New battery questions

Thanks, you do the same.

 

The Odyssey is a very nice battery. I got just over 11 years from one I had in my Fj62. Best part was, it was a Sears branded for $180.

 

yes, but the one I bought wasn’t a 24F. And, I confirmed with the guy at Costco behind the counter and he said that is the normal price. If you are a Costco member, you typically get lower prices than what is online to the public.


One thing to keep in mind is that the stock alternator settings won’t charge and AGM to its fullest so you either need to trickle charge once in a while, or tune the alt settings (which I did)

 

I have the everstart maxx regular battery 24f group and no issues so far . ProjectFarm on youtube did many test on batteries and walmart seemed to be just as good as optima if not better check it out

 

Is your battery terminal on upside down?

 

no. Same as it’s always been. It’s flat on both sides

 

Whoa...news. Thanks for that, first time I've heard about AGMs not getting fully charged through the alt. Had one on the boat, and have one on the travel trailer. When you say tune the alt settings... Are we talking about plugging into the OBD port, turning a screw, or re-wounding? I know I'll get flamed here, but most of the time, I'm out alone (forgive me wheelers, for I have sinned ) so whatever is modded needs to be pretty much bulletproof.

 

Does anybody check the electrolyte level in their wet batteries these days? Add distilled water when needed?

 

Mine seems to use a few teaspoons of distilled water every few months. I try to check it twice a year at least.
It's an easy job if you have a turkey baster or something similar.

 

Actually checked mine for the first time several days ago, I added some distilled water to each cell. Used more than I thought I would.

 

I was gonna ask the same thing about how to tune an alternator to fully charge an AGM Battery, so you are not alone...

 

HI,
On 3rd gen Tacoma, the alternator is controlled by the car ECU, so the ECU dictated the voltage, etc. The voltage required to charge an AGM battery needs to be higher than the voltage for a regular battery, and since the OEM battery is not an AGM and the ECU cannot differentiate which battery you are using, the AGM never get completely charged. You can top off the battery whit a battery charger like once a month and be all set, if not the battery will degrade and lose capacity over time. On the 2nd gen you can add a diode to make the alternator charge at higher voltage, on the 3rd gen you have to mess with the ECU to accomplish the same.

 

I just tuned my alternator to output about 14.35 volts via VF Tuner (OV Tune) for my AGM battery. Pretty simply actually many threads on this now. A local tuner for OV/KD max could do it or you could do it yourself if you purchase the software.

 

I'm on Valley Runner tune, they can do it too.

 

@ncyrider

OP------
Just curious what you decided to do for a new battery???????

 

Optima red top serves me well on my trips south of the border. Never had an issue with them and now that @TWTaco has tuned my rig it charges 14.2-14.3v and drives like it should have from the factory.
Fish porn from a week ago 400 miles south of Sandy Eggo. Going back for 9 more daze July 2!

 

Damn Woody that is a nice catch! Glad to hear your loving the tune! Have a blast on your next trip. Be Safe!

 

VFtuner is a product that tunes the transmission and allows you to change many different things. The alternator is one of them.

It is going to take a while for an AGM to run low enough if you run stock alternator settings. If you have lots of lights or add ins that draw electricity you may notice sooner.

 

Thanks for that! Something to look into post-warranty.

 

"A while" may not be all that long: I had a Northstar Group 27 AGM in my GX470, no boost to charging voltage, and the battery lasted just over 3 years. No extra electronics or anything. This was before I became aware of the diode or trickle charge to keep it healthy.