My XB-600 has been acting a bit more sluggish lately, with a top speed of 18 mph and dropping down to 15 after riding a few miles. I checked the battery pack and the batteries are obviously slightly cooked as they are all warped to varying degrees, but they still work. Now my wife understands why we need to use a timer when we recharge the batteries. Does anyone have any recommendations as to where I should get replacement SLA 12V 20AH batteries? Are there better options than X-Treme, or is that the only place to get an exact replacement? Or are suitable replacements readily available at local auto parts stores? I've looked online and there are a zillion possibilities, many with different sizes, different connectors, etc. The only exact matches that came up (same brand, etc.) were in China. Any help I can get to shorten the search effort would be greatly appreciated.
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- Richard Wills
Well, you can really use ANY 12V 20ah SLA battery. Most of them are the same size (double check before ordering them though) but the connector style can vary. If you want an EXACT matching battery and terminal etc. I would buy from X-treme. You do get what you pay for though. I ordered some Universal Battery 12V 22ah to replace my original set. I got 5 of the UB12220 delivered for about $210. I dont think they are really any better than the X-treme batteries but not any worse.
You can buy batteries locally, but very rarely will you find them at an auto part store, you normally have to go to an actual battery store like Batteries Plus or the like. I think that any more than $60 for a 12V 20ah battery is too much and even 60 is pushing it as I got mine delivered for about $45 (about a year ago, seems they have gone up in price and shipping since then..) each, I am not sure if the materials used to make them make a difference or not, but they have worked fine for me for almost 1 year now.
Locally a 12V 20-22ah battery will probably cost you about $65
Best bet for online is to google like THIS LINK and look for the best price with shipping.
Here is the link for where I got mine from, but they had free shipping when I bought them :(
UB12220
Dave ; Tennessee
XB-600.
Thanks for the information, although there's been a pleasant turn of events. The same day I cooked my batteries, I also adjusted my brakes because the brake levers were coming back all the way to the hand grips, and I was taking longer to stop. It occurred to me that maybe I had overtightened the nuts at the ends of the brake cables, and that might be another reason why my speed had dropped. Sure enough, once I loosened the nuts a few turns, my speed was back up to where it should be. The batteries are still a bit cooked, as the warping is obvious, but the batteries still work very well. I just came back from quite a long test ride, including some hills, and with the lights on. The bike works fine!
Buzzer
There are three kinds of people: Those who make things happen, those who watch things happen, and those who wonder what happened.
ah, that is good news! On Batteries, I am pretty fond of CSB ( http://www.csb-battery.com ) and B.B. Battery, ( http://www.bb-battery.com ) I've used these with good results in battery Backups, and had decent deals from Battery Central Mall. Of course, it may be a different story for Electric Vehicle use. Where ever you buy, might be a good idea to ask them about suitability for EV use, so they dont stick you with light drain batteries.
I found replacement batteries at my local speciality battery store. There are Interstate Battery brand. The terminals are different, but they still fit in the battery box. They were $52 each, plus I didn't have to wait to have them shipped.
fyi, the reason for my battery purhcase was that I was having power problems. In addition to power loss, one of the other symptoms of a problem battery was that the battery charger never turned green and you could smell the batteries cooking. Took them to the battery dealer, two were obviosuly bad (the casings had swelled). So we replaced the two bad ones. I was still having loss of power problems, and x-treme support told me to replace the other two batteries. I did, but I still have problems.
X-treme had me check the wiring to the motor and controller, which I did, but still having problems. I think I'm going to submit a 2nd post for that issue.
-Richard
My batteries on the XB 600 died after 1 year. I took the whole battery pack indoor to store for the winter and kept it plugged in to the charger. They smell like sulfur if you charge them when they went bad. In addition to replacing them with X-treme's SLA batteries for about $60 x 4, Xtreme tech support said I can also upgrade by buying the LifePo4 batteries meant for their XB 700 Bike, Same voltage, I just need to put it in the XB 600 battery case. I wouldn't pay Xtreme's $700 price for their LifePo4 battery, but I may consider just getting a cheaper alternative on Ebay or other supplier. With SLA lasting only 2 to 3 years, I think it is a better investment to put it toward LifePo4 technology for longer life span and less weight.
