New truck battery question

[Little Dutch]

My 1990 f150 failed to start while deer hunting. It was 6 AM and cold as sin. I was attempting to start the truck to get some heat so I didn't die. I turned the key and all the lights went out, indicating a dead battery.

I had left the headlights on for 2 hours the afternoon before. This is not uncommon for me, it doesn't ding when I exit the vehicle if they are on.

After the morning hunt, around 10 AM, the day had warmed up some and I tried the truck again. It fired up just fine, I would have never guessed it looked dead 4 hours earlier.

Battery terminals look great, no corrosion. Current battery is an American Batteries cheapie.

Bottom line is that's a dangerous situation for me. I need my truck to turn over at 2AM when I'm leaving the ice fishing lake and it's zero outside. I leave for Craig for my elk hunt Friday too.

I'm thinking a Duracell Gold or a Duracell AGM battery. Thoughts?

[Ah Pook]

I only use Interstate batteries. Some auto stores will do a stress test on the battery but it sounds like it's time for a new one.

[Grant H.]

Optima Yellow Top.

Two hours of headlights, not running, is a great way to kill a standard SLI (Starting, Lighting, Ignition) battery. Standard SLI batteries (99.99999% of all automotive batteries) begin to degrade if they are discharged beyond 3-5% of their capacity. They are designed to have high CCA (cold cranking amps) for very short periods of time. Starting a healthy vehicle.

The yellow tops are designed to support deeper discharge without the physical damage that occurs in an SLI battery that is drained more than 10%.

[UncleDave]

Interstate batteries are the best, IMHO. That's 25+ years of professional experience with them.

[Tim K]

The above is correct. Adding to it, every time you flatten a lead acid battery by leaving the lights on till it goes to zero volts you permanently lose 1% of its capacity. Way back when I was building batteries and chargers for airplanes, we did a bunch of testing on commercially available lead acid batteries. Optima was so far ahead of everything else it was just silly.

[BushMasterBoy]

Possible parasitic draw. Can you measure the current flow using an ammeter with the truck not running? Make sure cab light is off. There should be zero flow with truck not running. Also make sure battery posts and and clamps are shiny clean. Vapors from battery acid can form thin film of corrosion. I usually put a thin film of grease on battery posts


https://www.dewitzdiagnosticsolution...990-ford-f150/

[Grant H.]

Possible parasitic draw. Can you measure the current flow using an ammeter with the truck not running? Make sure cab light is off. There should be zero flow with truck not running. Also make sure battery posts and and clamps are shiny clean. Vapors from battery acid can form thin film of corrosion. I usually put a thin film of grease on battery posts


https://www.dewitzdiagnosticsolution...990-ford-f150/

Most current era vehicles will have small draws even when off. The continual increase of electronics, computers, etc requires it.

Putting a thin layer of grease over the connected posts and terminals is a good idea, to help delay oxidation. But putting it between the post and terminal can cause issues too, unless you are using specific dielectric grease that is conductive.

[O2HeN2]

Check the battery and if it checks out OK, here's my two year odyssey in a couple sentences:

Everything looked fine on my F150 but still, after replacing the alternator, battery and starter, it sometimes would be [almost] dead as a doornail [clicking] when I'd try to start it, then 15 minutes later it'd start right up.

Finally one day when it wouldn't start I climbed under the truck with one side of a jumper cable connected to the + on the battery, hit the starter directly and it fired right up, which is a really exciting thing to do while laying under the truck...

Turns out I had severe corrosion in the cable between the battery and starter, about an inch after the insulating jacket started up by the battery. Because the cable was long enough I cut it off where good copper was, attached a terminal clamp to it and it has been good to go since then.

I get my batteries from WalMart. Johnson Controls makes them, and they're at a great price-performance point. You don't need anything fancy.

O2

[sbgixxer]

If you want a long lasting powerful battery, check out X2Power from batteries plus. You'll pay for it but they're great. I put one in my FJ Cruiser since the Panasonic that lasted 10 years isn't available in America. I'm on year four now and would absolutely do it again.

[Linkless]

The new jump start boxes with the lithium batteries are very compact and reasonably priced. I put one in both of my cars, bonus that it can power my electric clay launcher when needed as well.