GregMN

When I replace a battery I hook up a dumb battery charger to the car so no settings are lost. A dumb charger provides power without having to sense a battery. A smart charger will not provide power if it does not sense a battery. I connect the ground to the chassis and the positive to the battery cable. I am thoughtful and careful when moving the cable with the charger clip so as not the lose the connection.

I last bought an AGM from Walmart. When in storage, I hook up a battery maintainer/charger.

doobs

I'm in the battery acquisition mode.

In looking at the offerings at Sam's, is there any sense in getting a deep cycle (marine) battery for the car? I'm gonna do the AGM, but the deep cycle AGM is a couple of $ more.

cheers,

doobs

And of course, the closest Sam's to me, in Newport News,VA does not have a battery in stock for the car...

doobs

Scratch the deep cycle/marine battery. None in anywhere near the size needed for the car...

The Interstate AGM is $30 cheaper at Costco than the non-stocked "Duracell" AGM at Sam's. That will pay for half the membership costs, and they have them in stock.

DJWLDW

Chris

Is there a battery plus store handy? They carry the Duracell AGM battery. I have one in my 06 SC, my son has one in his 05 SC and I have on in the LS 460L. I got 6 years out of the one I replaced in the SC in January.

Dennis

Marc780

Oh yes, absolutely with you on that. I worked for a government fleet for 30 years, changed maybe a thousand batteries in all. Two important things I learned is, every new battery is low on water, no exceptions. I know because I checked every single battery before I installed it. And every one I checked had low water level in most or all of the cells. So it says "SEALED NEVER NEEDS WATER"? Better check that one first then!
Also I learned that a battery gets one, possibly two "Deads" then it is no longer reliable and ought to be replaced. Far easier to keep on a trickle charger in the first place, especially for cars that have more systems drawing on the battery even when the car is parked and idle. Like our LS460's.

I have a solar charger on my 2002 Camry V6 and every time I test it I measure 17 volts at the clamps so I know it is doing something. How much it will ultimately help the battery though I'm not sure of. Changed the battery months ago at less than 3 years old, maybe because I got the battery from O'Reilly without shopping around first. So maybe I need to keep that one on a plug-in AC trickle charger too.

Wilson2000

I have an Optima Yellow Top in my SC that is going on 4 years old. When it is time to replace it, I'll likely go with the much cheaper Interstate AGM from Costco that DD referred to above. I've been having better luck with my Optima batteries since buying a $200 Optima charger, but, I'm not convinced the Optima batteries are worth the extra cost. However, I'm thinking the Odessey battery might be. It gets top ranking in most honest shoot-outs.

I'm selling my wife's 2011 ES 350 which had a Yellow Top battery fail recently. I got about 6-7 years out of it, which is great, but not without a lot of charging and trickle charging during Covid. Since I'm selling the ES, I replaced the Yellow Top with Costco's cheapest Interstate lead/acid offering.

doobs

I'm going to pick up an Interstate AGM from Costco this morning.

Thanks all for the reco's

mcgene

Decided to take the cheaper route. Went to Batteries Plus and purchased a Duracell (basic model). It cost a bit more to get it from them, BUT, they install it and use a power source to avoid losing any presets in the car. All in all, I found it worth the extra few bucks for the convenience. We'll see how long it lasts.

doobs

So,

I picked up the battery this morning.

In order not to lose any settings, I connected my bench power supply to the car before disconnecting the battery.

I was very surprised to see the current draw reported by the supply at 0.12 amps. No wonder this car is so hard on batteries.

Interesting.

BuffMan

Installed Walmart AGM in our '07 severa years ago, going strong. No issues.