Received: from FARADAY.ECE.CMU.EDU by K.CS.CMU.EDU; 10 Feb 87 11:24:26 EST Received: by faraday.ECE.CMU.EDU (4.12/4.7) id ; Tue, 10 Feb 87 11:16:53 est; Date: Tue, 10 Feb 87 11:16:53 est From: Ramesh Harjani Message-Id: <8702101616.AA17356@faraday.ECE.CMU.EDU> To: bovik@faraday.ECE.CMU.EDU Subject: Car Battery Replacement Here is all the mail I got while trying to find out about which battery to get Date: 9 Feb 1987 13:47:16 EST From: Richard.Etner@PS1.CS.CMU.EDU To: HARJANI@EEF Subject: Current issue of Consumer Reports magazine has an article about auto batteries. It said (among other things) that the best & worst they tested came from the same manufacturer! Date: 9 Feb 87 12:15:39 EST From: David.Black@A.CS.CMU.EDU Subject: Re: Car Battery help To: Ramesh.Harjani@faraday.ECE.CMU.EDU Latest issue of Consumer Reports contains everything you'd ever want to know about car batteries. I seem to remember the Interstate MT-34 as being much better than all other comers. --Dave Date: 9 Feb 1987 11:20-EST From: Gregg.Podnar@rover.ri.cmu.edu To: Ramesh.Harjani@faraday.ECE.CMU.EDU Subject: Re: Car Battery help Sears Diehard. The best that's on sale is good. (~$50) They will put it in and check the charging system. They are competent at this (sure they're average mechanics, but they do do a lot of batteries). Date: Mon, 9 Feb 87 10:19:11 est From: Bob Walker To: harjani Subject: battery Sears Diehard, lasts 5 years, $75, can take back to any Sears if it fails. don't bother checking most sales flyers in newspapers or whatever. Volkswagen batteries are almost always a special case, and not on sale. - bob Date: Mon, 9 Feb 87 10:16:16 est From: Ronald Bianchini To: harjani Subject: car batteries .... The latest issue of Consumer's Report did an extensize test on car batteries, the battery that did the best by a wide margin in the "Interstate Mega-Tron MT-34", the next time I need a battery I am going to buy one. A whole series of batteries were real close to each other in second ... they include: the Sears Diehard, Deka Precision 600 624, and thef Douglas Omni 6000. Up until now, I have just gone to Sears and gotten a Sears Diehard, and have never had any problems with them. Good luck Ron Date: 9 Feb 1987 10:11-EST From: Craig.Knoblock@ml.ri.cmu.edu To: Ramesh.Harjani@faraday.ECE.CMU.EDU Subject: Re: Car Battery help Sears makes pretty good batteries and they are reasonably priced if you get them on sale. They have a sale almost every week...you can call them to see if they have any on sale now. - Craig Date: Mon, 9 Feb 87 09:12:55 est From: Lambros Toumaras To: harjani@eef Subject: Car Battery If you plan on keeping the car for any length of time, buy a battery from any "name-brand" store (i.e., Sears, J.C. Penney, Firestone, Goodyear, etc.) and buy one with a warranty to match the length of time you expect to keep the car (one year up to forever). Being from the South, I'm not familiar with how many "cold cranking Amps" you need to start a car during a Pittsburgh winter. Date: Mon, 9 Feb 87 00:00:32 est From: Ted Lehr To: harjani Subject: battery Ramesh, This month's consumer reports has an article on makes of batteries. it's agood one. ted Date: Sun, 8 Feb 87 21:36:49 est From: Mike Trick To: harjani@eef Subject: batteries Consumer reports just rated car batteries. On a scale of 1-5 with 5 being the best: NAME PRICE RATING Interstate Mega-Tron MT-34 $65-$78 ***** Douglas Omni 6000 $65 **** Sears Die-hard 4301 $70 *** Deka Precision 600 624/26A $80 *** They rated 15 batteries, these are the best. Stay away from the Interstate Mega-Tron MT-26. It is the smaller version of the best battery, but it has the worst