PSA: Sears Diehard Platinum Marine battery on sale

[projected]

Would a marine battery be good to replace my single battery set up. Are they ok to use as a main/starter battery?


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I've been running a 31M single battery setup in my Frontier for 2 months now and its been great. I read about others doing this, a guy on Tacoma world with the same single battery claims to have run his ARB 50L fridge for 3 days straight without starting his Tacoma and it started right up.

I was on a 4 week trip running my ARB fridge, charging phones, the laptop, James Baroud tent light, and Micro-Start with no issues. My truck sat for 2 days at a time without starting.

As a backup I carry this with me at all times: Antigravity Micro-Start XP1

The 31M battery is large but fits in current gen Frontiers and Tacomas. On the Frontier I had to do some terminal mods to make it fit.

 

[sovereign]

I've been running a 31M single battery setup in my Frontier for 2 months now and its been great. I read about others doing this, a guy on Tacoma world with the same single battery claims to have run his ARB 50L fridge for 3 days straight without starting his Tacoma and it started right up.

I was on a 4 week trip running my ARB fridge, charging phones, the laptop, James Baroud tent light, and Micro-Start with no issues. My truck sat for 2 days at a time without starting.

As a backup I carry this with me at all times: Antigravity Micro-Start XP1

The 31M battery is large but fits in current gen Frontiers and Tacomas. On the Frontier I had to do some terminal mods to make it fit.

This is how I have ran a PM-1 for 5 years. I killed its capacity years ago by not running solar and by not using an Odyssey approved charger upon returning from trips. Solar is on the way. Still looking for a charger to work with these batteries. The NOCO 7200 I bought a couple years ago is not up to the task. The battery rests @ 12.3v now. I never saw it read above 12.6v. There are many threads reporting the same performance, so even at the sale price I am leery of buying another one.

 

[TheJosh]

What do you guys think about using several of the PM-1 for a solar setup to power a small off the grid house? When I look at solar sites the agms they sell are brands I never heard of and are very expensive. I was thinking of doing maybe 3 pm-1 battery's

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[Herbie]

What do you guys think about using several of the PM-1 for a solar setup to power a small off the grid house? When I look at solar sites the agms they sell are brands I never heard of and are very expensive. I was thinking of doing maybe 3 pm-1 battery's k

I wouldn't spend the money for an AGM battery for a fixed installation like a house. Regular flooded/wet cell batteries with some proper ventilation and maintenance will get you FAR better capacity per dollar. AGMs offer some performance advantages for mobile use, but otherwise are just expensive. Do some more research while you're at it, but I think you'll find that most people spec'ing systems for off-grid houses also recommend combining large 6V cells in series/parallel to get better capacity @ 12V than you can really get with 12V cells.

 

[Stroverlander]

Would a marine battery be good to replace my single battery set up. Are they ok to use as a main/starter battery?


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If you read through this thread, you'll find that the Sears Diehard Platinum AGM auto and marine batteries are identical construction except post configuration and warranty - Auto 48 months / Marine 36 months.

Auto version on sale too:

34/78DT
http://www.sears.com/diehard-platinum-automotive-battery-group-size-34-78dt-price/p-02851090000P?prdNo=4

35
http://www.sears.com/diehard-platinum-automotive-battery-group-size-35-price/p-02851035000P?prdNo=2

65
http://www.sears.com/diehard-platinum-automotive-battery-group-size-65-price/p-02851065000P?prdNo=3

PAYPAL25 promo still appears to be valid too!

 

[toyotech]

Thanks. I'm gonna with with the auto version. I already have one in my runner and want one for the tundra now


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[projected]

This is how I have ran a PM-1 for 5 years. I killed its capacity years ago by not running solar and by not using an Odyssey approved charger upon returning from trips. Solar is on the way. Still looking for a charger to work with these batteries. The NOCO 7200 I bought a couple years ago is not up to the task. The battery rests @ 12.3v now. I never saw it read above 12.6v. There are many threads reporting the same performance, so even at the sale price I am leery of buying another one.

The post above was to me after I posted how great my battery was working. Well after less than a year my battery won't hold a charge now.

Maybe the charger mentioned above should be a mandatory purchase with these batteries?

I'm taking mine to sears tomorrow so they can test and hopefully replace my battery. I don't want this to happen again so maybe I need the solar as well?

 

[southpier]

hope you saved the paperwork: http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/140533-Sears-DieHard-Battery-Warranty-STINKS!

 

[Davev1954]

hope you saved the paperwork: http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/140533-Sears-DieHard-Battery-Warranty-STINKS!

Different battery all together-- the 'Gold" model.

Platinum is a top tier battery for hard use.

 

[projected]

The post above was to me after I posted how great my battery was working. Well after less than a year my battery won't hold a charge now.

Maybe the charger mentioned above should be a mandatory purchase with these batteries?

I'm taking mine to sears tomorrow so they can test and hopefully replace my battery. I don't want this to happen again so maybe I need the solar as well?

Since I bought online Sears had me in the system, I didn't need to provide a receipt.

Sears did replace the battery with a new one so I now have about 2 years left on the 3 year warranty. I plan to purchase the proper charger to hopefully maintain this one better.

 

[1stDeuce]

Just goes to prove that no matter how expensive the battery is, it can be killed with improper maintenance. (Lack of charging after use, drawing down too far, etc.) That's why I ended up putting solar on my camper. It charges as soon as the sun comes up. Even if there's not enough sun in a day to get it to 100% after a lot of use, it'll get there after two days for sure, especially if I'm home.

The farther you run a battery down, the more life you take out of it. The longer you leave it down, the more life you take out. Run it flat ONE TIME and it's at 50% of it's original capacity. Run it flat twice, and it's pretty much junk. That's been my experience anyway. YMMV.
Lots of Optimas get killed this way, sitting in cars that aren't run very often.
Chris