Community Forums

hdgoldie · 10-08-2020, 12:13 PM

The battery in our Grand Cherokee is dying. It’s an AGM and we have an appointment to have it replaced since we have found that it’s not that easy to swap out batteries on the GC - or at least it’s not on the Summit model. We have a choice between two AGM batteries for the replacement. One is Duracell, which we know is made by East Penn. The other is called X2Power. The internet says that one is made by NorthStar. The specs and prices are close on the two with the X2Power having a slight advantage in Cranking Amps and Reserve Capacity Minutes with a slightly higher price. The X2Power has a 5 year warranty, the Duracell is only 2 years. We know there are many of you with a lot more knowledge and experience than we have. Any advice on which would be the best battery?

LWBAZ · 10-08-2020, 12:33 PM

Either one will serve you well. I’ve become a big fan of NorthStar batteries, to the point that I have them in our motorhome (chassis batteries) and all but one of our vehicles. The one vehicle that doesn't have a NorthStar battery has, guess what, an East Penn/Duracell.

Not sure about your Grand Cherokee, but our 2012 Jeep Wrangler came with a BCI Group 91 starting battery. The Group 91 is a bit of an odd duck. When it was time to replace it, I determined that a more common BCI Group 48 battery would fit. The Group 48 battery had the exact same footprint as a Group 91 but was half an inch taller – 7.4 inches tall versus 6.9 inches tall for the Group 91 – and I had room for the extra half-inch of height.

So I went with a NorthStar NSB-AGM48 Group 48 battery, which is rated at 775 Cold Cranking Amps (CCA) versus 600 CCA for the factory-installed Group 91 battery. Photos below show the original Group 91 battery and the currently installed Group 48 battery.

8.3Oilbuner · 10-08-2020, 12:46 PM

Hi Golde & Rick; Totally agree with what Larry posted. I just installed an Odyssey battery in my Jeep Wrangler after doing a lot of research. From what I remember, that's dangerous, the North Star & the Odyssey are from the same factory or group here in the USA. These batteries get good reviews from those who own them. I would have gone with a North Star from, or X2 from Batteries Plus, but it was more than 2 weeks out to get one. The one thing that mattered to me was availability. You hope nothing goes wrong in the warranty period, but if it does I don't like the idea of waiting 2 weeks for a replacement. I went with the Odyssey because from the retailer I went with the Odyssey was a in stock battery. Just something to keep in mind when purchasing a battery.

Gary.Jones · 10-08-2020, 12:50 PM

So, to be clear, the NorthStar is made by who?

Gary

LWBAZ · 10-08-2020, 12:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 8.3Oilbuner

Hi Golde & Rick; Totally agree with what Larry posted. I just installed an Odyssey battery in my Jeep Wrangler after doing a lot of research. From what I remember, that's dangerous, the North Star & the Odyssey are from the same factory or group here in the USA. These batteries get good reviews from those who own them. I would have gone with a North Star from, or X2 from Batteries Plus, but it was more than 2 weeks out to get one. The one thing that mattered to me was availability. You hope nothing goes wrong in the warranty period, but if it does I don't like the idea of waiting 2 weeks for a replacement. I went with the Odyssey because from the retailer I went with the Odyssey was a in stock battery. Just something to keep in mind when purchasing a battery.

You're pretty close. The info I received from the battery shop I use is that one of the top engineers at Odyssey was one of the founders (or at least initial employees) of NorthStar.

Odyssey and NorthStar are both high-quality brands, and I've owned two or three Odyssey batteries. But I switched my allegiance to NorthStar when I had an early failure of an Odyssey and my battery shop informed me it was made in Mexico. They offered to replace it with a made-in-the-USA NorthStar and I took them up on their offer.

To be clear, and in Odyssey's defense, they hadn't moved all of their production to Mexico, just a small portion of it that happened to include the particular BCI Group size of the battery I had. And that was several years ago, so I can't say where Odyssey batteries are manufactured at present. I wouldn't be overly surprised if they had a not-so-great experience with non-USA production and moved everything back to the states.

hdgoldie · 10-08-2020, 05:41 PM

Larry, The GC Summit is a Group 94R. Thanks to all - we’ll go with the X2Power (NorthStar). Rick was all set to do the swap - he has done it on all our other vehicles including our first Entegra - until he started reading about the required alternate power source, accessing panel under passenger seat... You get the picture. Batteries Plus has much better price than the Jeep dealership.

Gary, As far as I know NorthStar is the manufacturer. One of it’s brands is the X2Power carried by Batteries Plus.

LWBAZ · 10-08-2020, 11:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hdgoldie

Larry, The GC Summit is a Group 94R. Thanks to all - we’ll go with the X2Power (NorthStar). Rick was all set to do the swap - he has done it on all our other vehicles including our first Entegra - until he started reading about the required alternate power source, accessing panel under passenger seat... You get the picture. Batteries Plus has much better price than the Jeep dealership.

Gary, As far as I know NorthStar is the manufacturer. One of it’s brands is the X2Power carried by Batteries Plus.

