Prostart Value Grade Battery

Prostart Platinum Battery

Pep Boys is one of the largest Auto Parts stores in the United States. Pep Boys is known for their excellent auto parts pricing, and a one stop shop for all your auto parts needs. Not only does Pep Boys sell auto parts, but they also install a lot of various auto parts. The auto parts store combined with a full install garage has been Pep Boys trade mark to success. Among Pep Boys bigger parts hitter is their battery line, and battery installation. They offer a wide range of batteries for every consumers need, and in turn has been a big part of Pep Boys business. We are going to test and review the Prostart Value Grade battery, and Prostart Platinum battery that Pep Boys offers. We will test the Prostart Value Grade, and Platinum Battery under the same distress. One question has always been for budget shoppers. When spending more money, how much more do you really get?

Prostart Value Grade Battery

Pep Boys Prostart Value Grade Battery is exactly what the name implies, its Pep Boys base grade battery with price at the for front for shoppers on a budget. The Prostart Value Grade Battery offers a 12 month free replacement warranty and a 60 month pro rate warranty. We wouldn’t say the warranty on this battery is anything to get excited about, but how good of a battery is it? Now a cheaper battery does not mean the battery lacks in quality or performance, you may be surprised as to what we found when we tested this value grade battery from Pep Boys.

BestBatteryTIps.com started out with a brand new Prostart Value Grade battery as well as a brand new Prostart Platinum battery. Our goal was to see how long the batteries would last under certain extreme conditions. The test would be installing the battery in a truck and leaving the lights on bright until there was nothing left. How long would the battery last under these conditions?

Testing the Prostart Value Grade vs. Platinum

We wanted to test the durability of the Prostart Value Grade Battery as compared to the Prostart Platinum Battery. We thought that these would be good batteries to test solely based on their price. The consumers when possibly looking at batteries would pose the question as to what the difference is from the value grade vs a Platinum battery. You may be getting more with your money, but how much more are you getting? We put the Prostart Value Grade battery in a 1978 Ford Truck. We chose this vehicle because we didn’t have to worry about the truck lights being on a delayed timer and shutting the lights off on its own as do some newer vehicles.We turned all accessories off and then turned the headlights on bright and waited. Needless to say it was gonna be a little longer wait than we anticipated. One hour went by and guess what? We were still waiting on the battery to die. We could tell that the lights were dimmer than when we started, but still had some time to go yet. 2 hours and the battery had about all it wanted to take. The clock read 2 hours and 10 minutes when the battery was dead. We felt that was a pretty good time considering it was a Value Grade Battery. I mean really, how long did you expect it to last? What we didn’t know is how long a Prostart Platinum battery would last under the same conditions? A true test of two different grade batteries under the exact same extreme conditions would prove interesting to say the least.

Prostart Platinum Battery

Next on deck was the Prostart Platinum battery. The Prostart Platinum battery offers a 2 year free replacement and a 72 month pro rated warranty. We wasn’t sure what to expect considering the higher price tag for the Prostart Platinum battery. We did notice that the Prostart Platinum weighed more than the Prostart Value Grade battery. We attributed this difference to more lead in the Prostart Platinum battery. That is not surprising considering that more lead should be in a higher grade battery.

Platinum Series Battery

The question would be is what does more lead get you?

We installed the Prostart Platinum battery into the truck, and followed the same steps as we did with the Prostart Value Grade battery. One, and two hours went by and we were right back in a familiar place again. Would the Prostart Platinum make it past the 2 hours and 10 minute mark? We passed the Prostart Value Grade mark of two hours and ten minutes and still had positive steam. Three hours later from the time we started the Prostart Platinum battery was dead.

