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Anyone have experience with this battery manufacturer?

2K views 15 replies 10 participants last post by  MattsAwesomeStuff 
#1 ·
Powerstar Batteries My Odyssey battery seems to have bitten the dust. FYI I have relocated my battery to the trunk using an Odyssey specific attachment system. Despite sitting for a year on a trickle charger, it would not crank over to start the Manta without a jumper cable assist. A new Odyssey if pricey but I found this brand for less than half the cost. I normally go the "you get what you pay for" route but it's just a battery, right? Anyone use one of these?
 
#2 ·
Look at the 'Made in...." label. IMHO, you probably have answered your own question: batteries are indeed one area where 'you get what you pay for'. I've once or twice used some China made UPS batteires in our professional work in UPS's in the past 5-10 years, and they honestly fail a lot faster that a brand like Yuasa or the US made ones.

The lack of CCA ratings, and the general configuration, suggests this is not made for automotive use, but for general storage use, like in a UPS. In fact this link indeed identifies it as a UPS battery; UPS batteries are typically not suited to the high discharge rates in automotive starting use. PowerStar 12V 45Ah UB12500 UPS Battery Replaces Kung Long WP50-12

So, IMHO, the eBay description of this as an automotive battery is just not true. I was on another forum this AM where someone asked about some eBay listed 'forged' pistons.... which were actually not forged but cast.
 
#5 ·
Look at the 'Made in...." label. IMHO, you probably have answered your own question: batteries are indeed one area where 'you get what you pay for'.
Almost all batteries come out of one of very few factories, with just different labels put on them. I'd say this is generally not correct.

The lack of CCA ratings, and the general configuration, suggests this is not made for automotive use, but for general storage use, like in a UPS. In fact this link indeed identifies it as a UPS battery; UPS batteries are typically not suited to the high discharge rates in automotive starting use.
I don't see anything in that link that indicates it's a deep discharge or storage use battery, beyond the lack of CCA rating.

It's an Absorbed Glass Mat battery, which means it can be turned in any direction, often used to locate batteries sideways under seats or other narrow places.

They're also used by offroaders as a self-contained boosting starter, you just tip them upsidedown and press them against the terminals of a battery under the hood.

Something like 50% of new cars use AGM batteries instead of traditional flooded ones. Here's a random article on why: What is an AGM battery? | Greenlight by Interstate Batteries

This battery is a touch on the smaller side for a starter battery, but not egregiously so. Maybe 20% smaller than average.

Whether it's designed as a starter battery or a deep cycle storage battery depends on the internal construction. Starter batteries use honeycomb-like wafers to maximize surface area at the expense of fragility. Deep cycle batteries sacrifice surface area for robustness by having solid plates (and usually extra empty space at the bottom of the tank for the plate crud to accumulate without causing problems as it flakes off).

I can't think of any reason this battery would fail, it should, if anything, be several times more robust than a flooded battery.

The only drawback is that they're a bit more sensitive to overcharge, as a flooded battery has the thermal mass of the water (hence flooded), and also uses that as electrolytic reserve. Some water an boil off or electrolyse off and not seriously impair the battery's function. AGM doesn't have that advantage.

Old-style trickle chargers (if an actual trickle charger, not maintenance charger) are almost always too high of voltage to actually leave a battery on indefinitely. They often have no regulation, just crude transformer and FWB rectifier (if even an fwb and not just a single). Often neglecting caps even. Their voltage depends on load, so, might be say, 17v, but even when only charging at 2a, it'll be only 13v. But once the battery fills and the load drops, the voltage creeps ever higher. That's why they used to recommend avoiding using chargers and that the healthiest way to charge a dead battery is to leave your engine running. It's wrong (alternator can easily put out 50-75 amps, way higher than the normal 2-15a from a charger, and more is more stressful), but the alternator isn't going to overvolt the battery.

Also temperature has an effect, the hotter a battery is, the lower its max voltage. The difference is only tenths of a volt, but kept in a hot place, or warmed up from an otherwise-fine charger, it could be easy to overcharge.

Left on a normal charger, same as I did every day, I had an electric moped with UPS batteries I used for a summer. No problem, left for days, even a week at a time. But in the sun after not riding it for a month and left on the charger? Swollen and dead. Temperature tweaked their max voltage just enough to ruin them.

Even if it was a mislabelled UPS battery, it would be several multiples as durable as a flooded battery. Their whole use case is to be thrown in a rack and forgotten about for 3-5 years, only ever used during a power outage. There's no way it should die on a shelf.

And, even though their CCA is lower than a flooded battery, it should easily, easily start a car in normal conditions. Unless you're in the dead of winter, you only really need 25-50% the amps you otherwise would to start a car. I can start a car off of my Dewalt drill battery when my starter is dead.
 
#4 ·
Wow, I have used and really abused many Odyssey batteries over the years. Contact them, see what they say.

Maybe the trick charger is not working? Give the Odyssey a full charge and see if it holds it.
 
#6 ·
Hmmmm. so maybe my trickle charger killed my Odyssey battery? I had thought it was the "smart" kind of charger that would not overcharge but I don't have the box or manual anymore to verify. I will try to contact Odyssey tomorrow to see what they say.
 
#8 ·
Hmmmm. so maybe my trickle charger killed my Odyssey battery? I had thought it was the "smart" kind of charger
Hmm, then probably no.

I was thinking, the chargers from the 90s or earlier.

That said, if the smart part of the smart charger fails, it'll cook a battery. That's why it's sometimes nice to have something predictably dumb.

You're in Maine, not Texas, so, I dunno, shouldn't have gotten too hot. Shouldn't have failed just by sitting. Wouldn't fail by being used as a starter battery, not with the symptoms described.

Charger (or lack thereof) is the only thing remaining on the list I can think of.
 
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