2018 Limited 1500 battery issues.

[mdc1990zr1]

I’d still like to try that H8, though so I may just wait untill I can go to a bigger Walmart that hopefully has a fresher stock.

Whatever size you choose, I would definitely error on the side of a fresher battery.

 

[BWL]

What am I overthinking?? Have you even read through the thread? I’ve done a lot of research that shows an AGM would be better so that’s why I might go ahead and get one. But what’s your thoughts on my lifetime warranty and an AGM battery? I know it’s probably not set in stone but my service writer said there wouldn’t be a problem running an AGM battery.

Post on the forum and consider agm. Forum members say good to use.Asked the service writer if agm was ok, then the auto parts guy, then call optima to quadruple check, then question whether the information is good or they're just trying to upsell you and so on.. There's evidence to support my hypothethis. Not trying to bash you, but trying to give you a little outside perspective. You want to take the next steps after you sleep on it and contact stellantis followed by an army corps of engineering review carry on, but if you need that much convincing for something with no noteable gain in your situation you're probably best to stick to what the truck came with.

 

[corneileous]

Post on the forum and consider agm. Forum members say good to use.Asked the service writer if agm was ok, then the auto parts guy, then call optima to quadruple check, then question whether the information is good or they're just trying to upsell you and so on.. There's evidence to support my hypothethis. Not trying to bash you, but trying to give you a little outside perspective. You want to take the next steps after you sleep on it and contact stellantis followed by an army corps of engineering review carry on, but if you need that much convincing for something with no noteable gain in your situation you're probably best to stick to what the truck came with.

Well if you actually read through the discussion, not everybody who’s posted said sure, go right ahead, it’s all good.

And of course I made those calls. It’s called gathering info to see how all the advice given coincides with what everyone else had to say to help one make a decision. But you’re right, calling Optima and even calling dealership service writers was probably a waste of time because they’re more interested in selling a product to make money and most service writers just don’t care and will probably tell you anything.

And you don’t know if I won’t see any noticeable gain unless you’ve done the same but why do you keep thinking I’m just that focused on that much gain?? I’m not, I’m just assuming I should see some gain in performance but if I don’t, oh well. It’s not that big of a deal.

I’m not sure about the Duracell batteries at Sam’s but if the Walmart H7 and H8 AGM’s are practically the same price, why wouldn’t I go with the bigger battery with more CA’s and CCA’s with also a little more reserve time?? Not to mention the fact that if I had an EcoDiesel, the H8 is the OE battery so who cares if I just have the Hemi?

I think you’re just making way too bigga deal about this man so why are you even posting here? Everyone else who’s posted here sure has been very helpful- except you…lol.

 

[corneileous]

I don’t know if we’re allowed to post links from other web forums but have any of you guys heard of this? I know it really only applies to, I guess, the newer trucks that have that start/stop crap on them but what I’m talking about is this “blind” charging stuff it talks about where, if I’m understanding it correctly, the other day when I decided to put the charger on my battery when I decided to pull my battery cables off to clean them and the battery posts, it sounds like to me that I should’ve charged it with the cables connected with the negative charging clamp connected to that L-shaped part of the cable and not directly on the clamp so that I’m assuming the battery sensor can monitor what the charger is doing? Does that sound about right?

 

[Wild one]

I don’t know if we’re allowed to post links from other web forums but have any of you guys heard of this? I know it really only applies to, I guess, the newer trucks that have that start/stop crap on them but what I’m talking about is this “blind” charging stuff it talks about where, if I’m understanding it correctly, the other day when I decided to put the charger on my battery when I decided to pull my battery cables off to clean them and the battery posts, it sounds like to me that I should’ve charged it with the cables connected with the negative charging clamp connected to that L-shaped part of the cable and not directly on the clamp so that I’m assuming the battery sensor can monitor what the charger is doing? Does that sound about right?

I question that theory,the first thing most outfits do if you remove a battery to take it in for testing is usually charge it,so what's the differance between charging it on a bench or in a vehicle with both cables disconnected.If you had both cables off it and charged it in vehicle i think you'll be perfectly fine,it's when you charge it with the cables still connected then you should charge it after the IBS sensor

 

[corneileous]

I question that theory,the first thing most outfits do if you remove a battery to take it in for testing is usually charge it,so what's the differance between charging it on a bench or in a vehicle with both cables disconnected.If you had both cables off it and charged it in vehicle i think you'll be perfectly fine,it's when you charge it with the cables still connected then you should charge it after the IBS sensor

Yeah, I don’t know, unless this has to do with something when you are charging the battery when it’s still connected to the truck but then again, I really don’t even know why that would even matter and who knows, there might be something else different on those newer trucks that has that feature that shuts off the engine whenever you stop which, in a way does kinda make sense because, like on my wife’s Pilot, although I don’t think neither one of us has ever seen the message pop up on the dash screen but supposedly if the battery does get too low or depending on certain conditions like, while running the AC or something, there’s a message that could pop up on that screen telling you something about a battery saver mode or something.

Like I said, I was just curious what you guys thought about that.

