Battery: What's Your Best Pick?

I have the OEM battery that came with my 2018; it now has 57K miles. I've heard may Tundra batteries mysteriously give up the ghost at the 36 month mark, while others last longer. If that's true, mine's on borrowed time. I have no hesitation with starting; I haven't checked its performance on a multimeter. Electrical drain is bone stock. I'm fond of burning Benjamins to stay warm so I'm planning to just purchase a new battery some time in the next couple months and am all but settled on the Interstate MTZ-34R. It's an AGM that's not $54bazillion and the Interstate company is solid.

What is your favorite battery and why?

 

One thing to consider is that the Tundra's charging voltage is usually just a bit below what many (all?) AGM's prefer. There are a handful of ways to rectify this, the most simple being swapping the ALT-S fuse to the GM diode to increase charging voltage ~0.5v into the mid 14s.

I've had great success with Northstar AGMs (same as the ever popular X2Power) and run a replacement 27F as well as an aux. group 31 in my Tundra; as well as a 27F aux. in our 4Runner. Before the Northstars I had some Champion AGM's (they are built by Johnson Controls), the aux battery only lasted about 10 months before it started losing capacity (no serious discharges, always kept >12v, etc) and I replaced it with the Northstar. The Champion AGM starting battery is ~2 years old at this point and definitely not at its peak performance any more, but is working fine.

I'm generally not a fan of decreasing a vehicle's battery size/capacity, so it's interesting to see you go with a 34R, I guess if you aren't concerned about the aH/RC it should work fine as it has plenty of CCAs

 

what exactly did you do in order to get the proper charging per agm northstar 27F for your tundra? Do you know if the charging output is where it needs to be for the toyota tundra?

 

Interstate MTZ-34R will suit you just fine- + Interstate makes one of the Best batteries available!

 

GM charging diode in place of the ALT-S fuse, and yes, current charge voltage is around 14.5v; Northstar states their AGMs require charging voltages to be either between 14.4-14.8 or between 14.1-14.8 depending on where you're reading it

 

how much volts is actually charging the battery per the toyota tundra and how much voltage charging with diode?

 

+1 for the Northstar 27f. Spendy but buy once cry once

 

I'm not sure what you mean in regards to the alternator? The diode doesn't change the amperage output of the alternator, simply increases the voltage slightly.

Stock charging voltage is in the high 13s to around 14.0v; the diode increases charging voltage by approximately 0.5v to around 14.5. This voltage is still dependent on what the truck thinks it needs (thus there is fluctuation), however the actual output voltage is just 0.5v higher than it thinks.

 

Northstar 27f requires 14.7-14.8 how is 0.5v more making any difference using that charging diode..

 

$11 General Motors, DIODE, 12135037

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B008Y8XCDW/?coliid=I1SDZST1F2Z3DL&colid=3313QK6L78XGN&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it

 

I tried an X2 Power AGM from Batteries Plus and had nothing but issues.
Only got it because I bought into the hype of the honored and cherished AGM fans.

That $300 AGM X2 didn't start my truck any better than the $125 Interstate MTP-27F battery does.
I even bought a HKB Electronics Alternator Voltage Booster - MK2 Micro blade 5A that upped the charging volts to 14.6.
It still died on me twice in 6 months.

As well that AGM was the first new battery that ever failed on me in my 42 years of driving.
I traded that $300 X2 in on an Interstate MTP-27F for a $25 core charge and felt good about it...

Fu(k AGMs and Batteries Plus...

There are several posts and threads on this and other forums that say these AGMs need to be 'topped' off monthly, no matter what.

I'd suggest buying a non-AGM Interstate MTP-27F battery and be done with it....

 

I have used nothing but Toyota branded batteries since late 1998, just make sure it has higher than recommended cold cranking amps, and top off the fluid with distilled water from time to time.

 

I swapped out my stock battery for an Interstate within the first year due to reading all the problems with the stock battery here.

 

I reached out to Northstar a while back and asked about charging voltage, here is their response:

"Thanks for your email. Standard voltage regulation on vehicles is perfectly fine for all Thin Plate Pure Lead batteries (both Odyssey and NorthStar). The challenge often times comes from too small of an alternator (not enough amps to reach voltage regulation), voltage drop (typically only an issue if battery is not under the hood), or not enough time to reach full charge. We typically DO NOT recommend a voltage step up in automotive applications as it will increase the potential of overcharging and thus dry out of the battery. The vehicles alternator (assuming good amperage output) will provde the energy needed to charge the battery back up under most conditions and a trickle charge is not needed unless the vehicle is left without running for weeks/months and then a trickle charge is needed to maintain a fully charged battery unless the battery is disconnected from the vehicle. I hope this helps, let me know if you have any other questions."

So basically, you don't need to up your charge voltage.....that being said, I have the booster, but I have a lot of stereo.

