battery

[tbird]

I've only replaced 1 battery in one of my bikes a 2000 r-king with 102,000 miles on it and I bought the bike new. Sits in below zero weather 5 months a year in cold storage. Its carbed so no draw on it. Lucky I guess!

[hattitude]

One of the biggest costs for any battery is the quality of the lead used. There are many classes/levels or types of lead used... from virgin lead, to many different concentrations of virgin lead or recycled lead with other alloys....

The quality of the lead is usually the determining factor of a battery's performance and subsequent longevity.

Add in the plate size, weight, and design, as well as case specifications.... at some point, you will get what you pay for...

Yeah, name brands may add a premium to a battery's price, but if there is a large difference in cost between batteries of the same size, the quality of the components will eventually dictate the cost/warranty of a battery...

For two batteries that seem to be the same, but are very different in cost, I will always suspect the cheaper one cut corners somewhere to gain an advantage.. even if the more expensive brand name one is adding a little premium for their name...

[Hossamania]

The cost of batteries is going to go up because a local company here, Water Gremlin, just got shut down, hit with big EPA times, for releasing chemicals into the ground and probably the air. They also allowed employees to go home with lead dust residue and on their clothing, causing in many of their children to get lead poisoning. They are a major manufacturer of battery posts for all makers, and the industry is scrambling to replace that lost product. Water Gremlin has been approved to use a new chemical to clean the lead, but it is not as efficient nor as cost effective.
I live a short distance away, a map was put out showing the danger zone. Luckily I am not in it, it literally stops one house away from me, so I'm safe. Which is nice.

[chaos901]

I really thought that all that type of work had been moved out of the USA because of the regulations.  A local "plater" that we would use for decorative stuff had to close more than a decade ago.

[kd]

The cost of batteries is going to go up because a local company here, Water Gremlin, just got shut down, hit with big EPA times, for releasing chemicals into the ground and probably the air. They also allowed employees to go home with lead dust residue and on their clothing, causing in many of their children to get lead poisoning. They are a major manufacturer of battery posts for all makers, and the industry is scrambling to replace that lost product. Water Gremlin has been approved to use a new chemical to clean the lead, but it is not as efficient nor as cost effective.
I live a short distance away, a map was put out showing the danger zone. Luckily I am not in it, it literally stops one house away from me, so I'm safe. Which is nice.

  Well not if your over there sitting on their deck drinking beer with them.  I would think bringing your cloths home after wiping his deck chairs down with them and then putting them in your laundry with everything else is not good.   

[smoserx1]

I live a short distance away, a map was put out showing the danger zone. Luckily I am not in it, it literally stops one house away from me, so I'm safe. Which is nice.

Sorry Hoss but it doesn't work that way.  Contamination from a source does not draw a line and just stop, it gradually tapers off from dispersion and at some point the scientists believe the concentration is low enough that the risk is negligible (and that is at your neighbors house).  In reality your  exposure and your neighbor's is about the same.  Hopefully there is enough safety factor in their calculations that the real hot zone is a considerable distance away from you (and your neighbor) and back toward the facility.

[Hossamania]

I live a short distance away, a map was put out showing the danger zone. Luckily I am not in it, it literally stops one house away from me, so I'm safe. Which is nice.

Sorry Hoss but it doesn't work that way.  Contamination from a source does not draw a line and just stop, it gradually tapers off from dispersion and at some point the scientists believe the concentration is low enough that the risk is negligible (and that is at your neighbors house).  In reality your  exposure and your neighbor's is about the same.  Hopefully there is enough safety factor in their calculations that the real hot zone is a considerable distance away from you (and your neighbor) and back toward the facility.

I know, I was trying to be positive. When I saw the zone in the local paper, I had to laugh. "Look honey, we're safe, but Bill next door is screwed!"
In reality, we know we're screwed too. You should hear the people that live near the plant, they are PISSED! At least it's near a wetland that feeds the watershed. How bad can it be? According to the company it's just a little contamination, sure it's been going on for at least 12 years, but it's just a little, probably harmless.
So yeah, batteries will be going up in price, again.

[kd]

.... and their stock price will be dropping. 

There was just a Superior Court ruling here in Canada over clean up of mercury discharge from a paper mill in a neighboring town that seeped and continues to seep from their property into the watershed that passes through a couple of First Nations reserves.  It has caused extreme minimarts disease for generations crippling and killing those people.  It includes the previous owners. The clean up and remedial work will be on their dime.  They are puplically traded and I suspect their share prices will be effected too.

https://www.kenoraonline.com/local/supreme-court-rules-on-mercury-dump-clean-up

Sorry for veering off topic. 

[chaos901]

The clean up and remedial work will be on their dime.  They are puplically traded and I suspect their share prices will be effected too.

Possibly just my cynical nature, but I see bankruptcy in their future.