After conducting our test, we had to ask the question. Is the Prostart Platinum battery worth the extra cash considering it went another 50 minutes? Considering the amp draw from the headlights, another 50 minutes is a sizable difference.  The Prostart Platinum offers 12 more months of free battery replacement, and 12 more months of a pro rate warranty. We don’t concern our selfs with the pro rate side as it is hard to come out ahead with those programs. However, 12 more months of free replacement is with out a doubt worth looking at. We were mainly after to see if you get more battery just because you pay more. The answer to that question is yes, but how much more do you get? We’ll let you the consumer be the judge of that.

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Recycle

Every year Consumers in the United States alone purchase close to 3 billion dry cell batteries. Where do 3 billion batteries go once there useful life is over? We would like to think that all 3 billion dead batteries go to a recycling drop off station. Unfortunately not near of the 3 billion batteries are recycled. Many of these batteries end up contaminating our soil, and polluting our lakes, streams, and wells. Batteries contain hazardous materials and should be disposed of properly. The number one reason for consumers not recycling these batteries is the lack of knowledge of where to take them. Drop off stations for batteries are closer than you may think. Did you know that Walmart is a recycling drop off station? You would be hard pressed to find more drop off locations than that of Walmart. Below is a list of drop off stations for dry cell batteries, please be sure to call before dropping any batteries off at these locations.

• Walmart
• Sams Club
• Radio Shack
• Home Depot
• AT&T Mobility
• Best Buy
• Sears
• Target
• Lowes
• Ace Hardware
• K-Mart
• Staples
• Alltel Batteries
• Batteries Plus
• Verizon Wireless
• Black & Decker
• Cingular Wireless
• Porter Cable Service Center

To see other drop off locations visit Call 2 Recycle and chose find a recycling center. The search engine will give you drop off locations near you. Remember that Auto batteries can be taken back where you purchased them for recycling. To learn what happens to Auto batteries when they are recycled, read our article on How Are Batteries Recycled?

The S&G Audit Lock is the world’s premier high security lock for access control on safes, vaults and doors of all types. Many banks, insurance companies and

9V Batteries in Electronic Lock

other entities with evidence rooms choose this lock for its versatility and ease of use. What makes this lock unique is the ability to record, manage and analyze times and dates for every time the door has been opened or closed. Companies with access control policies in place (e.g. Cash safes at retail locations) can use this information for record keeping and as information to provide to authorities if a theft occurs.  Like any electronic lock, over time the batteries become low and require replacement.

MYTH: The lock will loose the user codes during battery replacement

FACT: The lock will NOT loose any programmed user codes, passwords or settings

Electronic locks always have some way to measure the low battery, the S&G audit control lock is not different and when a user code is entered and a series of five (5) beeps occur, the 9 volt batteries are low. This is the best time to replace the batteries. If the batteries are not replaced during the onset of the beeping sequence eventually the lock will not open and you will not be able to access the safe, vault or secure room that the lock protects.

• 2 Signs that the Batteries Needs Replaced!
• A series of 5 beeps occurs when the user code is entered
• Electronic Lock beeps 20 times and the lock won’t open.

How to change the batteries

The two 9V batteries are located directly behind the touch keypad. The S&G audit lock uses two (2)  9-volt alkaline batteries. Like most safe and lock manufacturers we always recommend Duracell alkaline batteries. They last the longest and are the preffered battery for electronic safes and locks.

Step 1.

Very carefully remove the keypad housing of the lock by gently lifting the bottom edge (closest to the S&G logo) and slowly easing it off the base.

Step 2.

Carefully detach the old 9V batteries from the battery terminals. Now, insert the brand new Duracell batteries. NOTE:  Make sure you support the top of each 9v battery holder to prevent bending or breaking the battery holder.

Step 3.

Very carefully replace the keypad housing of the lock

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Napa Auto Parts Driver Martin Truex Jr.

Everyone is familar with Napa Auto Parts. Napa for years has been well known for supplying customers with quality auto parts. For those of you who watch nascar, Napa Auto Parts sponsors car number 56 with driver Martin Truex Junior owned by Michael Waltrip Racing. Napa Auto Parts has over 6000 store locations, so needless to say there is a Napa Auto Parts Store not far from where you live.

