Differences in SLA batteries

[briansrapier]

Being new at the EV game, I'm still doing a lot of reading and research prior to dumping my hard-earned money into a project. For the time being, due to budget restrictions, I am leaning toward using SLA batteries for my ebike/escooter build. I have seen a lot of manufacturers out there and have been left utterly confused.

Is there a difference between a 12v, 12 ah SLA battery from one manufacturer as compared to the next? A lot of the online EV vendors seem to carry generic ones, although Rhino is one that keeps popping up. In the EV car world, I have seen a lot about Optima batteries, but not in these forums. Why? Is it the expense, size, weight, or some other factor? Some of the red tops seem to be just as expensive (if not more) than LiFePo.

Have any of you had a good (or bad) experience using different SLAs? Is there a preference that you have? If so, why?

 

[Eric G]

Is there a difference between a 12v, 12 ah SLA battery from one manufacturer as compared to the next?

In a short answer yes,to numerous to describe in this post.There's alot of good information to sift through at the following sites to describe the differences between the different types.

The battery university site.
http://www.batteryuniversity.com/
The Car and Deep Cycle Battery Facts site.
http://www.batteryfaq.org/

Alot has to do with plate thickness charging voltages,glass mat,gel and so on...

I still use sla and they work well for me but my commutes are within the 10km range I peddle a fair bit and my batteries are rarely cycled below 30% depth of discharge.I use a generic type vrla (GS Portalac PE series). Get as many Ah as you can fit if this the type of battery you're going to use.

Eric

 

[safe]

There are differences, but the similarities are probably more significant than the differences. In gross terms the expensive batteries might deliver a 10% or 20% advantage across the board (which means you win a race if you enter one) but you are paying exponentially more for that racers edge.

Since you are choosing SLA BECAUSE it's cheap... you might as well shop around and find a good price. (just be sure they are new... that's the biggest thing to worry about)

I just bought these and they are doing pretty well so far...
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=190152225431

 

[Larry]

Here's my experience for what its worth. I've tried 4 different sets of SLAs I have a crystalyte 408 motor on a cruiser bike (a lot of wind resistance) and I weigh 215 pounds and don't pedal much at all.

I started out with B B brand batteries--EP series. B B batteries are probably the most recommeded brand on the discussion boards. Was pretty satisfied with these especially considering they were only 7ah batteries and I abused them by running them completely down way too much. I got about 6 or 7 miles at full throttle out of them and they lasted about 10 months of heavy riding. (Actually 2 of them are still good.)

Being cheap, I then tried the cheapest I could find that were supposedly still "deep cycle." You know the generic $20 "scooter" batteries like you see on EBAY. I got them from TNCScooters. They lasted a month or two and puffed up like balloons.

I then thought I would buy something local with a year warranty figuring that if they didn't last a year, I would just get a free replacement and be ahead of the game. So I bought a set from the local Batteries Plus (Werner brand). But I couldn't get but about 3 or 4 miles full throttle out them. I know they would have improved a bit with seasoning, but that seemed way to low. So I took them back for a refund after 3 days.

I then bought some B B batteries-12AH. I wanted the fairly new series of B Bs---the "EB series" supposedly made for Ebikes--Wheelschairs, etc. But they were very costly and hard to find. I ended up with BB's general purpose "BP series" batteries. So far so good with these. With the 12amp hours, I am not running them dry so much.

So Yes, there are differences-in my experience. I saw the RHINO's a lot while I was surfing around. If anyone has tried them, please speak up. I, too, am curious.

 

[mvadventure]

While I'm proud to be running LiPO4's on my bike I still run SLA's on my scooters and have found that price definately makes a difference with B&B being a brand that tends toward top of the line. One of the things I've noticed however is that the smaller the battery the more important it is to have the best while you may be able to sacrifice a little quality on bigger ones.

I put two of the B&B's I took off my bike and put them into one of my scooters and noticed a little more range although the testing was nothing scientific. The original scooter batteries are some no name Chinese bricks but gave me 9 cautious miles. These are 12V 12 AH batteries. One of my other scooters runs 12 volt 21 AH batteries and these last a couple of years with pretty consistent use and often abusive treatment. I use it to haul stuff, drag stuff, get it wet and don't always charge it right away but despite my neglect a couple of cycles on the charger and all is well. The batteries came from a Jacksonville, FL vendor on ebay and are quite satisfactory. And....I ain't a little guy.

Mike