City- El Batteries

[Gareth Covell]

What batteries should I use in my city-el, they need to be about 100ah c/5. I'm thinking of using the exide FF12 110 type, does anyone have any experience of these.

[booboo]

Spooky ...coz I am looking at replacing the batteries on my "Mini-El" aswell

So far I've been trawling the net and also speaking with Andreas at www.twike.co.uk . Here's a section from a recent e-mail ;

"Considering the batteries I would recommend 100 or 110Ah Lead Gel
traction batteries. They are more expensive than leisure batteries but
they have a much better cycle life and the gel stabilises the plates
and protects them from damage from the vibrations. Also I would go for a
different charging system (necessary for gel and AGM anyway!). I would
install one processor controlled charger for each battery. Three of
these chargers fit exactly in the place where the big transformer in the
back sits (you won't need that anymore)."

Why not drop him a line and see what advice he can offer ?

There's also a thread in the Cityel section regarding Nikki's conversion of her Cityel to Lithium Ion .

As always, the number of pennies available tends to be a deciding factor for me

[Peter Eggleston]

You are all probably sick of me going on about ex British Telecom lead gel batteries, but they really are good. I have used them every day on my truck for three years now with no problems and they are still as good as new.
Available on ebay for as little as £25 per 100 amphour 12 volt battery.
Ebay item number 170150358856 from seller battery-home
Peter

[booboo]

You are all probably sick of me going on about ex British Telecom lead gel batteries, but they really are good. I have used them every day on my truck for three years now with no problems and they are still as good as new.
Available on ebay for as little as £25 per 100 amphour 12 volt battery.
Ebay item number 170150358856 from seller battery-home
Peter

That looks like serious value for money..most impressive. I'll need to get my tape measure out to check they will fit.

The more I search the internet the more I seem to be getting myself in a spin as to which option to go for....

The lead acid "wet" batteries seem to weigh less than the gel type, but the cost is vastly different ;

Exide Leisure Battery, 115Ah
Ref: PP115
Price: £109.00

Available for collection only
12 Volt Flooded type with 2 year manufacturers warranty
Height:239mm Width:345mm Depth:175mm Weight:29kg

Elecsol Leisure Battery, 110Ah
Ref: EL110
Price: £109.00

Available for collection only
12 Volt Flooded Carbon Fibre Deep Cycle type with 5 year manufacturers warranty
Maintenance Free
Height:190mm Width:353mm Depth:175mm Weight:25.2kg

Exide GEL Battery 110Ah
Ref: G110
Price: £424.00 (not a misprint !)

12 Volt GEL type with 1 year manufacturers warranty
Height:230mm Width:286mm Depth:269mm Weight:40kg


Is there any advantage / disadvantage between opting for 110ah , 115ah or 125ah ?

I realise now I should have paid more attention during Physics lessons at school...my electrical knowledge is probably on a par with Jade Goody

[ChrisB]

My own personal take would be to grab some of the Ebay units and see how they perform.

If you buy in bulk from them then I bet you'd get a good discount, dont forget hes getting them for free I suspect and he would normally have to pay for disposal costs so hes making even if he gives them away

The elecsols you mention can be a bit iffy , I had a set in my Fiesta and they where OK nought special , just OK.

ChrisB

[Peter Eggleston]

I had a set of Elecsols before I got the lead gels and they were OK at first but soon went off and barely lasted a year. I would not buy them again.
Peter

[ChrisB]

Yeah the Elecsols are really no better than leisure units, they did seem cope with fairly high discharge currents but needed far longer recovery time if worked hard it seemed.

ChrisB

[aminorjourney]

The thing here is to remember that you need to make sure your batteries will withstand vibrations!

John and I both had problems with the flooded lead acid types as the roads in bristol are so bad and the suspension on the el so... er.... dodgy that the batteries literally shaked themselves to death.

Of course, gel based lead acids or lithiums won't do this

[retepsnikrep]

I had a set of Elecsols before I got the lead gels and they were OK at first but soon went off and barely lasted a year. I would not buy them again.
Peter

Ditto! They were cra*p

[ChrisB]

My own take on it was very poor QC in manufacturing, it seemed that some would last for ages yet some people had very poor ones.

I think there website and claims are a bit OTT mind you, didnt one of the members take them to court from memory ?? and they won to.

I'd say they are fine as leasure units but nothing special, they seem to cope well at not suphating up but then I think that was partly due to the fact they ran with weaker acid in them so the acid gave up the ghost before the plates did and so they would always recover better than a battery with a high acid content.

ChrisB