You should have replaced all batteries at the same time! Not having done so, it is very possible that you have improperly charged/unbalanced batteries. To reduce this problem, SEPARATELY charge each battery, using a proper 12 volt charger. All batteries should measure near 14 volts immediately after chearging, and all batteries should show near identical full charged voltages after charging.--Bob
Robert M. Curry
Thanks Bob.
Great suggestion. I'm going to do that tonight. Hopefully, once I get them "in Balance", they'll stay "In Balance".
regards,
-Richard
Well, i pulled the batteries. Hooked up a 12v charger. They all only took less than two minutes to charge. I checked the voltage on each battery and they all were reading close to 13.5v.
The problem still persists.
I did notice that my rear wheel wobbles. I tried spinning it and it doesn't seem to spin freely. I'm not sure if this is normal or not. It may explain the jerkiness i feel when driving. I think I might have to explore taking that wheel off, but not sure what to look for. I'll probably try contacting x-treme support today, but my experience with them as not been all that positive.
Thanks,
-Richard
What you need to do is LOAD test each of your batteries as I am pretty sure you have several bad batteries that are discharging improperly. 4 of my 5 batteries would be useless once they hit 12.6V. I have a post on here pertaining to the whole process.
http://visforvoltage.org/forum/8141-someone-please-help-xb600
I am sure it will help you!!!!!
It also could possibly be the controller... but in my case it was that the batteries would drain so fast it would cause the low voltage cutoff in the controller to shut it off.
Dave ; Tennessee
XB-600.
My oem batteries lasted almost 2 years so I went and bought new ones from batteries plus. I put them in and it charged forever and they smelt so I unplugged it. I bought a new charger and same thing, charge, charge, and the light not changing to green. So I took them out and the guy at batteries plus checked them and said they were fine. I put them back in and same thing until I had a fan blowing on the batteries to keep them cool while charging. I thought this bs and never had to for the other one but I will live with it until they die.
Mike D
Did you replacethe batteries all, at thesame time, as a set? If not, unequal charging may result, with damage to your battery. If thebatteries ARE all matchedandnew, they may be of different construction, andintended for a lower charge voltage, which results in overcharge with your charger. There are many types of lead-acid batteries, and they have slightly different charge/discharge profiles! (Examples: Lead-calcium,Pure lead,Lead-Antimony, Absorbed Glass Matt (AGM),Flooded electrolyte, Valve regulated AGM (VRAGM/VRLA), silicone gelled and standard Gelled Electrolyte. Voltage maximums during charging vary from 13.5 to 15 volts, D.C.--All charging voltages are also affected by battery temperature.-Bob
Robert M. Curry
Thanks for everyone's feedback. I believe I've resolved my "intermittent power problem". I'll recap for everyone:
Early in summer, I observed "intermittent power" loss.... around the same time my charger would stay red when plugged in (and a burnt smell).
First I had batteries checked by my local Interstate Battery Supply store. Two batteries had swelled, so we replaced them with Interstate batteries. At that time, my charger would turn green after an hour or two of charging. However, I still had intermittent power loss. I waited a month and then replaced the other two battereis. The charger performed ok but I still had intermittent power loss. I pulled the batteries and ehcked their outpout.. they all appeared normal at about 13.5v...but to be sure they weren't out of sync, i charged each one individually.
Intermittent power loss continued.
I then observed that the plastic casing where the throttle wires run itno the throttle was cracked. I then super glued the plastic casing together. My "intermittent power loss" went away. In fact, with the new battereis, the bike has reached sppeds I never achieved before 23 mph on the flat. I've been ruinning it all week with no problem. I'm probably going to order another throttle unit as a backup should my "superglue" fix fail.
Again thanks to all for their feedback into this problem.
-Richard
I fully agree with your thoughts on using LifePO4 batteries.
I'm considering this as an upgrade or backup to my existing SLA on the XB600.
Through other posts, Ping Battery has been recommended http://www.pingbattery.com/servlet/the-48V-LiFePO4-Battery-Packs/Categories
The 48V 20AH V2.5 LiFePO4 Battery Pack is $598 which is less than the $700 that you mentioned from Xtreme.
I also wondered if I could also install the 60V 20AH V2.5 LiFePO4 Battery Pack, priced at $823, and obtain better performance. I may have to mod the controller, perhaps. Although, I'm in an area that I'm not very knowledgable about.
What I want is simply double the range miles and increased performance in pickup. I have to keep the XB600 because of the size dimensions (length) as a limitation to where I store it.
Would someone be able to comment on this and if I'm in the right track?