East Penn Manufacturing Company manufactures Napa batteries for the automotive parts retail giant. I say currently because Napa did have Exide Technologies in the past. East Penn Manufacturing Company is a leading battery manufacturer in North America, and are no strangers to producing high quality batteries. East Penn Manufacturing company is located in Lyon Station Pennsylvania. East Penn Manufacturing is well known for their Deka brand quality battery line. Working with East Penn allows Napa to have a very diverse selection of batteries, which is just what customers need. Napa carries Auto, Commercial, Golf Cart, Lawn & Garden, Marine, and Power Sport batteries.

Napa Auto Parts is also hooked up with Optima Batteries. Optima Batteries is a world leader in manufacturing AGM battery technology. This allows Napa to stock AGM batteries for their millions of customers. The Optima battery brand is well known for its AGM Spiral wound battery technology. You can read more about the Optima Battery technology in our article Optima Battery.

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Diehard Platinum P-1

Diehard Platinum P-2

Diehard Platinum P-3

Sears pulled out all the stops when they introduced their Diehard Platinum battery line. Sears has been known for many years for their dependably Diehard Batteries. Diehard Batteries were introduced to consumers in the 1960’s, and were branded that they would last forever. They stood behind the Diehard battery for as long as the owner owned the car for which the battery was originally installed. Over time due to the economy and better quality vehicles, people kept their vehicles for longer periods of time. Sears was forced to stop the “Forever” policy. However, Sears did continue to forge forward with their well known and accepted Diehard battery line.

Sears did their homework when they searched for a battery manufacturer to work with them on their new Diehard Platinum battery line. They obviously were searching for the next generation of ultimate Diehard power. Enersys the worlds largest industrial battery manufacturer was capable of exactly that. Enersys and Sears worked together to bring the next generation of Diehard power to another level. The new Diehard batteries would turn out to be AGM(Absorption Glass Mat) composition. These new AGM batteries made up of a composition of lead paste absorbed into fiberglass matting. This new design did away with free acid inside the battery. The new Diehard could be punctured, and still not leak any acid. The new design was also very resilient to extreme vibration. Cold and hot temperatures were also not much of a issue with this new bullet proof design. Sears accomplished exactly what they had set out to do.

Diehard Platinum P-4

Diehard Platinum P-5

Diehard Platinum P-6

The Diehard Platinum battery line consists of eight elite batteries. Diehard is only one of two battery brands to offer such a wide selection of AGM battery composition. The other battery brand is Odyssey also made by Enersys, go figure. Sears numbered their new Diehard Platinum batteries for easy consumer selection. The P1, P2, P3, P4, P5, P6, PM1, and PM2. The P stands for Platinum, the M stands for Marine, and the number represents the battery group number. Below is a review of the Diehard Platinum batteries with each batteries manufactured specifications.

The P-1 Platinum Automotive Battery group number 34 from DieHard offers 135 minutes of reserve capacity and 880 cold cranking amps.

The P-2 Platinum Automotive Battery group number 65 from DieHard offers 135 minutes of reserve capacity and 930 cold cranking amps.

The P-3 Platinum Automotive Battery group number 75/86 Dual Terminal from DieHard offers 90 minutes of reserve capacity and 710 cold cranking amps.

The P-4 Platinum Automotive Battery group number 34/78 Dual Terminal from DieHard offers 135 minutes of reserve capacity and 880 cold cranking amps.

The P-5 Platinum Automotive Battery group number 35 from DieHard offers 100 minutes of reserve capacity and 740 cold cranking amps.

The P-6 Platinum Automotive Battery group number 25 from DieHard offers 100 minutes of reserve capacity and 740 cold cranking amps.

The PM-1 Platinum Marine Battery group number 31 from DieHard offers 205 minutes of reserve capacity and 1150 cold cranking amps.

