Well, the bat-trees are ed, girl is very slow to start. Alt is good, 14.20(left)/14.22(right)VDC at idle. I know I shouldn't be driving her like this but I kinda have no choice right now (as I said on the last thread, we aren't in a financial position for new bat-trees), I leave at 4 every morning and can't have Sarah drop me off because of all the gear I need for work. She only has to hang on until Friday morning (I leave on a 2 week training exercise) to get me to base, at which point I will disconnect the cables in HOPE that they will hold enough for 1 last start when I get back (at which point I will be going straight to pick up new twins). Funding will be coming from not going through $300 worth of fuel/cigrits/energy drinks during those 2 weeks.




Startup is identical to this
testing my 7.3 powerstroke batteries part 4 - YouTube

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BOTH of our registrations had to be renewed this month ($468 for mine, $172 for hers)

 

Even though I despise the place, Wal-mart had the cheapest batteries when I looked, they had 850CCA batteris for like $80 a piece for our trucks. Plus they have a good warranty there and you can usually find a 24 hour one around anywhere now. I went with Napa batt's 880CCA, pretty cheap still, start the truck lightning fast. Most batteries are made by the same people anyways, just rebadged.

 

I'm budgeting for CAT 880s, $140/ea

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Ummm...at idle in the cab she sounds kinda like there's a low rumble/gurgle (normal 6.0 turbo howl outside). I don't really remember hearing this before...or am I just paranoid? Lol

 

I got the Napa 880's and I know they were less money than that... I'd bet they're the exact same batteries too.

Hmmm... a rumble/gurgle?? What does it sound like to you?

 

I am a tech for cat, our batteries are some of the best out there. They have more lead in them than any other brand, thats why they are so pricey. But you cant go wrong with them

 

Delphi, Exide, and Johnson Controls are basically the only batteries available. Those three companies probably make 95% of the automotive batteries sold in the US, they're all just relabeled versions of those three. I'd be shocked to find out that CAT was designing and manufacturing their own batteries.

 

They are a Cat specific design and are manufactered by a company called firefly energy

 

Looks like Firefly energy filed for bankruptcy in 2010...

Also from what I've read, they didn't even make lead acid batteries, so that doesn't really coincide with the theory that "CAT uses more lead" in their batteries. They used graphite foam instead of lead? Interesting stuff.

I'm not saying what you're telling me isn't true, but what I am getting at is a lot of us don't know exactly where these batteries come from, but we do know there are only 3 major manufacturers in all of the US, so the chances that they come from one of them is pretty good. Also it looks like Firefly Energy started in 2007, and was dead by 2010, so even if CAT did use them at one point... it wasn't for very long.

Interesting talk about who makes CAT batteries here: http://www.thetruckersreport.com/tru...tteries-3.html

Another link here: http://www.heavyequipmentforums.com/.../t-21942.html?

 

Thats interesting. Ill try to dig a little deeper into this and get some real facts from our parts manager. Sounds like i have been miss informed about our batteries

 

Yeah I'd be interested to hear what you can find out... so much misinformation out there!