"Sealed" Batteries - Have we been conned?

[arronm]

Century is 36 mths warrenty. New for old.

[OzJavelin]

I have nine older motorbikes and all have AGM batteries in them.
If the charging system 100% and they don't have any issues with power drain then the AGM batteries can be OK .... but usually aren't. They don't like being left for long periods even disconnected(?) and they definitely don't like to be discharged.
I hope battery tech for electric vehicles is exponentially better than these things ..

[simon varley]

I'm more upset by how quickly I go through headlight globes these days than batteries. Probably needs it's own thread.

[BFIIGhiaZF6]

Recently got a Century 67EFMF 640CCA supplied/installed by Supercheap for $170 and got 42mths warranty.

No more hot/cold starting problems, then replaced the 10yr old starter motor with a Bosch to be doubly sure.

[XB GS 351 Coupe]

Originally Posted by arronm

Century is 36 mths warrenty. New for old.

36 months warranty really only covers manufacturers defects, a battery should last a LOT longer that three years.

I have not read all the replies, but I had the exact same thoughts the other day when I serviced one of my cars, which was fitted with a 'sealed' battery before I bought it a few weeks ago.

I scratched my head and cleaned the battery posts, inspected and cleaned alternator wiring connections and left it. Did not really like it, as I normally check my batteries, top them up and I also add Inox battery conditioner to my batteries, and generally I get up to 10 years and in some cases longer.

My 2007 BF GT still runs it's original battery that it rolled out the showroom with, starts first press of the starter button without issues. I am waiting for it to fail but so far still going without even looking like failing.

[Citroënbender]

Some of the SSB "sealed" batteries I've got, look like they might have accessible cells under the top cap. It's tempting to see if an older one can be prised open without significant damage.

[ebv8]

i had a 12 year old delkor in my old boat, it needed a top up every few months in winter but in summer lasted the whole time, sold the boat so not sure if its still going
used to only use Delkor but just bought a Century for the GT so hopefully it will last a while like the trusty Delkors

by the way i replace bike batteries every 12 months because i forget to connect it the the trickle charger

[BFIIGhiaZF6]

Had an AC Delco heavy duty sealed battery in my wife's Barina (ex demo car) that lasted 16yrs

[EgoFG]

I have not tried any 'magic' battery since the tragic gel batteries.
I find that I get 3-4 years out of just about any standard battery.
Unless I let it run flat, then It does soon after.


Have never tried deep cycle, have tried many 'standard' sealed or unsealed units

[XByoot]

Originally Posted by OzJavelin

I have nine older motorbikes and all have AGM batteries in them.
If the charging system 100% and they don't have any issues with power drain then the AGM batteries can be OK .... but usually aren't. They don't like being left for long periods even disconnected(?) and they definitely don't like to be discharged.
I hope battery tech for electric vehicles is exponentially better than these things ..

Old bikes?? Come on out with it! What bikes are you into?

[lra]

Originally Posted by BF11GhiaZF6

Had an AC Delco heavy duty sealed battery in my wife's Barina (ex demo car) that lasted 16yrs

Our Barina, bought in 2002, was traded about 6 months ago with the original battery still in it, probably the same as yours, I never looked.
Opel electrics may have been unreliable and expensive, but their batteries were good. They looked a bit of pain to extract from the position under the windscreen.

[Citroënbender]

Got to wonder if something like these can't be shonked into various sealed batteries:

https://www.flowsystemsusa.com/battery-caps.html

Making sure they were good and tight for 100% sealing, could be the catch. Electrolyte loves to creep.

I've been trawling YT and images, can't find an objective teardown of a sealed car battery. They're either rednecks or boffins.

[Citroënbender]

I devoted a little time this morning, to examining the top cover of a "sealed" battery, being a DIN66.

Sadly the top cover - which I had thought (hoped) to be a barbed push fit - is plastic welded on, the bond lies on a horizontal centreline about 10mm down from the top of this cover. The cells are joined in this top cover and share venting so you cannot trim away to reveal six separate "caps".

In the longer term, I haven't given up the idea of fitting inspection caps to a sealed battery, but it's clear there is no way to just work with the unit as its built.

[OzJavelin]

Originally Posted by XByoot

Old bikes?? Come on out with it! What bikes are you into?

