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Featuring world class venues, incredible prizes and gracious hosts, Energy Products of Madison Heights, MI (Detroit metro suburb) hosted the 3^rd annual Battery Fest September 9-10, 2018. These guys know how to throw a party while facilitating meaningful business relationships.

One major difference to this year’s gathering was the inclusion of not only Battery Specialists but of major fortune 500 companies that we knowingly or indirectly serve such as Chrysler, Taylor Dunn, and Central Transport. Having the opportunity to rub shoulders with some of the top business leaders in the world in such an intimate setting was and is priceless.

Starting with a private reception at the Ford Museum Sunday evening and ending with a party deck experience at the Tigers vs. Astros ballgame in Comerica Park, Battery Fest 2018 struck a wonderful balance of business and recreation leading to deeper relationships between vendors, retailers and commercial end users.

Major battery, charger and equipment manufacturers

Celebrating 50 Years: National Trails System and Wild & Scenic Rivers

1968 to 2018 will be 50 years since the founding of the National Trails System and Wild & Scenic Rivers. The Southern Oregon Trail Alliance and Impact Battery want to usher in 50 more years!

Wilderness Memories

I can recall leisurely traversing our way towards Mount Hilton high up Canyon Creek in the Trinity Alps Wilderness one morning. We were utterly amazed how a few hours of spring-time sunshine changed the landscape from pleasant trickles of water easily straddled to torrents of water cascading off the cliffs! It was awe-inspiring and brought momentary anxiety as we speculated how best to safely return to base camp.

What changed with the Power Wheels 12 Volt battery? Back in the fall of 2017 we were grumbling over the enormous price increase instituted by Fisher Price for their Power Wheels batteries. Prices rose a jaw dropping 30% to 80%. As battery specialists this price increase was not unexpected; lead prices rose steadily over the previous 18 months. But ultimately, the price increase was not the big shocker. It is what they DIDN’T tell us about the 12V Power Wheels battery that came as a shock!

Power Wheels 12 Volt Battery Discovery

As we received our latest Power Wheels battery shipment I thought I noticed something different. The cartons, each containing six 12-volt batteries, seemed to be heavier. I initially wrote that off as me getting older and weaker.

As the team started packing the individual orders, I immediately homed in on a visible alteration—the stickers had changed! The all gray colored battery with red silk screening and red font stickers now had blue colored stickers. The new

The BatteryMINDer Plus 12117 was replaced by model 1500 and 1510 several years ago. So what’s the difference between the BatteryMINDer 1500 and 1510?

Essentially nothing as it pertains to the actual charge, maintenance and desulfating functionality. Both units are a 12-volt 1500 mA charger maintainer with SmarTECHnology® built in. They both have Hi/Lo temperature compensation with auto-temp sensor and automatic pulse desulfation. All the normal safety features, such as wrong polarity detection and spark free use come standard. The 1500 and 1510 are guaranteed to never overcharge your batteries. And the best part, there are no buttons to push!

The difference between the two new replacement models is in the packaging, warranty and included accessories. The improvements in relation to the old model 12117 are tremendous!

Model 1500

The BatteryMINDer Plus 1500 comes with their standard 1 year, 100% money back guarantee and 5 years “no hassle” warranty. This warranty is standard for all of Battery

The Kawasaki Vulcan motorcycle series has a rich tradition spanning four decades. We thought it would be interesting to highlight how the Vulcan battery has changed with the bike as we explore the history of this iconic name. Continue reading to learn something about these Kawasaki bikes or to discover which battery you should buy next. Each Vulcan series is listed in order of when it was first introduced.

1985 to 2006 Vulcan 750 Series

It all started in 1984/85 when Kawasaki launched the Vulcan VN700A as its first cruiser sold worldwide.  To avoid American tariffs placed on Japanese motorcycles over 700cc Kawasaki actually introduced this bike as a 699cc. The tariff was lifted in 1986 and they increased the engine capacity to 750cc. The Kawasaki VN750 remained virtually unchanged throughout its 22-year production run.

The original battery was the Yuasa YB14L-A2 conventional style lead acid with the annoying acid drip tube. If you are tired of dealing with acid you can always upgrade

Intuitively people realize they can connect batteries together to increase voltage or capacity, but far too often they are not entirely confident on how to exactly configure the batteries to achieve the desired result. In some cases, as it turns out, they actually do know how to accomplish the desired goal, but just seem to get the terminology a little mixed up.

Even with simple procedures such as changing a battery, people seem to hesitate trying to remember which terminal to connect first. This creates doubt and doubt leads to second guessing, and second guessing leads to unnecessary change which can lead to catastrophic failure! So let’s just take a quick second to remind everyone about the terminology and how to connect batteries and disconnect batteries in series, parallel and the dreaded series/parallel combination.

Exploring Battery Safety First

This is one area you don’t want to mix up. You may skate by once or twice or for a lifetime without incident, but when 'The Incident'

On May 16, 1986, the iconic movie Top Gun was released. Part way through the best-on-best flight school training Maverick turns to Goose and says (with Goose joining in to finish the line) “I feel the need—the need for speed!” This immortalized string of words seems to personify American thinking. Our insatiable need to go faster, work faster, be faster is intertwined into our DNA. The underpinning of this mindset brings us to an often-asked question, how fast can I charge my battery?

Yikes! That sounds like a simple question, right? But there is so much more wrapped into those eight words that makes answering harder than one may think! Not harder in the sense of complicated, but harder in the sense that you need to understand what type of battery you actually have before connecting the Godzilla of chargers to your car. A basic understanding of battery type and chemistry will go a long way to help prevent catastrophic battery failure.

Safe Rule of Thumb for Charging Your Battery

If

I took my two boys to the Lowrider Hopping Nationals in Louisville KY over a week ago. We had a mission to learn as much as we could about lowriders and find out from those in the pits what batteries they used, why they use them and how they charge them. We—well, I (my boys did not find the “grown up talk” very exciting) had the privilege of chatting at length with a couple of guys from Those Dudes and Louisville Slugger. These guys were very accommodating and patient as they answered all my questions and educated me on what it takes to build a champion and best of all, how the competition works. I found it all very fascinating as I was ushered in to a part of the automotive world I really knew nothing about. I now have a good grasp on what the perfect lowrider battery should encompass.

Competition Goals

For those of you that may have been like me and know very little about lowriders, allow me to provide a quick overview of how it works. I may get some of the facts a little wrong, but

I have to admit, I have been very hesitant to write this article and have delayed doing so for several years. My deferment in writing was essentially a giant rationalization to ‘protect’ this motorcycle battery brand (and I guess us as well) from unnecessary blow-back. Compromising thoughts like “it’s not really hurting anyone since the battery is actually pretty good” or “it’s not my place to shake the apple cart” or “so many high profile racing teams use their batteries so that has to speak for something” kept me from raising my concern sooner. In all honesty, what we are about to share regarding this certain battery brand may impact our sales negatively and sour our relationship with the manufacturer. Nonetheless, we feel the questions raised have not been satisfactorily answered. Believe me when I tell you, it is not easy sticking your neck out. Frankly, it is down right uncomfortable. But I refuse to be beholden to the allure of profits and to serve the mighty dollar. We serve the