Deka vs. Interstate AGM for chassis?

[Naio]

I've been calling around locally for a group 65 AGM starting battery. I have a choice between a Duralast Platinum, which the interwebs tell me is a rebranded Deka Intimidator, or a Motorcraft, which I understand is an Interstate. They are both about $200 and have similar warranties.

Which one should I get?

Or is there somewhere online that is so cheap that it would make sense even with shipping? (I am not made of money, not buying an Odyssey...)

Thanks much 🙂

[filrupmark]

We have 4 year old Deka AGMs in our fiver . I liked them and purchased some energizers for our TV. Energizer is a Deka brand also from Batteries Plus.

[Naio]

Edit: Nope, turns out O'Reilly in Batteries Plus are Johnson now. The only place I found a deka, it has an 18-month warranty 😞

[Naio]

Thank you, everyone :-).

Boy, is it hard to find specs for these rebranded batteries online. No luck so far, although I did like the suggestion of checking the specs!

The Interstate would be from a local supplier, and not an Interstate store. For some reason the interstate store said that they only group 65 they had was $300.

Since it sounds like they are roughly equivalent, I think I should go with the rebranded Deka, because I can get it from a big supplier chain, like O'Reilly or Batteries Plus, and that will be easier for warranty stuff on the road. (Another suggestion I very much appreciated).

As for why AGM, it's because I have brain problems. I have AGM house batteries, and my experience over the past few years of traveling is that if I have a wet cell for the chassis battery, I screw it up. I don't remember that they want different charging voltages, and have a different voltage when fully charged.

I do also have parasitic drains, and a tendency to park for extended periods of time. I try to keep things topped off with solar and plug-in chargers, but resilience is good.

[CharlesinGA]

I bought a 2003 Dodge 2500 with a Cummins and 6 spd, at the end of February. It was built on 6Jan03 and had the original Damiler Chrysler batteries in it, two "green eye" (Delco/Delphi) batteries with the Damiler Chrysler labels on them. They were sluggish but started the diesel. First thing I did was shop around for the cheapest deal on AGM batteries, two group 65's. The only sale I found was Pep Boys, Bosch, 25% off, so they were $150 rather than $200 like everyone else. I just looked, the 25% off offer at Pep Boys is still going, until May 31 and does still include batteries. It says online purchases, but I just went in the store, actually a Pep Boys shop not attached to a store, and they honored the price, ordered in the batteries and I picked them up the next day and left my old batteries.

https://www.pepboys.com/product/details/838869/01660/2003/DODGE/RAM%25202500%2520PICKUP/0/6-360%2520...

Charles

[wa8yxm]

DEKA (East Penn battery Company) is the only 100% us made battery so naturally I recommend them.

But that is about the only major difference> Both DEKA and Intersteate are good batteries. I switched from Inerstate to Deka in 2014.. One difference (however this is not fair) is with the Intersteates I had to add water annually Even after expanding the battery bank.. With the DEKA's 3 years and 10 months before I added water.. Now if the overall life is as long as the water life....

But A lot more battery than when I started .

[MEXICOWANDERER]

One point...

An AGM can withstand an "Awww...@#$%&*! forgot to turn the headlights off" Reminds me I have to design a daytime running lights setup for the toad. Wish I can design and install a daytime extendo-punching-bag setup that detects drivers using cell phones.

[brulaz]

landyacht318 wrote:

...
I would personally not even bother with an AGM for starting if all it was ever going to do was start the engine and remain 99% charged for its lifespan.
...

Good point.

But modern vehicles seem to have a lot of parasitic loads. I could leave my old F150 for a couple on months, no problem. But with the new RAM, I gotta pull the neg leads if storing for more than 3 weeks.

So if you don't drive or store a newer vehicle for any length of time, I'd consider an AGM.

[MEXICOWANDERER]

More than half of Johnson Controls's batteries are made in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico. This means Sears, yadda, Interstate, yadda...

[jerseyjim]

DEKA is made in Pennsylvania. Google Johnson Controls. Has a listing of all the battery NAMES they make. Includes Interstate, includes a list of house brands.

Question : Are the Johnson Control batteries really different...quality-wise? Is the INTERSTATE brand (name) a better battery than their "house brand" batteries?

[MEXICOWANDERER]

A wet 65 is an acid starved problem child with an 800-900 CCA rating. It's a big battery not quite the capacity of a group 31.

There isn't an overload of AGM batteries that are made in the USA. Does DEKA say their product is domestic? How about Johnson Controls?

How easy would it be to warranty either while on the road?

[time2roll]

Either is fine. I run a standard wet cell from Costco. Why AGM? (since you mentioned money)

[MDKMDK]

AGMs make sense if you're in a climate where it gets regularly colder than 32F. I've used them for years for that reason, without a failure.

[landyacht318]

A group 65 starting battery is likely not going to be discharged much at all, and when they are not deep cycled their charge voltage is not nearly as important as if they were cyled to 50%.

I would personally not even bother with an AGM for starting if all it was ever going to do was start the engine and remain 99% charged for its lifespan.

Group 65 with their squatter less tall footprint, all seem to have higher CCA than an equal weight group 24. A group 27 or 31 footprint is smaller being not as wide, but they are a bit taller.

[MDKMDK]

Sam's Club has some Duracell (East Penn) Group34 AGMs that aren't the worst option you could choose for a starting battery. Reasonably priced.