V.I.P. batteries on eBay - warranty not honored

[Richard145]

I bought a V.I.P. 12v 12ah battery on eBay about nine months ago. This battery was listed with a one year warranty, and seems to be going bad. The seller, Batterymonster, has not responded, and eBay, so far, does not seem to be willing to do much about it. The moral of the story: don't expect Batterymonster to honor a warranty, perhaps do not expect quality from the V.I.P. batteries (they are cheap though), and don't expect eBay to do anything about warranty issues.

 

[Richard145]

Update: V.I.P. battery may not be as bad as I thought. A few weeks ago, I lost power at about two thirds of the usual trip to and from work. The original WE BD36 batteries (a little over a year old, maybe 50 charge cycles) were at 12.0 volts, and the V.I.P. battery (nine months old, maybe 35 charge cycles) was at 11.6 volts. Today I rode the same distance as to and from work, about 8 miles, with plenty of power left when I got home (would still do 27mph on flat, 30mph at full charge). Do some SLA batteries need some kind of "reconditioning" after they have not been used for the winter? I usually connected them to the charger every few weeks to maintain full charge during the winter.

 

[needWheels]

SLA must be maintained at full voltage at all times to last.
Even when they are idle you have to periodically charge them up or they build up sulfination on the plates.
Sometimes some good chargers can knock off some of the sulfination though which is why you may have recovered somewhat.

A fully charged SLA should read at least 13.1v in good condition in my experience.

Do you charge at work once you get there? It's bad to leave SLA batteries idle at low voltage for any length of time.

VIP is bad news though, I asked several ebay vendors earlier this year for the specs and country of manufacture on their batteries and VIP couldn't or wouldn't tell me anything. They are also the lowest price on ebay which is sometimes a dead giveaway it might be too good to be true.

 

[Richard145]

I don't charge when I am at work. The batteries may sit anywhere from 9 to 12 hours after my 4 mile ride to work, then I charge as soon as I get home. The original WE batteries are still 13.0 or 13.1 volts at full charge, and the V.I.P. battery was at 12.9. I may take the bike to work tomorrow, and if I lose power on the way home, I can use the exercise anyway. If the V.I.P. battery dies soon, I may just go back to 36 volts. I was a novice re: electric bikes when I went to 48v, mostly wanting more torque, which I could only get with a higher amp controller, which would be more likely to kill the batteries and the motor. Either way, I won't be buying another V.I.P. battery, or any other cheap battery. I wouldn't mind going Lifepo4, but have some fear of spending all that money, and it stops working after a year or so.

 

[JinbaIttai]

Wait, we're talking about SLA batteries? I don't even understand why any vendor would warranty SLAs, it's too easy to damage them by not charging them properly.

I don't charge when I am at work. The batteries may sit anywhere from 9 to 12 hours after my 4 mile ride to work, then I charge as soon as I get home.

There you go, you haven't been taking care of your batteries properly. They are probably sulfated big time.

 

[dnmun]

not much you can tell from this. but 8 miles should only be 150Wh consumed. from 36Vpack, that is only 4Ah out of 12 available. but he does go fast. maybe some peukert losses, but they like to be recharged after use. charging right away is the critical thing to slow sulfation. overcharging is hard too.

i doubt if anyone would warrant against neglect, just for leaks or failure of the terminals or if the case cracked for no reason, but if the owner uses it and doesn't make a claim when it arrives in shipping, i doubt if you could ever expect a warranty. and with a name like monster, i doubt if they care.

 

[needWheels]

You are killing the lifespan and max voltage of your SLA by not charging as soon as you get to work.
Even 4 miles is enough to damage them sitting that long without a charge.

Get a cheap charger to leave at work and/or make your pack portable to take it inside to charge.

When you get lifepo4 someday, then you can leave it idle without a charge for days, weeks even.
I recently upgraded and enjoy not having to rush to plug the bike back in as soon as I get home.

 

[Richard145]

I don't think sufation from my charging practices would be the primary issue, because the oldest and most used 3 of the 4 batteries are still in good shape, and the V.I.P. battery may be revived. I actually agree that vendors shouldn't warranty SLA's, but there are quite a few who advertise a one year warranty.

 

[Richard145]

Re: my riding speed, I usually keep it in the low 20's, and will push it in the home stretch quarter mile just to have an idea what's left in the batteries.

 

[Richard145]

Update re: eBay: they are still allowing the seller, Batterymonster to advertise with a one year warranty, despite several contacts to eBay customer service about the warranty not being honored.

 

[Richard145]

I'm not sure what happened with the V.I.P. battery, but it appears to be revived. Two trips to and from work this week, with apparently plenty of power when I got home. I've seen some people comment that their chargers have occasionally shut down before the charge is complete. Maybe that's what happened. I still think it had something to do with minimal use during the winter, even though I charged every few weeks.