The PM-2 Platinum Marine Battery group number 34 DieHard offers 135 minutes of reserve capacity and 880 cold cranking amps.

Diehard Platinum PM-1

Diehard Platinum PM-2

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Odyssey Battery Line

Brian from Alabama

There seems to be a lot of confusion on the internet from what I’ve been reading. Who makes Odyssey batteries? I was under the understanding that Odyssey is the manufacturer of their own batteries. I was also told from a different source that Optima makes Odyssey batteries. Please help me with this question, because I have no idea what to believe.

BestBatteryTips.com

Brian, thanks for taking the time to submit your question to our Mailbag Mondays segment. We always enjoy finding out whats going around on the world wide web. We still to this day get a chuckle out of some of the gossip on the web. Well Brian here’s the real deal on Odyssey batteries. Odyssey Batteries are not manufactured by Odyssey. Odyssey batteries are manufactured by Enersys. Enersys is the largest industrial battery manufacturer in the world. Enersys is without a doubt a global leader in providing a very high quality battery. Enersys also has the largest line of AGM technology batteries on the market. The Odyssey battery is known for its up to 10 year life expectancy, and the use of pure virgin lead plates inside the battery. The Odyssey battery is said to be able to sit in storage for 2 years and still be good as new. The Odyssey battery is very resilient to vibration, which is very important considering most batteries fail prematurely due to vibration. Enersys stands behind their product by offering a unprecedented 48 month free replacement, and up to 100 months pro rate warranty. You can shop around, but those kind of warranties in the battery business aren’t something your likely to run into elsewhere. When it comes to AGM technology, nobody as anything on the Odyssey brand battery. We here at BestBatteryTips.com highly recommend the Odyssey battery to anyone looking for the ultimate battery.

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Lithium Ion Batteries

Nickel Metal Hydride Battery Pack

Energizer NIMH Batteries

Lithium Ion Button Battery

Buying a battery for your portable device can be very confusing. More times than not consumers are unaware of the differences between the different batteries available. Comparing apples to apples is very important in the battery world. Consumers get so caught up in comparing the price that they don’t understand the different types of batteries. When I say apples to apples, I’m referring to the exact same battery in size, chemistry, manufacturer and milliampere-hour (MAH). The size generally speaking is correct, however the consumer don’t thoroughly understand the chemistry and Mah side of the equation. The old saying that all batteries are created equal couldn’t be further from the truth.Battery technology has come so far over the last decade alone to squash those beliefs. We here at BestBatteryTips.com want to provide some insight to consumers on purchasing the right battery for their portable electronic device.

One of the first steps to purchasing a battery is knowing what your battery model number is. The model number on a battery represents everything about that exact battery. The battery model number tells us what electronic device the battery will fit in, MAH capacity, and chemistry. You will find that while shopping online some battery websites have cross-reference search engines for battery model numbers to take you right to the battery you are needing. Once you find the replacement battery you may have several selection options. Two of the primary selections will be MAH and Chemistry. You can always go with more MAH, it will allow your electronic device to last longer on a charge. However, you will have to pay for more available power. Depending on whether your comfortable with your existing MAH will depend on if you want to upgrade or not. Chemistry is also a very important consideration. Generally speaking I would stay away from any Nicad chemistry batteries if at all possible. These batteries suffer greatly from the so called memory effect. Nicad batteries as compared to Nickel Metal Hydride and Lithium Ion, don’t have the capacity of their superiors. When we talk about purchasing a battery for your power tool, its difficult to buy anything but Nicad. There is some new power tools out there using Lithium Ion technology, but it seems Nicad is in most. Lithium Ion also called Li-ion is what consumers are most familiar with. They are in most phones,cameras, watches, and camcorders. They don’t suffer from memory effect and also have a excellent available capacity. When purchasing a new battery, you can’t go wrong with Lithium Ion. Nickel Metal Hydride also known as Nimh, is also a excellent choice. Nimh can be charged and discharged thousands of times without deteriorating over time. No need to worry about memory effect with Nimh. With Manufacturers its hard to tell whats going. Consumers are gonna be hard pressed to find a portable electronic battery made here in the USA. 99% of all the batteries for these Gizmo and Gadgets are made over seas. Now that doesn’t mean you can’t get a quality product. However its hard to know what you are buying, and sometimes may feel like a crap shoot. Your best bet is to purchase the battery from a retailer who stands behind the product they sell.