Pretty much correct. The caveat is that about a year ago (September 2019) NorthStar was acquired by a company called EnerSys which also owns Odyssey. More info in the image below and here:

https://www.enersys.com/en

8.3Oilbuner · 10-09-2020, 12:19 PM

Hi Larry; Yes, I did not have the info on who or what corporation owns Odyssey & North Star. Thanks for posting that info. I did a lot of research before purchasing my Odyssey for my 2010 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon as I wanted a reliable battery as I do get 30 to 40+ miles into the back county and that is where you don't want your battery to fail. All the reviews I could get my hands on rated the North Star and the Odyssey as good and dependable batteries. I did read a few reviews that those who purchased some Odyssey battery's on Amazon had failures of the battery. No idea if those were U.S. made or from Mexico. I made 150% sure the Odyssey I bought was made in the U.S.A. I would have gone with the North Star as mentioned in my post, but for some reason in my area they don't seem to stock them in the size I needed and 2 weeks out was not in my purchase window. If I need to replace batteries in the future I will check out the North Star and hope there is availability for what I need.

Thanks again for the Battery info and have a great weekend!

P.S. I used to buy Optima batteries as I needed a battery that could hold up to the large amount of off road punishment and vibration a Jeep puts on a battery. Optima's were great and I got over 11+ years out of them until they started manufacturing them in Mexico. Sorry, no more Optima's for me. They don't have the track record they use too!

hdgoldie · 10-09-2020, 06:51 PM

We had the new battery installed today. Batteries Plus charged us $10 for the install. The Jeep dealer wanted $150 labor. Thank you all for the help!

LWBAZ · 10-09-2020, 10:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hdgoldie

We had the new battery installed today. Batteries Plus charged us $10 for the install. The Jeep dealer wanted $150 labor. Thank you all for the help!

No doubt a tough decision since the labor quotes were so close!

LWBAZ · 10-09-2020, 10:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 8.3Oilbuner

Hi Larry; Yes, I did not have the info on who or what corporation owns Odyssey & North Star. Thanks for posting that info. I did a lot of research before purchasing my Odyssey for my 2010 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon as I wanted a reliable battery as I do get 30 to 40+ miles into the back county and that is where you don't want your battery to fail. All the reviews I could get my hands on rated the North Star and the Odyssey as good and dependable batteries. I did read a few reviews that those who purchased some Odyssey battery's on Amazon had failures of the battery. No idea if those were U.S. made or from Mexico. I made 150% sure the Odyssey I bought was made in the U.S.A. I would have gone with the North Star as mentioned in my post, but for some reason in my area they don't seem to stock them in the size I needed and 2 weeks out was not in my purchase window. If I need to replace batteries in the future I will check out the North Star and hope there is availability for what I need.

Thanks again for the Battery info and have a great weekend!

P.S. I used to buy Optima batteries as I needed a battery that could hold up to the large amount of off road punishment and vibration a Jeep puts on a battery. Optima's were great and I got over 11+ years out of them until they started manufacturing them in Mexico. Sorry, no more Optima's for me. They don't have the track record they use too!

Yep, I too purchased a number of Optima batteries back in the day. Haven't bought them for years, except one Group 34 Blue Top a little over five years ago when I decided to add a dedicated starting battery for the Onan 10K generator on the Tiffin Allegro Bus we had at the time. It turned out the only good place to mount the new battery was hanging off a vertical frame rail near the generator, and the company from which I bought the hardware only offered a vertical mount for Optima Group 34 batteries:

https://www.artecindustries.com/opgroup34r

brobox · 10-10-2020, 05:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hdgoldie

We had the new battery installed today. Batteries Plus charged us $10 for the install. The Jeep dealer wanted $150 labor. Thank you all for the help!

Good to know and thanks for the question. For years I have purchased Auto Zone batteries for the warranty nationwide. However the last 3 have died within a year and they are like pulling teeth to stand behind the warranty. I am on the second Auto Zone battery on a 4 year old truck. It will also be the last one from them. This last one was 8 months old, I had to pay a $25. up charge because the "best" battery I purchased before, they no longer carry. From what their battereres have become, I am sure they are Chinese and not Johnson Control anymore. JME

photraveller · 10-11-2020, 07:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LWBAZ

Pretty much correct. The caveat is that about a year ago (September 2019) NorthStar was acquired by a company called EnerSys which also owns Odyssey. More info in the image below and here:

https://www.enersys.com/en

I know EnerSys well from my working days. They will be a great caretaker of NorthStar.

EnerSys isn't widely known in the retail market place. They make a lot of batteries for the military (aircraft and submarine). They were at one time (probably still) the only manufacturer qualified for UPS batteries in US nuclear power plants.

Their 2V sub batteries, are the largest battery case I've ever seen in person. I believe they were forming it at a low current of 2,000 amps.

Needless to say EnerSys knows how to make a great battery.

Steve

photraveller · 10-11-2020, 07:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 8.3Oilbuner

...

P.S. I used to buy Optima batteries as I needed a battery that could hold up to the large amount of off road punishment and vibration a Jeep puts on a battery. Optima's were great and I got over 11+ years out of them until they started manufacturing them in Mexico. Sorry, no more Optima's for me. They don't have the track record they use too!

Agree, Once JCI bought Optima they went through some issues while JCI tried to reduce the costs. I believe they have over come their initial issues, but yeah, they aren't the over engineered, over built battery they once were.

As far as Mexico goes, Aurora, CO where Optima's were originally manufactured basically ran them out of town. The town kept putting more and more restrictions on them until they were forced out.

Steve