Depends on your definition of old? "Vintage Japanese" which means 1960s/1970s/1980s: 1969 Honda CD175, 1971 Suzuki T500, 1973 Suzuki GT380, 1974 Suzuki GT380, 1978 Suzuki GS750, 1979 Suzuki GS550, 1979 Suzuki GT185, 1981 Kawasaki Z650, 1982 Kawasaki GPZ750 .. and a 1994 Kawaski ZR550.

The latest one - GT380 - just on club rego this week .. https://fordforums.com.au/showthread.php?t=11475510

[XByoot]

Originally Posted by OzJavelin

Depends on your definition of old? "Vintage Japanese" which means 1960s/1970s/1980s: 1969 Honda CD175, 1971 Suzuki T500, 1973 Suzuki GT380, 1974 Suzuki GT380, 1978 Suzuki GS750, 1979 Suzuki GS550, 1979 Suzuki GT185, 1981 Kawasaki Z650, 1982 Kawasaki GPZ750 .. and a 1994 Kawaski ZR550.

The latest one - GT380 - just on club rego this week .. https://fordforums.com.au/showthread.php?t=11475510

Mate,that’s an amazing collection! I’ve always loved bikes from that era or earlier (Jap or British mainly) Some of my family had Honda’s but foolishly sold them, mint late 60’s C90, CB175,250 and 750. To this day I regret selling them, the 750 went about 10 years ago now. Good on you for keeping this gear running, the Japanese engines were always impressive.

[Franco Cozzo]

If I wasn't so keen on selling Australian made stuff when I had my own shop I'd have stocked ACDelco or Supercharge.

The Supercharge Gold series have something like a 42 month warranty and they're quality, I have one of their crappy 'silver' range DIN55 in my WS Fiesta and it's going on 5+ years old in a car that's lucky to be driven once a week.

Bond Premium is another good top quality battery but it's $$$ - I stocked their 488 SMF - it's a tall DIN88 style for Euros, think electronics heavy cars like 7 series etc.

[Junkyard-Dog]

Charged up the sealed battery in my magna from dead flat after it had been sitting for a few months. Charged up really well.

Can't say I've had any problems with sealed batteries.

[roKWiz]

Dangnabbit, All this talk of batteries.
I pull up and park the P.Van where I'm staying, go to restart, click click, click, tap the solenoid, weak ign lights, nothing. Battery volt 10.1.... oh no.

Hoping its just the battery and not the alternator as well but I had just driven 50km.

[Citroënbender]

Now if the Blackhawks were coming back over and then heading your way, I could ask them to drop off the rebuilt crossflow alternator that's been gathering dust under my bench for years...

[roKWiz]

Helicopter rescue, Now don't say its an alternator. I have my fingers in my ears now.

[XR815]

Originally Posted by XP6

"I'm big on Century - anything with the yellow and blue case is Australian made"


Yep, I refine and blend the custom lead alloys they use for the plates

Same here. all our replacement batteries are Aussie made Century

[roKWiz]

Originally Posted by roKWiz

Dangnabbit, All this talk of batteries.
I pull up and park the P.Van where I'm staying, go to restart, click click, click, tap the solenoid, weak ign lights, nothing. Battery volt 10.1.... oh no.

Hoping its just the battery and not the alternator as well but I had just driven 50km.

Well glad it was just the battery and fortunately Autobarn, Albury had a sale on the weekend. 50 bucks off.
Nice new Century, had to settle for a maintenance free one.
Decided to replace the starter motor as well with a newer compact version.

[ea90gl]

Would highly recommend the CTEK lead acid battery chargers.

It has resurrected at least 3 batteries which would otherwise be thrown in the bin. I have another 3 batteries which it has charged from the dump, according to the charger and multimeter appear to be ready to go again.

[asimplelife]

Originally Posted by Franco Cozzo

I'm big on Century - anything with the yellow and blue case is Australian made, but I've moved to ACDelco, out of all the cars I've replaced batteries on - AC Delco have consistently lasted the longest.

Originally Posted by GO FURTHER

Listen and learn from this man, he's an auto electrician by trade, and he knows his stuff.

Well I have and bought an ACDelco AU22R520SMF today over the Delkor 22EFR-520, Century and SuperCharge Gold.

