The NorthStar AGM Battery + Voltage Booster Upgrade

very sorry - lazy question, although I did try to read through the thread to find, but didn't jump at me.

does NorthStar still make batteries or were they bought by Odyssey or rebranded under X2 without the reference to NorthStar?

I see this battery via @crashnburn80:

https://www.batteriesplus.com/productdetails/sli27fagmdp

it doesn't reference NorthStar, but surely seems to be the legacy X2 battery. I also cannot find a NorthStar website but i can find an X2 website, but the X2 website seems to be marine focused - although lists pick ups as an application.

also I saw this on Odyssey's website...

https://www.odysseybattery.com/northstar-pro-series-batteries/

@crashnburn80 - Is the X2 in the link above still the recommended battery ? vs say this Odyssey:

https://www.odysseybattery.com/products/odx-agm27f-battery/

I did see in the first post, that the X2 edges Odyssey out, but not sure if that has changed given my questions here and what i am seeing in branding / perhaps ownership changes.

For example - the Odyssey says 195 reserve minutes, the X2 in the link is listed as 190 - Obviously, 5 minutes doesn't matter, but seems like a category where X2 doesn't edge out and perhaps that has changed over time.

Any insights and clarification are very much appreciated.

again - sorry if I missed all this in the thread.

 

Interesting. Odyssey did not previously make a 27F, or a 24F battery:https://www.odysseybattery.com/products/odx-agm24f-battery/

It would appear that they dropped the Northstar Pro product line branding, and relabeled them with the Odyssey Extreme branding, expanding the available Odyssey Extreme battery sizes. Typical in acquisitions you want one halo product branding, not confusing the messaging with 2 'best' product lines. I'd bet that 27F Odyssey is the same battery as the Northstar, just new logo. You can see the case and construction is exactly like Northstar's unique battery and all the specs match. The X2 Power batteries appear to continue with the same with the NorthStar branding removed.

Most the rest of the specs remain the same for the X2 Power 27F, I don't see the 195 RC published spec for the X2, just on stock images of the sticker which makes me wonder if it is correct. The one other listed spec difference for the 27F is the X2 Power is 66.9lbs and the Odyssey 67.9lbs, the Northstar 67.9lbs. Hard to say. The other measured performance specs are the same. Seems like if you removed 1lb of material in the battery, you'd affect other areas of performance in the specs, not just 5 min from RC. Based on battery construction the supplier looks to remain the same for the X2 and most the specs still match. Seems unlikely they'd make such minor changes to a relabeled product which would cost more to do, vs just updating the branding and continuing to sell the same product they already produce under another label.

But all this is just speculation. I don't have any inside knowledge on the matter. I did recently pickup an AGM for my 1st Gen and went with the X2 Power 24F, which has the updated labeling to remove the Northstar branding. For the 24F X2 Power the spec RC is 160, just like the Odyssey Extreme and the Northstar Pro with nearly identical weight.

 

awesome insights, as always - very appreciated!

 

@crashnburn80 - sorry another silly question - is the NorthStar Pro from back in the day the same as the NorthStar X2 at some point? And at some point does that mean Odyssey made NorthStar?

Einhorn is Finkle... Finkle is Einhorn??

thanks again!

 

The NorthStar Pro is the same as X2 Power. Batteries Plus X2 Power batteries were just relabeled NorthStars under Batteries Plus own house brand. The label used to say X2 Power by Northstar, or something to that effect. Odyssey and NorthStar were competitors, they did not make each others products. EnergySys, parent company of Odyssey semi-recently acquired NorthStar, they now own both the US made top performing battery manufactures. EnergySys discontinued the NorthStar Pro brand line and it appears to have relabeled those products as Odyssey Extreme, which is Odyssey's top performance brand line. The batteries appear to be otherwise the same. So it appears Odyssey 27Fs are the former NorthStar 27F.

 

thank you very much!

 

That’s not confusing for the customer at all

 

I have my multimeter working again so I'll add a few numbers to what I was commenting about earlier. Here's my original statement for reference:

I let my truck sit for 2 hours after running errands around town. I tested the battery voltage and it read 12.91V. I plugged in the NOCO Genius 10, using the 12V AGM mode, and after about 40 seconds it indicated that the battery was full and made the light sequence that corresponds with maintenance (trickle) charging. For about the first 15 seconds, while the charger was determining the state of the battery, the voltage was variable with a peak up to 14.5V. By 20 seconds, it quickly dropped back down and stayed stable at 13.07V. Twenty minutes later it was at 13.26V.

I don't normally test the voltage before periodically plugging in the charger, but each time it has shown the battery to be full and gone right into maintenance mode. At this point I'm not sure how the charger benefits me.

 

My truck takes a lot of short trips that are killing my acid battery. Currently have a Duralast Gold. Battery tests fine and is less than a year old. I have to charge it at least once a week or it won't start. Same thing happened with the old battery. Would an AGM and 0.5v booster be a good option for me? I have a 2014 4.0 with the 27F size battery.

Sorry in advance of this has been covered already. I just stumbled across this thread and haven't had the time to scroll through it all yet. Thanks for any help!

 

An AGM and 0.5v booster is a good option, but the best thing you could do in your situation is to treat your battery right between those short trips - connect it to a quality charger (e.g., CTEK, Victron, NOCO, BatterTender, etc), designed to properly maintain whatever kind of battery you run. Wiring a quick-connect makes doing so quick and easy.

I'm sure others more knowledgeable will correct, if I'm mistaken...

 

Thanks for the reply. I have a dual Battery tender charger I use to maintain the batteries on my motorcycle and jet ski over the winter. I've added a quick connect to my truck so I can easily plug it in. Just wondering if the AGM + booster option would better better suited to my situation. Hoping to not have to charge the battery as often. Wouldn't mind the brighter headlights as well since I've done crashnburns headlight upgrades.

 

Is there a small solar panel you could put on the hood?

 

Lol, wut? Talk about a paint in the butt….
THAT would be your solution?? You must be an engineer

 

Hit the nail on the head, dont quite understand how one of these would be a PITA tho.

https://www.cascadia4x4.com/collect...m-90w-hood-solar-panel?variant=35028468072600

 

Umm, maybe because it is a $600 (+shipping) solution in search of a problem? We like simple.

 

This thread is literally about a $400 battery and a $125 booster...

And it was a potential solution to Mr. @djtacoma 's problem

 

Right, so your suggestion is to forget about the $125 voltage booster and instead slam a $600+ solar panel on the hood. Got it

 

Oh no it wasnt. I was saying instead of replacing the battery doing a solar trickle charge setup. Sorry for not being clear.

 

https://batteryworld.varta-automoti...-the-right-battery-for-short-distance-driving

 

First I would have the alternator tested to ensure it is properly charging the battery. An autoparts store can do this for free. If you alternator is good, then I would speculate a lot of very short trips are drawing the battery down from using the starter without giving it adequate time to recharge afterward, degrading the battery. Repeated trips then continue to draw the charge state lower and lower. Lead acid batteries degrade if the charge level is drawn too low. You can try to recondition the battery if you have a charger with that capability, but once a lead acid battery starts to fail it can be hard to save and it doesn't sound like a conducive scenario for lead acid unless constantly charging the battery.

An AGM will offer the advantage of not being harmed at a lower state of charge from a bunch of short trips. If you don't eventually take a longer one to provide sufficient charge/recovery time, you will still need to use a charger at some point. However, the battery will come right back like new, unlike the lead acid which is degraded.