rating. The Delco and K-mart batteries are rated very low. I just buoght a die-hard for less than $70. I think they go on sale regularly for around $60. Date: Sunday, 8 February 1987 19:48:34 EST Sender: Tom.Rask@henry.ECE.CMU.EDU From: Tom.Rask@henry.ece.cmu.edu To: harjani@faraday.ece.cmu.edu Subject: Battery. Sears is a good place to look. Their warranty is at least worth the paper it is printed on (unlike some others) and they check your cars electrical system before installing it. So if the battery fails due to e.g. the voltage regulator going bad, your battery is covered by the warranty. This actually happened to me once. One note of caution: don't buy the biggest, highest amp battery you can find. It's a waste of money. Some salesmen may try to get you to buy a 600 cold cranking amps battery "for those cold winter days" when all your car really needs is 350 amps. Besides, the length of the warranty is in my opinion worth more than the number of amps. Tom Rask Date: Sun, 8 Feb 87 18:51:49 est From: Richard Cloutier To: harjani@eef Subject: batteries Ramesh, consumer reports did a car battery report sometime in the past few months, I was surprised to see the variability in samples from the same company. Check it out. rich Date: 8 Feb 1987 18:35-EST From: Anthony.Stentz@ius1.cs.cmu.edu To: Ramesh.Harjani@faraday.ECE.CMU.EDU Subject: Re: Car Battery help Ramesh, If you plan to keep the car for several years, I'd recommend a Sears Diehard battery. They cost about $60, but require no maintenance and are guaranteed to last the life of your car. --Tony Date: Sunday, 8 February 1987 17:08:09 EST From: Derek.Beatty@unh.cs.cmu.edu To: harjani@faraday.ece.cmu.edu Subject: auto batteries Consumer Reports' February issue is their "Car-care Special". It includes a 5-page article on batteries. I suggest you find that issue and read it. The best battery they tested was the "Interstate Mega-Tron MT-34", which they claim costs between $65 and $78. But the MT-26 was one of the worst they found, which is why I suggest you look at the entire article. The article includes a section on reading the date codes on batteries, so you can be sure you're not getting a battery that has exceeded its shelf life. Date: 8 Feb 87 17:06:19 EST From: Roy.Maxion@A.CS.CMU.EDU Subject: Re: Car Battery help To: Ramesh.Harjani@faraday.ECE.CMU.EDU Sears is usually a good bet. They offer a reasonable guarantee. Roy Date: Sun, 8 Feb 87 15:55:24 EST From: Barak.Pearlmutter@F.GP.CS.CMU.EDU To: harjani@eef Subject: Re: Car Battery help The best place to go for batteries is Sears. They will fit you out with a new battery at a reasonable price and check the electrical system in your car for free if you so desire. And they make good on their warrenties, which is very important with batteries. --Barak. Date: Sunday, 8 February 1987 15:53:53 EST Sender: Jayanth.Rajan@faraday From: Jayanth.Rajan@faraday.ece.cmu.edu To: harjani@faraday.ece.cmu.edu Subject: Car battery help The Feb 1987 issue of Consumer Reports is a special issue devoted to auto parts. I think it compares and rates several batteries. The Hunt library has a copy of the magazine. Ask the librarian on the first floor (she keeps it locked). Date: 8 Feb 1987 15:47-EST From: Kai-Fu.Lee@speech2.cs.cmu.edu To: Ramesh.Harjani@faraday.ECE.CMU.EDU Subject: Re: Car Battery help According to this month's Consumer Report, "Interstate Mega-Tron MT-34" really stands out as the best battery. But "Interstate Mega-Tron MT-26" is rated very poorly, so read the label carefully. Other highly-rated batteries are: Deka Precision 600 624/26A, Douglas Omni 6000, Sears Diehard 4301, and GNB Champion CCA 675. /Kai-Fu