What's the life expectancy for a 6V battery? I have a battery in my Franklin that a friend gave me. He had it in storage for many years dry and never wet. I've been running it for six years. Is that it? It's a long and skinny thing, 19"x4". My local NAPA has it in stock for $115.

Steve,
Six or twelve volt batteries will have the same life expectancy when maintained in the same way. If you always store your cars with the batteries on a float charger, you may get another few of years out of them.

My 2 Cents...

I have a similar battery in my 1948 Buick. I have it for over 9 years now. After each use I leave the 6 volt Battery Tender on until the green light comes on and then I disconnect it. When I leave the car for a period of over 4 weeks I connect the Battery Tender up, plug it into a light timer set to go on 1 hour a day. This will keep it fully charged and will not over charge or dry it out. Two to three times a year I check the water level and add distilled water as needed. I also check the charging voltage after a good run to see that the regulator is keeping it in the range of 7.0 volts.
I bought the current battery, an Interstate, from a low priced car parts outfit we have here called AID Auto. I lucked out and happen to go into the store during a battery sale and even though they had to order it, they gave me the sale price of $75.00.
I believe the size battery you mention in 6 volts is Group 2E.
Good luck.
Joe, BCA 33493

Has anyone had experience with these? The cost is only about $10 more than a standard lead-acid, and the claims of longer life and no leakage are tempting.

i use one in my challenger, been there since 2003

They give good service, but are difficult to clamp down in some applications because of their odd size and shape, which none of the over-the-counter clamps will accommodate. The company itself makes a few limited clamps, but not enough to really make their batteries as adaptable as they should be. In too many cases you have to use home-made clamps. I contacted the company and suggested that they make a wider variety of clamps and sell them to regular customers like me, and they told me to buy a lead-acid battery instead.

The NAPA 6 volts seem designed just like other modern batteries - with a built in obsolesence date. I checked the paperwork on a NAPA battery I replaced last August (and over the years properly maintianed the charge, etc.) and found it was a "60 month battery" that failed at - exactly 60 mos. I bought it in August of 2002 and in August 2007 it would no longer take a charge. Not too bad considering they are not too pricey, but count on that nowadays. The NAPA place I trade at did tell me they changed suppliers a couple years ago, although I really don't know if that is better or not.

I just read an article on DELCO's maintenance free battery development and why it is/was better than other batteries, which really aren't the same even though they are referred to as maintenance free. Can't find the article now, I think it was in a Hemmings publication. Are these Delco batteries still available? In a 6 volt?

Larry

As far as I know, there are no "maintenance-free" 6V batteries out there. In any event, the long group 2E that my car takes is limited in availability anyway.

I got my Optima battery the other day via Amazon.com. They were $75 less than the local Optima distributor. I've never heard my car crank as fast. 800 cca is a nice shot. Now I'm fabricating some blocks to take up the slack in the battery box. I'll post some photos when I'm done. So far I'm happy.

Here's my not-so-classy mounting system for my Optima battery. One piece of 2x6 and two pieces of 4x6 screwed together make up the difference between the 2E and the Optima. It's very secure if not pretty.

I wonder how many points I'll lose at Pebble Beach?

At least it won't corrode!

Larry