Battery Vehicle Society

I just bought four golf battereis from a company called "power pro golf"- should I send them back?

It's this kind - they're SLA's:
http://www.powerprogolf.com/Yuasa-TEV-2 ... tery/826-v

The problem is that they arrived in various states of charge around the 12.7 volt range - to be precise: 12.72, 12.73 and 12.76 volts. This indicates to me that they've been lying around in storage for a long time and therefore aren't any good. Should I chuck 'em back? Accept a replacement? Or try using them? (considering that using them involves the hassle of fitting them to my EV)

While they may be discharged, AGM/SLA batteries have a long shelf life and slow discharge rate. I would be concerned if they were 12.1 volts, but at 12.7 the charge is acceptable. You have to remember that most batteries are probably not made locally, and therefore have an extended time in transit to the vendor, much less to the end user.

What I would be concerned about is the manufacturers date code. I wouldn't pay top dollar for an AGM battery over 6mos old.

Good luck!

Amber

Thanks! Where should I look for this? Can't find anything so far... these are made in Taiwan btw.

There should be a code either burned into the case, burned into the post, or printed near the manufacturing location....The codes vary from brand to brand, but are usually failry simple to decipher.

Thanks - there is a code number on the top of the batteries: 090505AB

I charged them up overnight (12 hours) as instructed by their sales support people and got the four charged up to 55.1 volts half an hour or so before I stopped charging. Were at 54.9 before I turned off the charger, as soon as I turned it off went down to 54.5 volts.

Twenty minutes later they had gone down to 53.4 volts and after about seven and a half hours they had gone down to 52.9 volts, the same as the other string which is nearly a year old and has been connected to an even older set almost since I got them.

I'm really not happy with this - three of the individual batteries are holding charges of 13.25 and one of them 13.29, no better than the old batts. So far it doesn't look good for the battery manufacturers, what are my rights vis-a-vis distance selling - can I just demand my money back? Can I get them to pay for the postage? I don't feel up to being nice to this gang of crooks and timewasters, it took me two hours to get them fitted last night .

GRRR!

This is why I don't recommend buying batteries or perishables over the internet. I don't know where you are from, but try a local battery house. This battery is common in the states for use in mobility carts, floor burnishers/scrubbers, and kids carts. Also telephone and computer back-ups. The main thing to look for is a 12V 20-22AH@20hr rate with screw-in terminals. Buy from a dealer who can verify the maufacturers code. After reading your code, I THINK your battery was manufactured May 5, 2009, but I do not deal with Yuasa brand product.

That's what I thought

I bought them in a moment of madness... they seemed cheap but it was a rip off. Bastards!

Those batteries seem to be sitting at about the right voltage for a fully charged LA, so what's the problem?

You can't tell whether or not they will deliver the rated capacity without doing a load test, as the off-load terminal voltage doesn't tell you anything worthwhile.

Why not give them a run and see if the voltage sags under load, then, perhaps, do a full discharge test to see if they have the rated capacity? Only then would anyone be able to say for sure whether or not these batteries are duds - on the basis of your measurements so far I think they're probably fine.

Jeremy

Oh yeah, I'll take 'em out, but they do seem to be leaking quite a bit of charge. From the SOC when delivereed and that date stamp it looks like they have been lying around since May - which is not very good for them. It would however be really nice if I didn't have the hassle of having to get my cash back and fit another set, so I will give them a fair test over the weekend.

Because I have two strings of batts in my EVs, I really need my batteries to last as long as possible, so any indication that they are below par is very worrying. I really don't want to have to buy a new string of SLAs every six months. Speaking of which, would you reccomend "red-top" batteries?

badnewswade wrote:... would you reccomend "red-top" batteries?

A "red top" is just a piece of red coloured plastic that has no effect on the performance or life of the battery.

Greg