Lima Bravo

Sears obviously stopped selling what I thought, in my experience, was the best battery out there.... I have a pair of 1150cca blue Diehards, that I care for extremely well, just finished their 7th season.. What a good product, though I care for them... I'm not the guy that wants to find out my batteries are toast on the water. I am sad that I think I'll replace these this winter....

Is AGM still the best option out there?? These are 90% cranking use... maybe some 12volt fridge action on the hook at times, but I have a generator for that side of things.

How are these Northstar batteries?? Odyssey?? Interstate??

Newtauk1

Good question. Just finished mt 6th season with Sears brand Diehard Blue AGMs. Best battery(s) I have had.

Cleared Hot

Check out the X2 Power from Batteries Plus.

kawakx125

there are only a couple of battery MFG's out there. Likely can find the same battery with a different name on it

Newtauk1

Thanks for the info.
Found this review on The Batteries Plus web site:

"I replaced a group 31 Sears Die Hard Platinum AGM battery that I had for eight years. I only replaced it because of the potential for failure at that age - it was performing fine and I "retired" it to a fishing boat for hopefully the next couple of years. This Die Hard was back when the Sears battery was a high quality product, but with their financial problems they cut costs and suppliers and unfortunately cut the availability of their Platinum battery line. I had 5 of their batteries, 2 in a wake boat, 2 to run a solar boat lift and one, this one, on a 23' pontoon. Anyway, I did my research and this battery made by Northstar is most likely the same battery that they made for the Sears Die Hard Platinum brand. I was able to fit a size 24 into the same battery box as the 31. I'm confident I'll get a good service life from this battery... I always store it inside in the winter, charge it in the fall, top up in January and top again just before it goes back in the boat. 8 years... that's great... and no issue ever getting stuck out on the water."

critt77matt

Sam's Club generally put duracell AGM batteries on sale this time of year. great deal if you are a member.

Tegin1

I’ve had good luck withe Oddysey batteries, but they’re not cheap.x

Timinwa

I have had good luck with Lifeline batteries. I use them for starting (4D), bow thruster (2 group 27) and house bank (4 6V). All of them are AGM. I'm on my 3rd year for the start and bow thruster batteries and just replaced my 6V house bank. Original lifeline AGM house bank lasted 13 years before problems started.

Aquasportfisher

Diehard batteries are now sold at Advance Auto Parts.

Lima Bravo

not the blue ones though :-)

jobowker

The blue ones were great! I just replaced mine this summer because one started becoming weak. The date on them was from 2010, so I got my money's worth. The combination of good batteries, never discharging below 50%, living in the northeast, and never pulling them out to put on a trickle charger served me well. I now have the AGM's from Batteries Plus mentioned above.

The old batteries stayed in there for a decade. As long as they weren't adequately charged during the season, there's no good reason to pull them. Just disconnect the battery cable.
I'm willing to bet some folks shorten the lives of their batteries by pulling them out of the boat (risk of trauma for non-AGM's) then putting them down in the basement on a block of wood (useless) and then putting on a trickle charger every so often (running the risk of forgetting about it) then then putting them back in the spring (and possibly forgetting a cable or two).

Lima Bravo

I am curious what trauma you're referring to regarding the non-AGM?? Agree also, that cold weather hurt batteries LESS if they are stored when it is cold.... Think about physics in general, less electrons can "leave" in colder temps thereby keeping them intact, and the battery in turn lasting long... My AAA's are in my freezer as we speak :-)

I'm also not totally against a dose of trickle charger in the winter for a couple hours on 2amp for something to do on a snowy Sunday afternoon with an alarm set!!

cdrhoek

Those blue ones were made by Odyssey. Odyssey stopped making the Sears Diehard Platinum several years ago. You can still buy the Odyssey branded version.

marlinlane

many batteries sold under various brands are manufactured by east penn/ deka

Buttapollock1010

They are odyssey as mentioned above. Should be pc 2150 model which are 31m’s series

tomanyboats

I also had a set, used when I got them and 6yrs old one got weak. Excellent product

20biminitwist

This^^^^^^^^^ and they are expensive!

TTaxi

As noted above, I believe the Odyssey ( EnerSys) marine Extreme batteries (models 34M-PCM1500 and 31M-PCM 2150 ) are exactly the same as the previous Sears Diehard Platinum Marine PM-2 & PM-1 batteries ,... the same case is just red top/black sides instead of Sears light gray & blue. Same 4 terminals. Same specs & warranty too. Just no sale prices I know of comparable to those frequently offered by Sears of the good old days.
I have both (2 Sears @ 6 1/2+ yrs & 1 Odyssey 1 1/2+) ) and am still very happy with them . All still test out at their original CCA rating or above.
( For winter storage at home i have a Sears # (28) -71227 Diehard Platinum automatic/multi-stage portable charger that has a special 40 amp setting just for the Platinum batteries for their fall storage and spring commissioning charge. )

Lima Bravo

Do tell more about this 40amp winter nap, and spring awakening....

TTaxi

Fully ( multi-stage ) charge to 100% then disconnect & store in cool place for the winter. Same in spring just before reinstalling in the boat, though the AGM's in good condition usually don't require that. AGMs have miniscule self-discharge rate compared to wet cell type , with no load applied, so there is no need at all to constantly or frequently trickle charge them . But like all common boat (and most any charge-able ) batteries that will not be used for long periods, they should of course be stored fully-charged and disconnected to avoid permanent capacity loss.

This charger has a special DieHard Platinum 40A setting but since it is an automatic multi (4?) -stage charger in all charge modes, the actual amp flow and voltage applied varies quite a bit . There is a digital display of Voltage and State of Charge %, and a 3rd display toggle option is for an alternator / charge system test. The charger is only for 12 v batteries. For baby batteries it has a 2A setting and 15 A for regular flooded , gel or regular AGM batteries. Also has a 125 A brief Start mode, not for charging as that would likely cause battery damage or worse .

But that particular model charger was discontinued about the same time Sears stopped offering the Diehard Platinum Marine batteries.
mine: DieHard 71227 Platinum Microprocessor-controlled Battery Charger Engine Starter | Sears Hometown Stores

This newer model is probably the closest ( present model ) to what I use: https://www.fingerhut.com/product/NO...E&gclsrc=aw.ds