Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire NAPA Legend Batteries

Had mostly good luck with NAPA batteries. Had one go real fast. Napa tested it and gave me a new one.

bender,

Most have a sticker, if coded will read 01/20, signifying Jan. of 2020.

The other coding, usually stamped on the side and top of the case may read like this top code: K80F.
In this example K is the month (November), 8 is the year, (2018) and the other two are line codes.

A side lid code for the same will be longer, but will read like this: 8JYKF23455567.

All you care about for age is the first two, 8 is the year (2018) J is the month, October.
A side code is often the month prior to the the top code or sticker code.

Get a battery within 6 months of the present date. Older ones begin internal sulphation and can be discharged to the point an alternator will not recover them 100%.
Alternators arent chargers and power other aspects of the vehicle before the battery; this is even exacerbated with a discharged battery.

In the Northeast, NAPA batteries are made by DEKA (East Penn Manufacturing).

I work for NAPA part time counter. They are made by Deka/ East Penn. Pretty good batteries. We occasionally see a defective one come in but not very often. When questioned about the defective battery often times they were in vehicles/equipment that is seldom used. That is hard on batteries.

Those are what my long-time mechanic uses. I’d suspect he views the quality to be acceptable for what he pays (and can sell them for). I’d say they’ve held up a bit better than the Advance Auto ones I’ve bought myself. It’s just that the online discounts make the latter a lot cheaper to me.

I’ve found it weird adjusting to the notion that a battery can crank a modern car for a minute+, but not start it. The boys’ Tauruses were notorious for this. Apparently all the modem electrical wizardry requires more voltage than cars used to.

FC

I replaced the batteries in both my vehicles in January of 2016. We had a stretch of days at or below zero at night and in the single digits during the day. I put the Napa Legend gold in both vehicles.

It just so happened that the previous owners of both vehicles installed the same battery. The one in my 2000 Blazer was dated February 2007. The one in her 2003 Dodge Truck was from January of 2005.

4 years on the new ones and not a lick of problems.

Since only a few manufacturers are producing these batteries, it does beg the question as to whether there is any difference in them. Are they building to a certain spec or price point, or are they all the same? Prices are all over the place looking at Napa, Autozone, O'Reilly, Advance Auto and Walmart. I can get the same rated battery for my truck for $94 at Walmart or pay $160 for it at O'Reilly and $140 at Napa.

The current Napa, O'Reilly and Walmart battery all have the maintenance free tops on them. Externally, they all look the same.

Thanks, Hawk. I’ll try to find the code without pulling the battery out.

I expect the local NAPA is selling a lot of batteries now after an 8-10 day cold stretch.

I started the van yesterday after not having it plugged in @ -10. Started way better than the old battery @ 0 after plugging in. Not surprising, but easy happiness. It should outlast this 19 yo sienna.

You might want to rethink this one a little. Today’s automotive charging system is very sophisticated. Most of the current systems are using a > 120 amp alternator, battery temp sensor and negative current sensor. The vehicles PCM tracks the power removed from the battery and replaces it during the most efficient time. Why do you think the batteries are lasting so long?

They’re mostly all just rebranded versions from a couple of companies. I don’t see a reason to pay twice as much to have a Napa label on the same battery as a Sams Club Duracell. The sams club batteries have done great for me. I have an old diesel farm truck that sits a lot and tended to go through batteries until I put disconnect terminals on the two batteries. Now I disconnect them when it’s going to sit and it fixed the problem. As somebody else said, most of the time it’s not the battery that’s causing longevity issues.

They operate on OCV, not the specific gravity of the battery.

Think I'm full of BS?

If your car needs jumped, go drive the holy hell out of it and check it with a hydrometer....it will still need charged.

Sure, the monitoring systems have improved battery life, but they arent infallible because they only monitor OCV (byproduct) and do not monitor the chemical, the actual battery condition.

Greater battery life is from a whole pile of advances.

Plate separators, plate grid format, calcium additives and gear reduction starters are probably the biggest ones. The CCA range of 550-700 with a large enough liquid capacity will also extend the average battery life with better cycling than ones with higher CCA ratings or less liquid capacity.

Starting off with a battery that is at 3/4 state of charge (1250 or greater) CHEMICALLY, not OCV, that's in a vehicle that is driven in a constant fashion each day, is going to last longer and have less issues from day one than one that's eleven months old that one expects the charging system is going to "fix".

PS: the oldest vehicle batteries I've seen have all come out (and both examples still working) of OLD ag equipment. They were made in 1977 and 1979 and still working, kind of, in the mid 2000s.
Railroad lighting units (glass case) I've seen taken out after 50 years of service.

My 2006 Tundra battery died. When I replaced it I found out it was the original equipment. The date on it was 2006. I contacted Toyota but they said it was not still under warranty.