About a year ago I had the good fortune to have someone gift me with a decent quality electric wheelchair (Quickee G424), albeit 10 years old or so. It had spent most of it's existence stored and with very little use, and in fact the last set of replacement batteries had been allowed to set uncharged for a very long period. When I renewed charging them they didn't last very long at all...no doubt heavily sulfated. While I am not in a position to need this chair day in and day out just yet, it certainly won't be too far in the future, but for the time being I will only use it occasionally.
My question is, does anyone have any recommendations for the best quality brands a/o type of battery given my current limited use needs. The original and replacement batteries were 12v 55ah SLA's, but perhaps gels would be the better choice when I start using this unit every day. The prices I've found on the web range from about $200 to $450 for a pair, the latter being gels of course. Does it make sense to go the lowest cost route for the time being, or are the lowest cost batteries just junk and a waste of money? I have had vendors ship batteries to me before that were DOA, so guaranteed freshness is an issue as well.
The other issue I hope to get answered tomorrow when I call the manufacturer is whether their stock/OEM charger would work with both SLA and gel batteries. Looking forward to your comments. Thanks for your interest in any case.
My question is, does anyone have any recommendations for the best quality brands a/o type of battery given my current limited use needs. The original and replacement batteries were 12v 55ah SLA's, but perhaps gels would be the better choice when I start using this unit every day. The prices I've found on the web range from about $200 to $450 for a pair, the latter being gels of course. Does it make sense to go the lowest cost route for the time being, or are the lowest cost batteries just junk and a waste of money? I have had vendors ship batteries to me before that were DOA, so guaranteed freshness is an issue as well.
The other issue I hope to get answered tomorrow when I call the manufacturer is whether their stock/OEM charger would work with both SLA and gel batteries. Looking forward to your comments. Thanks for your interest in any case.