NRMA batteries

[AstralTraveller]

I'm up for a new pair of batteries for my troopie. I knew they were a bit aged but they appear to have died completely. I haven't started it for a week and when I tried this morning it they were dead - after one pitiful crank they couldn't even throw the solenoid. I've been charging them for hours and they are better but I'm not convinced they will ever start the car. And unfortunately the car is parked where I can't get another car close enough for the jumper leads to reach.

It looks like I have 2 options. Either call the NRMA and get their relatively cheap batteries delivered free. Or pay a $65 call out fee to get the batteries I've been using, which have lasted well enough (Century N70ZZ). The NRMA option looks best but some on-line reviews are quite negative. However it doesn't make sense for the NRMA to sell rubbish and then give a 3 year warranty and I'm becoming quite wary of on-line 'reviews' which are too often clearly advertising or put downs of rivals products (you should read 4WD tyre 'reviews' :rolleyes:)

So, does anyone have first hand experience with NRMA batteries or have any industry knowledge?

[Boozlefoot]

Had 4703/4704's (860CCA) from NRMA fitted up to my 100 series app. 2.5 yrs ago and no problems since. Batteries aren't what they used to be, and a reasonable average lately is 3 - 3.5yrs life expectancy. Was dubious at first as had heard some rumours, but they seem to be pretty good for the money.:)

[Ric]

Hi David,

I had the premium NRMA battery installed with the 3 year warranty installed last year. That was the $199 deal.

The previous battery was also a NRMA package but only the Heavy duty version, that had lasted 4 years. quite happy with that as we get some harsh winters out my way.

The fellow that came out was very professional, put the connector thingy on so the radio wouldn't need resetting and took the old battery with him. Very happy with his work and happy to recommend them.

Interesting point of note is that they are happy to come out to us whereas other companies wont come near us as we are too far out of town.

[xelasnave]

Have you cleaned your terminals?
Try cleaning them and another charge maybe there is a chance. Also check water levels.

Alex

[beren]

Show your Troopie some love, go for a Fullriver battery :thumbsup:

[bigjoe]

Nrma batteries have always lasted me more than 3 yrs of stop start City, and some Highway , between houses driving..though not much longer than the 3yrs.
Take that for what its worth.
bigjoe.

[Wavytone]

I'll ask you this: would you get out of bed to rescue some idiot with a flat battery at 2am for $30 ? I suggest not.

If you think that's bad, for a bit of a giggle read this:

https://www.lensrentals.com/blog/2012/03/hammerforum-com/

Now.. as for batteries... some time ago I did a study of alternative batteries for diesel locomotives and another for Honda to replace the NiCAD battery in their CR-Z hybrid cars and basically it concluded buy the cheap SLA type and be prepared to replace them every 4 years.

While there are viable alternatives including AGL, NiCAD, LiPo and even supercapacitors, their lifecycle cost is still more than that of SLA's. Some of the alternatives offer better performance (ie better temperature specs, lower internal DC resistance, lower mass) but the the "extra performance" comes at a significant cost which is not justifiable if all you want is a battery to kick your starter motor daily, where a cheap-as-chips SLA will do that just fine.

But SLAs have a very finite life of about 4 years... if you find your motor is sluggish to turn over in cold conditions its time is up.

Bear in mind the NRMA fee covers the call-out and the guys driving time... if you were paid just $30 an hour the $65 barely covers his drive each way, never mind his time to swap the battery (10 minutes) and the price of the battery. Cheap IMHO.

[Greenswale]

Both batteries died at the same time? Do you have a solenoid type system connecting them?

It is not unusual for batteries using a solenoid system to have both batteries die at the same time. This is symptomatic for the system. 'Intelligent' systems generally overcome this, preserving the cranking battery as a priority. I have come across as people in remote areas with solenoid systems and both batteries dead........

[AstralTraveller]

Thanks to all for your comments. NRMA batteries installed and fingers crossed.



Thanks, but I'm too old to not check that. After a few dozen incidents even I caught on ;).




Interesting, I've never heard of them. there was no time to do research this time but I'll keep that in mind. BTW what is so good about them?




Thanks for the comments about battery types. I've tried 'exotic' batteries in the past (actually distant past) and never been too happy with them. Perhaps they are better these days but I'll stick to SLA for now.

I'm not too sure about the other comments though. It's not 2am and it isn't the NRMA charging for a callout. NRMA don't charge as I am the roadside service and actually doing something every decade or two is why they get the money every year. Battery World would charge $65 for a call out and that is fair enough. If I thought their batteries were better I would pay the extra cost but if they are all much the same obviously I'll go with the cheaper option.



I actually have an earth-side manual switch. That is the setup I had on my old 47 series and it worked great. However I used a different switch this time (physically smaller but with higher amperage rating) and I don't think it's up to the job. So, I got lazy and just ran the two batteries in parallel all the time. Clearly that isn't ideal and this situation is why. I need to get this battery system higher up the to-do list.

BTW the NRMA bloke suggested I get a modern smart charger as they do a better job with modern Ca batteries. In particular they go through a repair or service cycle which runs 17v through the battery for a short time to de-scale the plates. He had a customer who had run his battery on the charger for a couple of hours about once a month and had got 9 years from the battery. Something to consider.

[beren]

When I was doing research for battery replacement Fullriver seemed to have
a very good reputation amongst the 4WD/carvanning fraternity {online forums etc}.