# I think I found the best battery for snow plowing



## plowzilla (Nov 19, 2004)

I went to check out the new DieHard Platinum battery. I was very impressed with it so I shelled out the 179.00 for it.
It has 980 cc amps, 4year return warranty (with 100 month prorated), and the hook for me was the 135 minute reserve capacity and this is not the marine battery either!!! Other features are:it will last 2 years in storage without a charge, specially designed to reduce vibration, withstands a temp. to -45F, permanently sealed so no leaking, and is produces28% more charge than spiral (optima) batteries.
What kills or shortens the duration of a batteries life is draining the charge to low. This often happens with plow trucks. They have a plow motors, lights, strobes, reverse lights, radio, defrost, windshield wipers, salt spreaders, etc all going on at the same time. This is where the reserve capacity comes in handy. You can drain the reserve all the time and it will recharge with out damaging the battery.
I have seen alot of questions on batteries so I thought my 2 1/2 cents worth might help.


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## yamaguy (Aug 26, 2007)

What makes you so special that you have an extra 1/2 cent? j/k


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## xtreem3d (Nov 26, 2005)

that's a pretty impressive battery, thanks for the heads up,
here is another one but i don't know a whole lot about it,
http://www.rockracingbattery.com/


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## NJ Plowman (Dec 10, 2003)

Megatron makes great batteries, as well as those guys with the red and yellow tops. Unfortunately EVERYBODY in the mechanical business says Sears batteries are the worst. They have like an 80 percent failure rate within the first year.


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## MOWBIZZ (Sep 11, 2007)

*In past experience with Die Hards...*

I agree with the statement about the high failure rate...had one that failed in the first year, not even plowing...just my everyday vehicle. The guy behind the counter at my local Autozone was very honest with me about the Duralast brand...said the top line "gold" was basically junk with a high fail rate...he recommended the next one down saying they rarely fail...this would be the 750cca model. He even recommended Walmart batteries as being excellent as well (Everstart?) I had good luck with Duralast in my last vehicle but that was just my everyday SUV as well...no heavy draw or plowing. 
My 2004 F250 with only 8000 miles on it is a candidate for a new battery because of the time factor, so I'm in the same battery dilemma. What to buy???
Oh yes, not to bash anyone's preferance but the autozone guy said the optima's were not worth it either...said they were for " the kids" lol
I'm guessing he meant they were "gimmicky"


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## bribrius (May 5, 2007)

just like in the other battery thread. i say get a boat/marine battery. worth the money. made to better quality standards. very tough.


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## Dissociative (Feb 28, 2007)

i run dual yellow tops and man...you can' t drain em....24 hours working ...not even low...


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## TNT Lawncare (Oct 23, 2006)

I used to work at Autozone. Autozone, Sears, Walmart, and many other batteries are all made by the same company, which is Johnson Controls. The insides are the same, the cases are different. Thats it.


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## KGRlandscapeing (May 2, 2007)

bribrius;425689 said:


> just like in the other battery thread. i say get a boat/marine battery. worth the money. made to better quality standards. very tough.


i think u have apoint used to run a deep cycle marine batt in my first truck and everyday id go out climb in and put the key in and that truck would crank over like it was 75 out and sunny and the lights didnt dim that bad either except the cd player would skip the back of it wasnt tied down that well and it was a cheapy walmart one. still the way to go deep cycle


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## Metro Lawn (Nov 20, 2003)

As long as you have a good alt., it really doesn't matter what battery you have. I buy the highest CCA batteries I can for starting my diesels ect., because I don't plug them in. I was just looking at the specs on new trucks. Both use the same battery, but with the plow prep package the alt. goes from 110 amp to 160 amp. You need enough alt. amps to keep the battery charged not the other way around.


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## MileHigh (Nov 6, 2007)

Metro Lawn;483058 said:


> As long as you have a good alt., it really doesn't matter what battery you have. I buy the highest CCA batteries I can for starting my diesels ect., because I don't plug them in. I was just looking at the specs on new trucks. Both use the same battery, but with the plow prep package the alt. goes from 110 amp to 160 amp. You need enough alt. amps to keep the battery charged not the other way around.


Yes, but the plow drains power immediately from your battery...so if your battery isn't big enough, and or, your alternator isn't charging quick enough your in the same boat. That's why it's good to run two batteries...like having a bigger tank to pull from all night and day as you plow. I've heard your alternator only reaches the right charge output @ high rpm's.. when plowing your hardly ever @ high rpm's, so that along with It being used much more than usual all has a huge strain on the charging system. That's why a big battery or dual batteries is never a bad thing, only good .


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## Metro Lawn (Nov 20, 2003)

bladescape2;483101 said:


> Yes, but the plow drains power immediately from your battery...so if your battery isn't big enough, and or, your alternator isn't charging quick enough your in the same boat. That's why it's good to run two batteries...like having a bigger tank to pull from all night and day as you plow. I've heard your alternator only reaches the right charge output @ high rpm's.. when plowing your hardly ever @ high rpm's, so that along with It being used much more than usual all has a huge strain on the charging system. That's why a big battery or dual batteries is never a bad thing, only good .


In 23 years I have never founf that to be the case unless you just have a bad battery from the get go. I upgraded all my alt. to 160s and now when plowing with the lights, beacons, heat, radio, ect on the alt. gauge barely budges. With a 110 amp and dual batteries it would drop from 14 down to 10 or 12. Just my opinion. Every truck and plow combo is a bit different.


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## MileHigh (Nov 6, 2007)

Metro Lawn;483112 said:


> In 23 years I have never founf that to be the case unless you just have a bad battery from the get go. I upgraded all my alt. to 160s and now when plowing with the lights, beacons, heat, radio, ect on the alt. gauge barely budges. With a 110 amp and dual batteries it would drop from 14 down to 10 or 12. Just my opinion. Every truck and plow combo is a bit different.


I can believe that.


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## nicksplowing (Oct 5, 2005)

bladescape2;483119 said:


> I can believe that.


*BELIEVE IT ALL MY TRUCKS HAVE UPGRADED ALTERNATORS (160 AMPS) WITH ONE AC DELCO 78 DUAL TERMINAL BATTERY AND I HAVE HAD THE SAME RESULTS VOLT GAUGE BARELY MOVES LIGHTS BARELY DIMwesport THE MORE AMPS THE BETTER wesport*


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## mulcahy mowing (Jan 16, 2006)

plowzilla;424312 said:


> I went to check out the new DieHard Platinum battery. I was very impressed with it so I shelled out the 179.00 for it.
> It has 980 cc amps, 4year return warranty (with 100 month prorated), and the hook for me was the 135 minute reserve capacity and this is not the marine battery either!!! Other features are:it will last 2 years in storage without a charge, specially designed to reduce vibration, withstands a temp. to -45F, permanently sealed so no leaking, and is produces28% more charge than spiral (optima) batteries.
> What kills or shortens the duration of a batteries life is draining the charge to low. This often happens with plow trucks. They have a plow motors, lights, strobes, reverse lights, radio, defrost, windshield wipers, salt spreaders, etc all going on at the same time. This is where the reserve capacity comes in handy. You can drain the reserve all the time and it will recharge with out damaging the battery.
> I have seen alot of questions on batteries so I thought my 2 1/2 cents worth might help.


props good post!


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