DSC panel battery backup gave out during an inspection in Phoenix yesterday

I always thought those little 7Ah batteries would last at least 3 years easy, but this one was totally dead after 18 months with no warning. Has anyone else seen early failures with the standard sealed lead acid batteries in high heat?

3 comments

3 Comments

emerym3624d ago

18 months with no warning" - that's rough, but were you actually putting a load on it during the test or just checking voltage? I've seen a lot of those batteries show 12.6V on a meter but fold the second you put any real draw on them.

avery21923d ago

Pretty sure I watched my buddy's battery do the exact same thing last winter. Showed 12.7 volts on his multimeter. Fired right up in the driveway, no hesitation. Drove to the store, came out five minutes later, dead as a rock. Had to get a jump from some kid in a Civic. Turned out the alternator was fine too. Just a battery that looked healthy but had zero guts when it got cold.

knight.felix23d ago

Load test tells the real story every time. That meter reading can fool you into thinking everything's fine. Sure wish more people knew about those cheap handheld load testers instead of just checking voltage.