 

[Wild one]

Yeah, I don’t know, unless this has to do with something when you are charging the battery when it’s still connected to the truck but then again, I really don’t even know why that would even matter and who knows, there might be something else different on those newer trucks that has that feature that shuts off the engine whenever you stop which, in a way does kinda make sense because, like on my wife’s Pilot, although I don’t think neither one of us has ever seen the message pop up on the dash screen but supposedly if the battery does get too low or depending on certain conditions like, while running the AC or something, there’s a message that could pop up on that screen telling you something about a battery saver mode or something.

Like I said, I was just curious what you guys thought about that.

Personally i think it depends more on the battery charger being used,most shops use an industrial style charger that doesn't have a float setting,and those chargers probably should be hooked up after the IBS,but if you're using a smaller home charger that has a float setting i highly doubt you're going to have any issues with hooking directly to the battery.If hooking directly to the battery caused issues,i should of had battery or IBS issues 10 years ago. I've probably hooked up a charger to my vehicles more then most guys on here have,and i've never had any issues.Hell if Ma Mopar seen my trucks set-up,they'd probably tell me the truck should of burned to the ground 10 years ago I'm gonna go out on a limb and say i'm probably the only guy in north america running a group 31 AGM battery in a relocated box with 2 master disconnect switches,and where the disconnect switch is tested on a weekly basis to make sure it shuts the truck off,so if anybody should of had issues,i'd think it would of been meI also doubt many guys have ran more extra grounds and hot feeds then i have on my truck,as everything on my truck has been grounded,and i've also upgraded all the hot feeds from the alternator to battery and to the fuse box

 

[corneileous]

Well guys, I appreciate everybody’s input, but it sounds like I’m just gonna go with a Duracell AGM from my Sam’s Club. I’ll probably still have to find out for sure when I get down there because when I called, I was connected to some random phone number for Sam’s Club instead of being able to talk to somebody that was at the store but the person I spoke with assured me that their Duracell batteries do come from that east penn manufacturing plant so who knows, maybe that’s why that Duracell we bought from Sam’s for the car my wife used to have, lasted for over five years and is probably still going strong. I’ll still stop at the few Walmarts along the way just to see how old their stock is for their ever start AGM’s and see where they come from.

 

[62Blazer]

Regarding Walmart's stock, I just had to replace the battery in my car a couple days ago. Picked up an AGM from Walmart and it had a 1/25 date sticker on it...so can't get any fresher than that.
Not aware of any issues charging the battery connected or disconnected to the vehicle. I know several mechanics, and myself, that have charged numerous batteries and have never disconnected them. One of those vehicles does have the stop-start mode on them and I charged that battery at least 4-5 times this summer while trouble-shooting an issue with the crazy battery isolator stop-start system.

 

[corneileous]

Regarding Walmart's stock, I just had to replace the battery in my car a couple days ago. Picked up an AGM from Walmart and it had a 1/25 date sticker on it...so can't get any fresher than that.
Not aware of any issues charging the battery connected or disconnected to the vehicle. I know several mechanics, and myself, that have charged numerous batteries and have never disconnected them. One of those vehicles does have the stop-start mode on them and I charged that battery at least 4-5 times this summer while trouble-shooting an issue with the crazy battery isolator stop-start system.

The Walmart I was looking in is the one that’s in my little town that’s not even a super Walmart so that’s probably why the more expensive AGM batteries they had have been there so long but aside from the age, it was where they came from that also made me not wanna get one there.

What manufacturing plant did your battery come from if you don’t mind me asking? All of the H8 AGMs they had were made in China by Jonson Controls which is now known as Clarios and the couple H7’s they had that were actually dated January 2025 but they were made by DN Automotive which is a Korean manufacturer.

 

[RamDiver]

.

 

[corneileous]

Well, Duracell makes car batteries so I guess it’s not weird for Energizer to make them too, I spose.

 

[corneileous]

Well, I pulled my battery out but I couldn’t find a serial number on it or even a marking of where it was made but anywho, I saw that the box in general is large enough for the H8 and I did see the little removable plastic book-end looking thing on the rear of the truck-side of the box that secures the smaller battery so I popped that out but after seeing that the front side of the battery will still be in the same place as before, I don’t think I’ll have an issue with the positive battery cable but the negative cable clamp looks like it might be a chore to move it back towards the dash an inch and a half so for those of you who upgraded to the H8 from the H7, how did you accomplish that? It kinda looks like I can just snip the two zip ties that secure the negative battery cable to the side of the battery box to get some more length.

 

[corneileous]

Well, I found a write-up on here so I’ll be referring to that…

 

[corneileous]

Well, I got my battery at Sam’s and the dude was right, it was manufactured by East Penn so from what I’ve heard, that’s a good thing. I also got the newest one they had which was somehow made in February 2025…lol. Not sure how that’s possible but the other two they had in stock were made September 24.

Getting it in wasn’t too bad but I did end up having to release the push pin zip-tie the guy talks about in the write-up but I also had to do the same for the upper one that I think secures the cable for the battery sensor to the negative post. I also had to remove that nut that holds those wires to the negative clamp but it wasn’t bad.

I also decided to put my charger on the battery which took about three hours to charge. I’ll try it again today but after installing the battery, I fired the truck up and still, even with the new battery, the needle on the battery gauge was still reading between half and 3/4 so I don’t know what that’s all about. I’m also gonna hook Alfa up to it today to just make sure there are no trouble codes stored in the BCM or anywhere else.

Hopefully this battery gives me more than 3 years.