EZgo
1 W
I have 4 dead sla batteries that I purchased to build a 48 volt battery pack for one of my customers. I know what the problem is as I have had it happen a number of times over the years. What I have never expeieranced is having 4 of these puppys go bad all at the same with no evidece of improper use, improper charging or physical damage. I know this customer well & I know his riding habits & his equipment as I have sold & assmbled both of his bikes.
My customer (John) used his new battery pack for about 1hr. the day after he picked it up about 1 month ago..
He rode his ebike with this battery to work. It worked fine & when he got to work (about 8 miles) he put it on charge like he always does. When he got off work he unplugged the charger & rode home. A few miles into his trip the pack ran down. He stopped at a grocery store & plugged it in while he got something to eat. 1.5 hrs. later he tried to ride the rest of the way under power but it quickly died. It has been sitting unused since then.
The batteries look exactly like they did when I assembled it. There is no evidece of sparking, arching, over heating or physical damage. It would also be very difficult to overlaod these batteries with the equipment he has.
I'm looking for some feed back from anybody that might have had a similar experience or could shed some light on this..
The batteries were ordered 1 month as a four (4) pack. They are Mighty Max ML10-12 - 12V 10AH SLA 12 volt sla batteries (cheap) that all died with in the first 60 minuets of use. Each of these batteries now have 1 or 2 open cells. They came from an NY USA Ebay vendor.
The battery readings taken with my digital multi meter are 8.2V, 9.2V, 8.9V & 8.2V. As soon as I connect a 12V load (55w halogen headlight bulb) in order to get a reading under load they all drop to zero.
Since I personally tested these under load in my shop when they arrived a month ago I know they worked when they left my shop. Getting a bad battery from a vendor does happen from time to time especially these cheap ones. But getting 4 batteries that all developed open cells after about 1 hr's use has never happened to me & is baffling to say the least.
Had somebody else told me this I would say something like, "Yeh,...uh hu right,.. & how big was that DC welder you used to charge them"? Unfortunately that somebody is me & with over 30 years experience working with DC & AC powered equipment & electronics as well as gas & diesel equipment I have seen a lot of weird stuff.
I am an Ebikekit.com dealer & both bikes are using Ebikekit components with the exception of the batteries. Both chargers came from ebikekit as well & are basic 48V 2amp "smart chargers".
These & every battery I sell whether it's a lead cell or a lithium gets this same basic treatment. I will:
Un-pack & measure voltage with my meter. If that's good I will:
Test the output using an appropriate DC load. (In this case I tested each 1 using a 12V 55watt head light.) If good I will:
Place on charge using the appropriate charger for about 1 hr. (in this case each 12V sla was charged individually) & then I re-check the voltage. If OK I will:
Re-load them again for at least 15 minuets. When I'm satisfied that everything is as it should be I will:
Install them, OR give them to the customer, OR in the case of 12V SLA's I will assemble them into a 36V or 48V battery pack & re-test, re-charge & re-load them this time as a 36V or 48 pack.
During all of this testing & checking I will occasionally get a bad battery. I have had two this year although both of those where LifeP04's.
So,..... if they weren't physically damaged, overloaded or over heated, over charged, hooked up wrong or in any way shorted out & they damn sure weren't frozen what if anything outside of a manufacturing defect (I'm sure these are grade C batteries) would cause this. At 1 month old I'm sure they not sulfated or if they are they came that way. I suppose they could be a few years old & sitting in a warehouse all this time. In the old days we would purchase quanities of "Dry Batteries" & add the sulfuric acid when they got put into service. These would last indefinitely. I don't think you can do that with gel cells or AGM batteries.
Matt Waters
EZgo-Now.com
My customer (John) used his new battery pack for about 1hr. the day after he picked it up about 1 month ago..
He rode his ebike with this battery to work. It worked fine & when he got to work (about 8 miles) he put it on charge like he always does. When he got off work he unplugged the charger & rode home. A few miles into his trip the pack ran down. He stopped at a grocery store & plugged it in while he got something to eat. 1.5 hrs. later he tried to ride the rest of the way under power but it quickly died. It has been sitting unused since then.
The batteries look exactly like they did when I assembled it. There is no evidece of sparking, arching, over heating or physical damage. It would also be very difficult to overlaod these batteries with the equipment he has.
I'm looking for some feed back from anybody that might have had a similar experience or could shed some light on this..
The batteries were ordered 1 month as a four (4) pack. They are Mighty Max ML10-12 - 12V 10AH SLA 12 volt sla batteries (cheap) that all died with in the first 60 minuets of use. Each of these batteries now have 1 or 2 open cells. They came from an NY USA Ebay vendor.
The battery readings taken with my digital multi meter are 8.2V, 9.2V, 8.9V & 8.2V. As soon as I connect a 12V load (55w halogen headlight bulb) in order to get a reading under load they all drop to zero.
Since I personally tested these under load in my shop when they arrived a month ago I know they worked when they left my shop. Getting a bad battery from a vendor does happen from time to time especially these cheap ones. But getting 4 batteries that all developed open cells after about 1 hr's use has never happened to me & is baffling to say the least.
Had somebody else told me this I would say something like, "Yeh,...uh hu right,.. & how big was that DC welder you used to charge them"? Unfortunately that somebody is me & with over 30 years experience working with DC & AC powered equipment & electronics as well as gas & diesel equipment I have seen a lot of weird stuff.
I am an Ebikekit.com dealer & both bikes are using Ebikekit components with the exception of the batteries. Both chargers came from ebikekit as well & are basic 48V 2amp "smart chargers".
These & every battery I sell whether it's a lead cell or a lithium gets this same basic treatment. I will:
Un-pack & measure voltage with my meter. If that's good I will:
Test the output using an appropriate DC load. (In this case I tested each 1 using a 12V 55watt head light.) If good I will:
Place on charge using the appropriate charger for about 1 hr. (in this case each 12V sla was charged individually) & then I re-check the voltage. If OK I will:
Re-load them again for at least 15 minuets. When I'm satisfied that everything is as it should be I will:
Install them, OR give them to the customer, OR in the case of 12V SLA's I will assemble them into a 36V or 48V battery pack & re-test, re-charge & re-load them this time as a 36V or 48 pack.
During all of this testing & checking I will occasionally get a bad battery. I have had two this year although both of those where LifeP04's.
So,..... if they weren't physically damaged, overloaded or over heated, over charged, hooked up wrong or in any way shorted out & they damn sure weren't frozen what if anything outside of a manufacturing defect (I'm sure these are grade C batteries) would cause this. At 1 month old I'm sure they not sulfated or if they are they came that way. I suppose they could be a few years old & sitting in a warehouse all this time. In the old days we would purchase quanities of "Dry Batteries" & add the sulfuric acid when they got put into service. These would last indefinitely. I don't think you can do that with gel cells or AGM batteries.
Matt Waters
EZgo-Now.com
