Who make the best deep cycle battery?

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Originally Posted by Lonnie84

Been researching batteries since I just bought my first 36v TM and it's do in tomorrow, found a lot good info on here as well as looking at other reviews. I came across the info below while looking at what Walmart had to offer and found it quite helpful. Nothing that's probably not already been posted on here before but I kinda used it make my decision to switch from going with Interstate to the EverStart Maxx Marine Battery, Group Size 29DC which will save me about $150. I had considered the Optima's (which are made by the same company) but at close to $300 each with the Walmart EverStart Maxx and 2 year warranty on the down side I would still get 6 years out of it and on an upside maybe 10 yrs. or more for the same money when compared to the Optima.

from Walmart review: by elcodo
Chatted with a battery engineer at Johnson Controls yesterday. He said that "Johnson Controls is very pleased the Wal-Mart group 29 RV battery is rated very highly by the leading consumer product review company" The engineer also said "Batteries sold by us to different vendors are likely to have different internal construction". This implies a Johnson Control battery sold to Wal-Mart may have different internals than a Johnson Controls battery sold to COSTCO or Interstate battery. Read the foregoing again: It reads MAY and it reads DIFFERENT. It does not read BETTER or WORSE. My personal advice as an old and cranky, retired, lead acid battery design engineer, is to weigh every well represented Johnson Controls RV battery and choose the heaviest. The

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I can say having some experience in the manufacturing field and with a major brand name company that also sells private label products from the manufacturing standpoint it is unlikely that there is much, if any difference from the private branded and brand name labeled product made on the same manufacturing lines.

In this case I would guess that Johnson Controls would be the actual manufacturer and I would not think they bought assembled batteries from different vendors but would assemble the batteries themselves. Again perhaps they have more than one vendor supplying the lead plates or the plastic cases but again due to assembly lines limitations to operating smoothly without controlled specifications once set up I cannot see how it would cost effective unless they had separate lines they ran nothing but the private branded product on.

All the equipment is set up to handle certain parts and it would be a big loss of manufacturing time to have to completely set up the entire line to run something different and not much on an assembly line relies on manual human labor in the process any more.

I do know when we changed from "branded" to "private branded" product we switched out any labels or packaging used with the appropriate branded items. If the private brands plastic parts were a different color we switched out the dye pellets used making the plastic. Other than that the products were identical and much of that was a because of the machinery or production line equipment designed and set up to run a specific product and if you tried to run a "lower" spec product such as a weight or size difference the line would not run as smoothly and the same speeds without being totally reset up for the new products specs.

I do know for a fact that the National brand and private brand would sit side by side on the retail shelf with different printed boxes and the National brand would be priced almost 3 times the private branded product when in fact the product itself was the exact same.

Just not cost effective unless you run extremely large runs and rarely change products. On the other hand packaging, and label changes, even plastic color changes can be done with minimum down time, maybe an hour or so and the line is back up to running full speed where again changing product it may take the better part of a day to fine tune the adjustments to be able to run flat out problem free.

Not saying this is the case with the Johnson Control batteries but I would bet it is a good possibility. Just like Deka makes the group 31 deep cycle Napa branded and Duracell battery sold at Sams club. Even though the Sams club battery is cheaper I would bet they are the exact same battery. Napa does offer a little longer warranty but you are paying about 40.00 more for that extra warranty.

That same battery is also sold I believe by Batteries + and O'Reillys under even more different brand names. I would doubt each brand is manufactured to different specs.

Optima batteries are now made in Mexico. The quality is lacking and the warranty has now been shortened .
I use to run them in the truck and boat. Still have a blue top in the truck.
I have found some Chinese batteries, of very good quality, however .
:twocents

Battery maintenance will make most equal . I got as many years from Walmart batteries as I did optima . JMO.:juggle

Been employed as a EMT(electronics maintenance technician) since 1984.Have had/used a wide variety of deep cycle batteries through the years.Always compared CCA or MCA to assess battery durability.Have had /used a load tester for years to be able to gauge batteries before usage.Have charged,stored batteries during below freezing winter weather in my basement...Found out only recently there has been big changes in the "Marine Deep Cycle" batteries sold by Wally World.(Johnson Controls)Last several sets have been group 29's.(My wife works for WM and we get the Associate discount).
In the past I could pull crank baits over 8 hours and still have battery power left.The last set I bought could not begin to provide anything close to my older batteries.Maybe 4-5 hours at best.Please realize both were group 29's from WM but not an even close equivalent to each other .Different makers will manipulate their ratings to deceive the consumer .....My current set of group 29 batteries only show 845 Marine Cranking Amps,and Amp Hours @ 1A 114 (they do not display any rating for Reserve Capacity or RC)...Reserve capacity is the one and only rating you need to see and concider when buying or comparing batteries.The number of minutes a fully charged battery at 80 degrees will discharge 25 amps until the battery drops below 10.5 volts.RC is the only legitimate standardized battery rating.
You will see fellas touting how good or durable their batteries are...An example is the Trojan 1275 golf cart battery rated at 280 RC.No wonder users like that battery.That is a high RC rating.My advise is to compare your current batteries RC to gauge what you have.
My old and new group 29 WM batteries were about like comparing apples and oranges.There was no comparison.Even with a discount I will never again buy another from WM or any other battery without the RC rating available.Going to buy a set of VMAX MR137-120's rated at 230 RC from the company.They are AGM batteries and with my boat weight should perform just fine.
I am sorry this has been long-winded...Hope it helps someone so they do not get short changed(screwed) like I was.

