Century Batteries

[fordomatic]

I bought a Supercharge last year and it died after two months. Took it in and got a new one. Was surprised how quick and easy it was. From memory it was $140 trade price, 650CCA.

[XB GS 351 Coupe]

Originally Posted by fordomatic

I bought a Supercharge last year and it died after two months. Took it in and got a new one. Was surprised how quick and easy it was. From memory it was $140 trade price, 650CCA.

Make sure you register online for the extended warranty certificate, they send it out to you via email and you just print it and put it in the service book.

They are $260 retail now.

Originally Posted by Crazy Dazz

Just curious, was the 11.52V static, or under load??

No Idea Autobahn tested it and gave me the little print out of the test

Originally Posted by FTE217

Mmm, I considered Supercharge pretty good back int he day for my regular long time mechanic mate has used them for years.
I know sourcing has changed like most brands and low and behold I just had the FGXSprint 8 serviced on Monday at my Ford dealer.
I got a call through the morn advising my battery lacked charge and I tended to agree being its a garage queen not always on the trickle charger and coming to 9yrs since new.
It is afterall having its 135k/108mth service with just over 30thou k's.
So said yer go ahead, they said no Ford ones in stock obviously would be a few days, and cost for battery was like $350 + $60 fitment, I said bugger that can you source a Aftermarket from the local Resellers you use and give me a Trade price.
They called back said yes can get a battery no name I never heard for around $200, I said NO thanks never heard of them, then said can get Supercharge, thought more like it go ahead.
$163.
Hopefully it lasts long enough we shall see.

Ford (Motorcraft) Batteries used to last for ages, not sure what they are like these days.

Supercharge Gold Battery for a Falcon is $260 retail now, register online for extended 50 months warranty, there is no way it will last 50 months, so probably a great idea to get a replacement one when it does die.

[gmw67]

Originally Posted by Crazy Dazz

The little indicator is just an oldschool hydrometer. Tried to use em back in the day, and they were a very poor indicator.
Even if it works, all it indicates is that you have a lot of sulphate (ie acid) in solution. Meaning that you have tried to charge the battery. It can't account for how much of the battery has collapsed or silted up.

Just curious, was the 11.52V static, or under load??

Hydrometers work well on wet cell lead acid batteries, as someone else said- the indicator is only in one cell and is showing ok.

[BFIIGhiaZF6]

Replaced my Century 67EFMF 640 CCA battery, which had a 39 month warranty, last year after more than 5 years, Supercheap price matched the Repco equivalent, installed it and gave a 43 month warranty on the replacement battery,



https://fordforums.com.au/showpost.p...postcount=4771

[Itsme]

Originally Posted by gmw67

Hydrometers work well on wet cell lead acid batteries, as someone else said- the indicator is only in one cell and is showing ok.

My local dealer said my battery was fit for service after they tested it with battery electronic tester, I then proceeded to test my battery with hydrometer in front of the service mechanic, which I proved it had a faulty cell with a low specific gravity reading, the guy did not know what to say when I did this, but I ended up with battery replacement under warranty.
I will rely on a hydrometer any day over an electronic tester for wet cell batteries.

[Crazy Dazz]

Originally Posted by gmw67

Hydrometers work well on wet cell lead acid batteries, as someone else said- the indicator is only in one cell and is showing ok.

Nah, all a hydrometer can measure is specific gravity. So yeah, on a "new" battery, they can measure the difference between flat (low density) and charged (higher density.)
But they provide no indication on other aspects of battery health

[Itsme]

Originally Posted by Crazy Dazz

Nah, all a hydrometer can measure is specific gravity. So yeah, on a "new" battery, they can measure the difference between flat (low density) and charged (higher density.)
But they provide no indication on other aspects of battery health

In what you say, then an electronic battery tester or load tester is no better, other than dismantling for a physical inspection, and who does that? other than a person who reconditions batteries.
In other words, a hydrometer is on par with an electronic or load testers.

[OneMadMan]

Originally Posted by XB GS 351 Coupe

I guess keeping your head firmly wedged in the sand could work for you. You clearly have not read any of these posts here of batteries failing after 5-12 months as well as the hundreds of online reports of the same thing. These people are not experts they are consumers of a product that is manufactured sub standard and does not perform as it is supposed to. Read this back to yourself slowly and then slap yourself in the head. You can not be serious, almost all batteries are maintenance free. It is almost impossible to buy a battery that is not maintenance free these days. And you clearly missed the point that these issues are with recently manufactured batteries not batteries made 15 years ago. No one really cares about your 10 year old boat batteries and motorhome or solar batteries when they are stranded in their car with a flat battery that is less than 12 months old 500km from home.....

Funniest post I've read in a while.. Yeah yeah, I know, old thread blah blah blah.

[OneMadMan]

Originally Posted by arm79

If there's no science behind it and it's an old wives tale, then why do manufacturers store them on pallets and retailers store them on stands and shelves.Even they're too scared to put them on concrete. Think about it!

I agree. There's a reason people

[OneMadMan]

Originally Posted by XB GS 351 Coupe

It's not the tech in the car, because the tech has not changed. Its a 2007 BF GT, the last battery lasted over 10 years, the one after that 11 month, the one after that 13 months. Same car treated the same way, no mechanical or battery drain issues. So we are compering apples with apples. If it was only a one off then I would have been fine, as it's a one off, but twice in a row there is a problem, and I know 110% it's not the car.

No. Sorry you aren't comparing apples with apples.
I'm betting your 2007 BF GT uses a braided steel earth strap. Yeah?
SO, the car is getting older as are all of the components, many over looked until becoming a major pain to rectify... $$$ wise.

Ever heard of the stories of the 2007 whatever Ford Territories failing to start... while the battery is good? Changing the started motor will fix the problem right? No.
Braided steel earth strap clags out over years of use.

Point is, the car is NOT the same age as it was.

Just sayin..

[OneMadMan]

Originally Posted by XB GS 351 Coupe

It's called engineered obsolesce. The product will fail shortly after a warranty period.

I call it 'built in obsolescence'.
Same diff.

Example: when I was a 1st class welder at Walker exhausts, they were very anal about how I placed the welded pipe seem when making a system.
The seem must face down when mounted in the vehicle, so it would rust out in 2 years and 3 days (exaggerating here but you get the drift).
The same system would last 5 - 7 years (mild steel) if I placed the seem facing 'up'.
If the team leader annoyed me for any reason, I would always give the end user a 7 year system.

[Crazy Dazz]

Originally Posted by Itsme

In what you say, then an electronic battery tester or load tester is no better, other than dismantling for a physical inspection, and who does that? other than a person who reconditions batteries.
In other words, a hydrometer is on par with an electronic or load testers.

WTF are you on about?

As I said, all a hydrometer measures is the specific gravity of the fluid. And in reality, all that measures, is how much "charge" you have TRIED to put into the battery. ie Fluid with higher amounts of the sulphate ions, has a higher SG so the the hydrometer floats higher.

It can't measure any of the other problems with an older battery. So if you top up a battery with distilled water, and whack it on charge for several hours, you'll get a high SG and the battery indicator will look good, even if the battery itself is silted up.

Even putting a basic voltmeter across a battery and measuring the from whilst you try to crank, will give a much better indicator of battery health. A load tester will give both voltage and current across a variety of loads.