The Ford Barn - View Single Post - Forget Finding an Honest Man Diogenes, Find Me a Good Battery

DougVieyra · 01-11-2016, 08:06 PM

As someone who lives his everyday life with batteries (I live 'Off-Grid', and have solar-powered battery banks as my sole source of electricity), I can tell you battery life is (well, 95%) all about close-watching maintenance. By closely monitoring and 'attending to' your batteries, they will last a long, long time (7 years is my minimum, with 10 years not uncommon).

With a 10 - 20 minute reading of several 'Google Searches' on 'Maintaining 6 and 12 Volt batteries' one will find a plethora of pertinent information on how you can get an easy 6 to 8 years of life out of your battery. But it is like brushing your teeth. Having the toothbrush and toothpaste is not enough. You have to actually USE IT frequently and regularly.

I live in a rural timber/ranching area where ranch and farm supply stores are common. Here just about every 4th guy has a tractor that takes a 6 (or 8) volt battery; so they won't be going 'out of style' anytime soon. However, I get my 6 volt batteries (every 8 years of so) from my local Interstate Warehouse. For my 12 Volt batteries, it's hard to beat COSTCO's Kirkland batteries.

01-11-2016, 08:06 PM	#12
DougVieyra Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2012 Location: Eureka, California Posts: 1,716	Re: Forget Finding an Honest Man Diogenes, Find Me a Good Battery As someone who lives his everyday life with batteries (I live 'Off-Grid', and have solar-powered battery banks as my sole source of electricity), I can tell you battery life is (well, 95%) all about close-watching maintenance. By closely monitoring and 'attending to' your batteries, they will last a long, long time (7 years is my minimum, with 10 years not uncommon). With a 10 - 20 minute reading of several 'Google Searches' on 'Maintaining 6 and 12 Volt batteries' one will find a plethora of pertinent information on how you can get an easy 6 to 8 years of life out of your battery. But it is like brushing your teeth. Having the toothbrush and toothpaste is not enough. You have to actually USE IT frequently and regularly. I live in a rural timber/ranching area where ranch and farm supply stores are common. Here just about every 4th guy has a tractor that takes a 6 (or 8) volt battery; so they won't be going 'out of style' anytime soon. However, I get my 6 volt batteries (every 8 years of so) from my local Interstate Warehouse. For my 12 Volt batteries, it's hard to beat COSTCO's Kirkland batteries.