Group 31 Battery Help

I was getting close to pulling the trigger on the DHP 31M, but I called Sears and asked about the pro-rated warranty. They no longer offer this, so now all you get is the 3 year free replacement warranty.

After tax the DHP would be about $350 locally, and I can get the NorthStar 31 AGM with a 4 year free replacement warranty for about the same online. I'll let you guys know what I end up doing.
 
I pulled the trigger on the sears die hard platinum 31M $320 out the door without deposit. also ordered the CBI tray. I decided to beef up the battery after my alternator died and left me stranded on a road for 2 hours while snowing. also picked up a mean green alternator.
 
I picked up the die hard platinum 31 m the other day $320 otd. also ordered a mean green alternator and CBI tray. my alternator died on my way home from school left me on the side of the road in the snow for about 2 hours. i decided to beef up the alternator and battery. need to extend the positive lead to make it fit.
 
I bought the X2 31 AGM (rebadged NorthStar) from Batteries Plus today. It was $334 out the door, plus another $20 mail in rebate. None of these batteries are cheap, but I feel good about the 5 year warranty this one has, in addition to its specs.
 
I also just got the Group 31 X2 from Batteries Plus to go in my CBI 31 tray. They have the 31M at Batteries Plus which only has a 4 year warranty, however if you look hard enough you can get the regular group 31 (not 31M) which has the full 5 year warranty and retails for $40 less.

SLI31AGMDPM- $399.99 - 4 year warranty
SLI31AGMDP - $359.99 - 5 year warranty

After comparing the cost of the last Northstar group buy, the cost of the Northstar 31M at the best group buy price was $310 but only has a 3 year warranty. Batteries Plus has 10% off if you order online and pickup in store but you do have to pay sales tax and core. I had a core battery to turn in so my out-the-door cost was $350.71. For me the extra $40.71 was worth paying for being able to deal with a local store and having 2 extra years of warranty for the same battery. I was able to get it mounted up however I will need to make some new cables. I extended the factory positive cable by bolting up a short piece of 1ga with ring terminals on each end covered by battery boots and a decent amount of electrical tape. Yes it's ghetto but it'll get me by until I can make up new cables. The negative does reach, but barely and you have to cut part of the ring clamp off and enlarge the hole.
 
Let us know how you like the group 31F batteries. The Northstar brand is new to me. I might upgrade to this when it is time to replace my current AGM battery.

I have been running the Napa Legend AGM Group 24F battery for the last 3-years. We have had some record high temp Summers and record low temp Winters in Boise over the last few years and the battery has never failed me.

Cheers,
-Dan
 
Mgyver1 said:
I also just got the Group 31 X2 from Batteries Plus to go in my CBI 31 tray. They have the 31M at Batteries Plus which only has a 4 year warranty, however if you look hard enough you can get the regular group 31 (not 31M) which has the full 5 year warranty and retails for $40 less.

SLI31AGMDPM- $399.99 - 4 year warranty
SLI31AGMDP - $359.99 - 5 year warranty

After comparing the cost of the last Northstar group buy, the cost of the Northstar 31M at the best group buy price was $310 but only has a 3 year warranty. Batteries Plus has 10% off if you order online and pickup in store but you do have to pay sales tax and core. I had a core battery to turn in so my out-the-door cost was $350.71. For me the extra $40.71 was worth paying for being able to deal with a local store and having 2 extra years of warranty for the same battery. I was able to get it mounted up however I will need to make some new cables. I extended the factory positive cable by bolting up a short piece of 1ga with ring terminals on each end covered by battery boots and a decent amount of electrical tape. Yes it's ghetto but it'll get me by until I can make up new cables. The negative does reach, but barely and you have to cut part of the ring clamp off and enlarge the hole.
Click to expand...


Have any issues running your fridge with this battery? What were your voltage drops after X amount of time?
 
MandAtaco said:
Have any issues running your fridge with this battery? What were your voltage drops after X amount of time?
Click to expand...

After 3 full days of running the Engel MT45 fridge plus some camp lights at night, a SPOT tracker ;) and charging phones the battery was right at 12.0v when I went to start the truck the last day. I did have a 30 watt solar panel, however that is 30 at peak which I tried re-aiming the panel periodically but wasn't always prompt with it, and the area was very shaded so I had a fairly limited time frame that the panel was in direct sun. The temps were probably low-mid 80's in the day and low 50's at night.

I also was not a very good fridge user as we would open it frequently and leave it open digging around trying to find stuff, including a few times where we pulled everything out to get to the frozen stuff on the bottom, and putting in warm drinks to cool them down. I also do not have an insulated fridge cover which I'm sure would have helped some. I don't know what kind of results I would've gotten with the stock 24 but I was very glad I had the extra capacity of the 31.

I also noticed that my starter sounds like it's in overdrive when I start. It may be a seat-of-the-pants thing, but I swear I can hear the starter crank faster and the truck start sooner.
 
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