So when we speak of comparing apples to apples, be sure to look over the batteries stat sheet. What chemistry am I looking at? How much MAH does this battery offer? Does this retailer stand behind their product? What will this battery cost me? These simple steps will help your battery buying experience, and will make sure you get the right battery for your needs.

Auto Repair Shop

Sam from California

Hello Kip,

I’m writing in to ask a question that I have. I took my car to a shop to investigate a starting problem I was having. The mechanic told me that my battery was shot. I told them to go ahead and put a new battery in. When I went to go pickup my car from the shop, I noticed that the cover that used to be around the battery was no longer there. I asked the mechanic what happened to it, and he said that it was not required. I’m not sure what the cover was for, but it had to be for something. Was this cover something that only came with the new battery from the factory, and not with the replacement battery? Just curious as to what the deal is here.

BestBatteryTips.com

Well Sam I can only hope that people like your mechanic show up here at BestBatteryTips.com so as to learn things like the reason behind a battery cover. The battery cover is a very instrumental part of a batteries life expectancy. The battery cover is a protective shield against heat. Batteries do not respond well to high temperatures, and nowhere is the temperature higher than under the hood of your automobile. Think of how hot it is under the hood of your car when its 95 degrees out, and your automobile engine is warmed up to a temperature of 200 degrees roughly. Needless to say, its not where I would want to be hanging out. The battery however doesn’t have a choice in the matter. Engineers designed that cover to help protect the battery from the heat because without it you are sure to have premature battery failure. The battery cover was made to fit the battery group number that goes in your exact automobile. So if you replaced your original battery with the same battery group number that was in it before, the battery cover will slip right over your new battery. I would be sure Sam to get that cover back on your new battery. I’m not saying your battery wont  make it 5 years, but I am saying that it has a greater chance with the cover installed.

Think Battery Safety First

Safety Goggles

Rubber Gloves

BestBatteryTips.com can’t stress enough how important battery safety should be to each and every one of us. Many people have been disabled for life for what they thought was just supposed to be a routine procedure. Batteries are very unpredictable, so extreme caution must be taken while in direct contact with them. Battery explosions are more common than one might think. A automobile battery sounds like a 12 gauge shot gun when it explodes. You can only imagine the spray of sulfuric acid with a force so great to blow the top off of a battery. This is why wearing safety goggles while in contact with batteries is so important. Many people have been blinded due to battery explosions. Many battery explosions happen with incorrect techniques while jump starting another vehicle. Read our article on How to Jump Start a Car to jump start a vehicle properly. Sulfuric acid can cause severe burning of the skin. Remember to always wear heavy Rubber Gloves when in contact with batteries, as sulfuric acid will not eat through the heavy rubber gloves. Never wear clothe gloves, clothe gloves will soak up sulfuric acid like a sponge, and will make contact with your skin. Battery explosions are very common during charging. Overcharging a battery will cause boiling of the electrolyte inside the battery, with excessive gassing. This is a good recipe for a battery explosion. Always follow battery manufacturers recommended charging procedures when charging batteries. When adding water to a battery, don’t over fill the battery. The lead grid plates inside the battery should just be covered by water. Over filling a battery will cause it to leak electrolyte once the battery warms up while being charged. You must leave room inside the battery to allow for expansion. Read our article on What Kind of Water To Use In Batteries to learn more about adding water to a battery. Always take the time to put on protective equipment. The time it takes to put on goggles and rubber gloves is a drop in the bucket compared to being disabled because of disregarding safety.