 

Oooooo, they’re not going to like you posting that! I’ve been saying the same thing for years but you have people who think they know better than the engineers that actually created the battery.
I’ve ran AGM on a 90amp alt. for years with zero issues. Most Tundras have a 130amp alt (tow package) so there is absolutely no reason to use a voltage step-up device or charge it once a month. I’m OCD about shit but this subject has become a solution looking for a problem.

 

On the battery itself it states the charge range should be 14.4-14.8, not 14.7-14.8.... You can read the label on the battery pretty clearly in this post

 

“Interstate” from Costco, right around hundred bucks, with 3 year warranty. I run those in all our cars. I had to put one in the Tundra, last October, at 73K miles.

So far I’ve had one fail after 20 months, 40K miles, in wife’s Pilot, Costco replaced for free. And one in my Fusion failed after 38 months, 66K miles, so it was out of warranty period and I had to buy a new one.

Hundred bucks every three years for a battery, is not a big deal for me.

 

I prefer to get a battery from a company that is readily available. I'd hate to have a battery die and have to ship it back to them and wait for them to send me another one especially if you are on vacation. On that note, plenty of people have had good results from the batteries at Walmart and there is a Walmart in almost every town should ou need one replaced.

 

Exactly.

 

4 years and 4 months and 71,000 miles on my factory battree. Still going good. Will replace it before "hot season" here in the deep South with a Costco Interstate.

 

FYI. Interstate does not make the batteries they sell. Same with Walmart. Never have. Interstate is basically a marketing group selling batteries. Interstate contracts the manufacturing of their batteries. Johnson Controls used to make around 65% of all Interstate batteries. Exide now makes Interstate batteries among others. The only way to know for sure who makes any battery is to ask for the required Material Data Safety Sheet and it will have the manufacturer listed on it.

 

While true, batteries are made to spec for different retailers. Not all JC batteries are the same. Different plate design, different plate reinforcement, etc., all depends on the retailers specs. In other words, just because Interstate does not make their own batteries is a mute point, their batteries are better than some lesser spec’d battery from JC. The advantage of an Interstate is I can get it swapped out locally. I have also had good luck with upper end Exide batteries, certainly not the cheaper ones.

 

Exactly. That's why it's called contract manufacturing. Made to contracted specs. Not moot at all. Far from it. Being in the calibration business for over 4 decades now, I can assure you not everything meets contracted specs, even from reliable sources, otherwise there would be no need for calibration, validation, or Metrology to make sure folks are in compliance.
Keep in mind not all contracted group sizes are from the same manufacturer supplied to Interstate or any other private branded battery. Example....some group sizes within a particular private label are great performers and then again, some group sizes will suck.

 

Moot is the word you’re using, not mute. Just looking out brotha. Otherwise, solid post

 

i'm an odyssey guy. i have 2 pc1500s under the hood. i had tried the alt-s fuse upgrade with the one from hkb in austalia. there was about a .5-.75 increase in voltage but about 6 months in, things started to get funky. i replaced it with the original fuse. it's been that way for about a year without issue so don't ask what the funky was, i don't remember. now with the solar setup, both batteries trickle charge when the truck sits (which is quite a bit) so i'm not really worried about it.

 

This used to be me but my understanding is lots of folks have been having issues with the new Northstars since they got bought out and Batteries Plus is not being friendly about swapping them out.

 

Odyssey is a quality unit. That’s what I ran in my FZJ80. Beat the piss out of it all over the US, for years in the Texas heat, running all kinds of accessories and it never skipped a beat.

 

Toytec is now offering the Deka Intiminator AGM made by East Penn who is one of the "big 3" battery manufacturers along with Exide and J Controls. Deka is known for their marine grade batteries like Northstar started out. Anyone buy one yet? If not, I'll call Toytec and get more info. $222.

FYI.....NAPA is now an authorized Odyssey dealer.....

I have a Clarios made Optima Red Top. Excellent so far. I recommend a Yellow Top if you run with a lot goodies. No......I do not want to rehash JC Optima quality issues from 10+ years ago again when they relocated manufacturing from Aurora CO, to Mexico. Been there done that. I saw AGM's getting made at the JC Optima facility 5 minutes from our calibration lab before the relocation. We had the calibration contract at that facility. How many here have ever seen AGM technology up close during the manufacturing process and know what calibration/ validation is required? Step up please. .......Crickets......I thought so.

 

Still hard to beat spiral wound lead plate AGM technology today compared to flat lead plates when it comes to the rigors and vibrations when offroading. 6 cell spiral lead plate AGM tech is still hard to beat in that regards. Especially when upside down or sideways after a mishap. Clarios still uses 99.9% virgin non recycled lead in the manufacturing process to make Optima batteries. Other top AGM's mentioned here also use 99.9% virgin non recycled lead.

 

The Oreilly Super Start Platinum AGM is also the Deka Intimidator, save a few bucks that way and is more available.