

[scrannel]

I'll get back to you all in three years and see if my Duracells lasted as long as my Trojans (well, maybe sooner),

[JR_ECE]

Originally Posted by scrannel

I'll get back to you all in three years and see if my Duracells lasted as long as my Trojans (well, maybe sooner),

Are you saying a set of Trojan batteries only lasted 3 years for you?

[scrannel]

Originally Posted by JR_ECE

Are you saying a set of Trojan batteries only lasted 3 years for you?

They lasted 8. I'm going on 5 with the Duracells... so 3 more to go for the test to conclude!

[TahoeDawgZ71]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Club Car has been using PD (Power Drive) batteries since 2008 that I know of, probably much longer. They start to get weak at the 3 year mark on our course which has really long hills and is very hard on batterys. On our 2012 carts I replaced about 12 batterys. When the first battery went bad, I replaced the whole set in that cart. With the five that were still in pretty good shape I would use them to replace the next batteries in other carts as they went bad. When all were used I would replace all the batterys in another cart and repeat the process. That took us through the fourth year until we replaced the carts. We are in the third year with our new carts and they are starting to use more water but are still holding up pretty well. Most of the batterys will probably make it through 4 years. Our course is in the foothills of the Blueridge mountains so we get some cold weather but are open all year so the cold does not help the situation.
On all the private carts I work on, I use Trojans.
Harry

Sounds about right. Note that the "PowerDrive" batteries haven't always been made by the same manufacturer. Club Car buys these batteries and relabels them. They used Crown for a while, and later switched to Johnson Controls (JCI). The Crown Batteries were excellent batteries but they had an issue with the speed-caps leaking and getting acid everywhere. This was eventually corrected, but it was too late. They switched vendors to JCI and are still using them to this day. They're a decent battery, but they don't last like a Trojan. I agree with you 100%. They're great batteries to use on a build to sell, but for my own cart I'd go with Trojan. Not to mention around here the Trojans are cheaper than the JCIs from Club Car because they have to come from a dealer. Lots of batteries are made by JCI. Look for the small circular "made in Mexico" sticker on them. It's a dead giveaway that it's a JCI battery.

[JR_ECE]

Originally Posted by scrannel

They lasted 8. I'm going on 5 with the Duracells... so 3 more to go for the test to conclude!

Got it, thanks