No special deals from a VIC R&F batteries for $172.
I just didn't have time to go shopping but I noted the following better prices online;
This great price at Grow Energy Cheltenham $125
And Victorian Battery Company in Mt Waverley? $148

[ozpacman]

Originally Posted by XB GS 351 Coupe

My 2007 BF GT still runs it's original battery that it rolled out the showroom with, starts first press of the starter button without issues. I am waiting for it to fail but so far still going without even looking like failing.

Mate that's an amazing run!

[whynot]

When I was a young sparkie, I spent some time on routine maintenance of local substations (aka "dunny patrol"). Typical work included checking substation batteries, checking the tapchanger on the transformer, etc, and cleaning and reloading the toilet paper in the substation dunnies.

Anyway ... it was not unusual to work on substation batteries that were 20-30 years old. The reason for their long life was; wet-cell construction (and checked every four weeks), stable temperature, and lack of work. But they were expected to be able to go deep into their discharge cycle once every few months.

Back then (and this was nearly 40 years ago) topic of poor car battery life, particularly on replacement batteries, was an active discussion. Below is some advice an old tradie (in the 1980's) gave me;

* OEM batteries have great life because they are fresh from battery manufacture to car manufacture. More so if the car has not been sitting in the dealer's yard.

* Heat is the biggest killer of batteries. (At the time, Taxi were starting to appear with AC. Often cab drivers use to sit at the rank in summer with engines idling and AC running, and could kill a new battery in eight weeks).

* Charge/discharge cycles. A typical lead acid battery is good for around 300 charge/discharge cycles. Regularly going below 50% is no good for it. About once a month, it needs to be _gently_ brought back to 100%. In a car this implies a long road trip or a battery charger. Overcharging will also kill it quick.

* If a battery is staring to consume a lot of water, it is a sign that it is on its way out.

At the time, the old tradie was a big fan of the new Japanese batteries (for their manufacturing quality) and the local Century (for its robustness).

[Electrolyte Burns]

Just replaced the house bank on the boat, 8 x Trojan 105s 6v 225ah Deep-Cycle Flooded, next time i'll be giving AGM's a shot......

Please stick with the T105's. I can honestly state that in over 33 years of selling these I have never had a warranty claim. My customers are all solar users and some really cane them.

[Crazy Dazz]

Does anyone know of a manufacturer that makes a range of either unsealed, or "sealed" that are easy to open.
I bought a top of the range Century for the Patrol, roughly a year go. And its already stuffed.
And now looks like I need to turf the one in the Pulsar, because despite being in excellent condition just a few weeks ago, it's fluid has dropped too long.

[gooseneck]

Just get any brand of sealed battery and use a flexible 10 watt solar panel to charge it with, get a proper PWM solar charge controller. Jaycar sells a sealed one that will do the job. https://www.jaycar.com.au/12v-8a-wat...oller/p/MP3720

Put the flexible solar panel on your dash, run the wire through the firewall, place the charge controller in the engine bay.

DON'T get a 5 watt solar panel. Its too weak. Something like this is good:
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/10W-12V-...G/203064026448

43cm x 19cm is perfect for up on the dash.

DON'T move it around too much when its up on the dash they can be fragile.

This is what I did before I bought a LifePo4 battery and waved goodbye to lead acid. May have cost me $500 but it was worth every penny, would've replaced the battery twice by now.

Minimum of 2,000 cycles, 8,000 cycles more likely.
Doesn't matter what the charge state is, can be half flat and you don't need to worry about charging it straight away.
Has more than 1,100 cold cranking amps no matter what the voltage is, weather it has 10% left or 100%.
Design life of 10 years. Is about 3-4 years old and still going strong.
No need to worry about under bonnet temps as they work better at 60c than they do when they are colder...

If you're smart you can gut out an old lead acid battery and make up your own out of 38120 cells but I wasn't in the mood.

Brand is "powerstart" that no longer exists on eBay.

To make your own you just need to find a case, or buy a case, for this: https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Headway-...K/293128877075

[roKWiz]

Originally Posted by Crazy Dazz

Does anyone know of a manufacturer that makes a range of either unsealed, or "sealed" that are easy to open.
I bought a top of the range Century for the Patrol, roughly a year go. And its already stuffed.
And now looks like I need to turf the one in the Pulsar, because despite being in excellent condition just a few weeks ago, it's fluid has dropped too long.

You do realise you can still order Century batteries with caps. Only got to ask the distributor.
Just bought 8 X N150 for my solar set up. Been using them for years without a problem.