Page 12 - Ready for IMPACT Battery Blog

Knowing how to properly charge and maintain your powered wheelchair or mobility scooter batteries is vitally important. For many, these electric powered chariots, as one customer so eloquently described them, provide independence and are a necessary part of everyday living. So when dead or dying batteries are encountered, it is more than an inconvenience; it is a world on hold event! Our goal today is to provide some basic battery charging tips and some simple tests that can be performed to diagnose a bad battery. We will also share a few other nuggets of wisdom that may help debunk some battery myths you may have come across in your travels and hopefully provide some preventative medicine so to speak.

We get asked this question a lot. I wish it were as simple as some of the pundits seem to imply with their Top 10 Best Lists. But perhaps the question would be better asked this way, “What is the best motorcycle battery for me and my situation?” I think that is really what the consumer wants to know.

I believe this form of the question to be better and the most appropriate based on two thoughts. As I recall conversations with our customers, I often hear the question disguised and asked this way, “If you were me, which battery would you buy?” They obviously value my opinion and want to trust my judgment and knowledge concerning the selected options. But they are also asking me to weigh in the balance their current financial standing, what others with similar machines have purchased and their previous experience with batteries. Sometimes there is more to the story than knowing the name on a product, the price on a sticker or reported Cold Cranking Amps (CCA). What’s perfect for one customer

The other day my neighbor asked if I could recycle an old car battery they had sitting around. It had been left out to bake in direct sunlight and freeze in the winter snows. She indicated the car battery was brand new but never installed. Turns out the, Everstart 75-3N battery was left sitting outside their garage for over three years. I of course said we could recycle it and then I wondered if this starting battery could be restored? Despite the obvious 'abuse' and lack of use, would we be able to revive a battery that was severely discharged and had sulfated for 3 straight years?

On October 29th, 2016 a contingent from Impact Battery, a sponsor of the Skull Crusher Project, headed south to showcase the souped up Arctic Cat SxS at the Wildcat Adventures and Off Road Park as part of their haunted Halloween weekend festivities. The 1800 acre park is located a few minutes from I-75 in south central Kentucky just north of London in Laurel county. The weather couldn't have been better! It was a beautiful, unseasonably warm fall day. The balmy temperatures, allure of prizes, and haunted trails teased the huge crowd of thrill seekers and dust-loven-family-focused riders. It was the perfect combination of family fun that kept a steady line of traffic late into the evening.

In this addition of What’s What we will be comparing the ever popular IOTA DLS-55 M Series converters to the new 55 amp SDC Series converters. Both of these units are a DC power supply that can be retrofitted to become a smart charger. We first introduced the SDC series back in August 2016 where we highlighted its features and Iota Engineering’s legacy of excellence. We thought it would be useful to list the attributes of both the 12V 55A variations side by side to better contrast the changes.

When comparing Power Wheels to Peg Perego there is more than meets the eye. I don’t think it’s necessarily right to put it in the context of which is better. Both brands have a rich history and both have carved out a name for themselves in the ride-on-toy marketplace. Many of today’s parents, including myself, grew up with these battery powered toys and can recall our favorites. The iconic Power Wheels Barbie Jeep is matched by the ever popular Peg Perego John Deere tractor. Each has their list of ‘must have’ replicas from Harley and Kawasaki motorcycles to Ford Escalades, Jeep Wranglers, John Deere Gators and Polaris Sportsman ATVs. But I bet when you bought the toy, this thought never crossed your mind: How much will a replacement battery cost? Perhaps after having the toy for a few months you pondered if there was another battery that would last longer? Or if they could make the darn things faster? Allow us to compare the Peg Perego and Power Wheels toys from the aspect of the battery.

How do you complete a warranty for a motorcycle battery purchased over the internet? Two humorous thoughts stand out as to why it would be highly inconvenient and next to impossible to ride your motorcycle over and let us look at it. A) Apparently the battery is not working. B) You may not be able to get the 6 days off work, nor have the funds to ride 2200 miles from California to Kentucky. But don’t you worry, we have come up with a series of questions and tests that allow us to evaluate and process your motorcycle battery for warranty despite the distance between us.

This is part three of a three part segment on motorcycle battery testing and warranties. Consider reading segment #1 on the importance of testing as well as the second segment on parallel charging.

Not All Warranties Are Created Equal

Most all motorcycle battery manufacturers do not handle warranty issues directly. They rely on merchants and distributors to fulfill this obligation. Each manufacturer has their own warranty

Warranties can be the bane of consumers and merchants alike, especially motorcycle battery warranties. For the merchant or manufacturer it is a necessary evil that requires time and resources for seemingly no commercial gain—looking only from the vantage point of the warranted transaction. The consumer dreads the idea of having to prove the case, possibly being transferred to multiple people, having to send the item back for inspection and then on top of all that pay for shipping both ways! There are horror stories of companies reneging on their obligation to replace or repair defective merchandise. Or they make the process so cumbersome and time consuming people just give up. But there are also consumers that expect the world to bow at their every demand, have outlandish expectations or are the undisputed battery expert with zero years’ experience. Of course these examples are the extreme and not the rule. So what can merchants and consumers do to meet somewhere in the middle?

When considering