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Originally Posted by Snagged again

Been employed as a EMT(electronics maintenance technician) since 1984.Have had/used a wide variety of deep cycle batteries through the years.Always compared CCA or MCA to assess battery durability.Have had /used a load tester for years to be able to gauge batteries before usage.Have charged,stored batteries during below freezing winter weather in my basement...Found out only recently there has been big changes in the "Marine Deep Cycle" batteries sold by Wally World.(Johnson Controls)Last several sets have been group 29's.(My wife works for WM and we get the Associate discount).
In the past I could pull crank baits over 8 hours and still have battery power left.The last set I bought could not begin to provide anything close to my older batteries.Maybe 4-5 hours at best.Please realize both were group 29's from WM but not an even close equivalent to each other .Different makers will manipulate their ratings to deceive the consumer .....My current set of group 29 batteries only show 845 Marine Cranking Amps,and Amp Hours @ 1A 114 (they do not display any rating for Reserve Capacity or RC)...Reserve capacity is the one and only rating you need to see and concider when buying or comparing batteries.The number of minutes a fully charged battery at 80 degrees will discharge 25 amps until the battery drops below 10.5 volts.RC is the only legitimate standardized battery rating.
You will see fellas touting how good or durable their batteries are...An example is the Trojan 1275 golf cart battery rated at 280 RC.No wonder users like that battery.That is a high RC rating.My advise is to compare your current batteries RC to gauge what you have.
My old and new group 29 WM batteries were about like comparing apples and oranges.There was no comparison.Even with a discount I will never again buy another from WM or any other battery without the RC rating available.Going to buy a set of VMAX MR137-120's rated at 230 RC from the company.They are AGM batteries and with my boat weight should perform just fine.
I am sorry this has been long-winded...Hope it helps someone so they do not get short changed(screwed) like I was.

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Did you ever wonder why 1 group of people will say brand X is the worse battery made while another group will say brand X is the greatest? There is a good reason for this. The following was taken from another web site that explains why. (BTW, I prefer Delco Voyager)

"Lead-acid battery manufacturers, distributors, exporters/importers, large chain/auto parts stores, or major dealers will often private label their batteries, for example in the North America, EverStart is private label for Walmart and DieHard for Sears and Kmart. These stores might have these private labeled batteries made by several manufacturers depending on the location to reduce shipping costs or to provide different types or sizes of batteries. Contracts with manufacturers might change."

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Originally Posted by Barnacle Bill

Did you ever wonder why 1 group of people will say brand X is the worse battery made while another group will say brand X is the greatest? There is a good reason for this. The following was taken from another web site that explains why. (BTW, I prefer Delco Voyager)

"Lead-acid battery manufacturers, distributors, exporters/importers, large chain/auto parts stores, or major dealers will often private label their batteries, for example in the North America, EverStart is private label for Walmart and DieHard for Sears and Kmart. These stores might have these private labeled batteries made by several manufacturers depending on the location to reduce shipping costs or to provide different types or sizes of batteries. Contracts with manufacturers might change."

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The jest of taking the time to relate the information has absolutely nothing to do with brand loyalty or disdain Bill but instead everything to do with letting other CDC members know RC is the "gold standard" of battery ratings regardless of brand.Looks like you misunderstood....

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Originally Posted by Snagged again

The jest of taking the time to relate the information has absolutely nothing to do with brand loyalty or disdain Bill but instead everything to do with letting other CDC members know RC is the "gold standard" of battery ratings regardless of brand.Looks like you misunderstood....

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Could be and wouldn't be the first time. I was just trying to point out why it is that you can buy a set of batteries from a big box store and get good service out of them but the next time you buy the same ones from the same store in another part of the country and they don't last.

​East Penn.

Hey Bill,
Yes I will stand by my statement the reason I took time to compose and type my 2 cents was to help others understand battery ratings.A battery is nothing more than a energy storage medium.Your point in case is I got what I would consider good service from at least a couple sets of WM group 29 deep cycle batteries.They were completely different than the last set I purchased.Had the exact same thing happen to a friend at work who had used group 24's for several years.What they sell now is not the same as what they had been selling in the past.My hope was to "save" someone from falling into the same trap I and my friend did...I by no means meant to advertise or promote any battery.It's a free country,we all are free to make our own decisions on battery purchases or whatever.
Personally I am anxious to move from wet cells to AGM's for several reasons.The first is longevity.Charge/discharge cycle ratings.There are several other reasons.I looked at Optimas and again the RC ratings were much lower.I cannot vouch for Vmax's but the ratings are good.I decided to settle on a set of batteries with a RC of 230.They produce batteries with a much lower RC up to a RC of 300.
Back to your question of big box stores producing low RC rated batteries.......My suspicion would be in this day and age of cutting all cost the big box stores do not really care one iota if they sell you a lesser product so long as you buy it.....I won't...Any manufacturer who does not list (WM) Reserve Capacity will never again get my business...
Whenever you have a chance take a look at your Delco's to see if they have a reserve capacity rating.Some makes do,some makes do not.Several years ago I too had used Delco's,Gould,Sears (Diehards),and others...

Made in the USA Options

Made with pride in the USA, these batteries are built to last, and perform above and beyond foreign competitors.

East Penn has the largest battery manufacturing plant in America. They produce Deka, MK, O'Rielly's SuperStart (unless the model number ends in with a "J"), Sam's Club Duracell, as well as others.
East Penn Manufacturing | Marine batteries

Odyessy, also produces excellent American-made batteries. Odyssey Marine Batteries

Lifeline batteries are expensive and excellent. https://www.impactbattery.com/brands/lifeline/


***Johnson Controls make (Die-Hard, Interstate, EverStart, DuraLast, Exide, as well as many others). Since 2010 the majority of their batteries are produced in Mexico, ​NOT THE UNITED STATES. U.S. law requires that they label all the batteries made in Mexico.

Like with some other products now days, just buying by the label name, that meant quality in the past, does not mean today's quality is the same.