Battery replacement

You can save some money buying DEKA GC2 6 volt batteries from places like Batteries Plus and others. The DEKA and the Interstate are both made by East Penn Battery Corp.

Most automotive batteries made in America are manufactured by one of two companies: Johnson Controls, Inc. or Exide Technologies. The dominant replacement market brand names, Interstate and DieHard, are both Johnson Controls products, as is the Optima brand.
Usually the batteries are the same except for the badging.

Don't buy the Interstates! Buy Deka AGM 240 each I think or less.
Interstates when the company bought Johnson Controls many years ago now and just up the road, started making the Interstate brand after a year made them with thinner plates etc but their marketing was great. On my daughters truck I replaced Interstate batteries from Wal Mart about every year.
Wife stuck on the side of the road with factory batter about to explode, north of Atlanta, in 2018 bought an Interstate from a gas station down the hill from the road. 2019 it went bad and in a series of event cascaded into $4,000.00 in repairs the batter would not hold a charge and in Shawnee, Oklahoma, the Parts stores would no replace it because the mechanic did not punch out the date of purchase, unknown to my wife. Johnson Controls makes a lot of batteries under different names and quality, and I have no idea which one to recommend if any. Teh battery n my AMG is over ten years old, I don't know the brand and hard to get too. I find out I may put them in my other vehicles.

Consider twin SiO2--or one 216 amp-hour unit.

lryrob9301 wrote:
You can save some money buying DEKA GC2 6 volt batteries from places like Batteries Plus and others. The DEKA and the Interstate are both made by East Penn Battery Corp.

Can you prove Interstate is made by East Penn?

Retired JSO wrote:
Most automotive batteries made in America are manufactured by one of two companies: Johnson Controls, Inc. or Exide Technologies. The dominant replacement market brand names, Interstate and DieHard, are both Johnson Controls products, as is the Optima brand.
Usually the batteries are the same except for the badging.

What about East Penn???

Retired JSO wrote:
Most automotive batteries made in America are manufactured by one of two companies: Johnson Controls, Inc. or Exide Technologies. The dominant replacement market brand names, Interstate and DieHard, are both Johnson Controls products, as is the Optima brand.
Usually the batteries are the same except for the badging.

Same parent mfg company has little bearing on the quality of battery as they're not all made to the same specs.
The wives tales about how all batteries are made by Johnson or East Penn, so they're the same, are flat wore out.

pianotuna wrote:
Consider twin SiO2--or one 216 amp-hour unit.

Good option, if the guy can get his money's worth out of $1000 worth of batteries.
Many don't need that level of battery power though, or the cost that goes with it.

I have 4 - 6V Interstate GC2's that I bought on June 19, 2013.

They have been excellent for me in spite of the up and down charging over the years, and less than stellar maintenance by me. Sometimes they will be drained way down, other times kept right up. Many times they have been charged by my Honda 2000 genny.

They sit unused all winter in freezing Alberta weather. They have never had a trickle charger on them to maintain charge.
Every spring they have been ready for use, and even though sat freezing for months, will always power out the slide.
I have forgotten to switch my battery cutoff a few times, resulting in them draining to completely flat.

Although they are showing signs of weakening, they are still going, holding a charge and functioning well for me.

Over 8 years and counting.

I will likely replace them next spring. And I would not hesitate to buy the same batteries again.

jgrimes wrote:
Need to replace my two 6 volt golf cart batteries in my Solitude. Does anyone have any experience with the Interstate GC2ECL 6 VOLTS?

These will serve you well. Charging and maintenance is far more important than brand. Lots of Interstate dealers around if you need service on the road.