sla lifespan-- rapid decline or slow fade?

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tilt2468
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Last seen: 9 years 11 months ago
Joined: Wednesday, May 27, 2009 - 06:57
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sla lifespan-- rapid decline or slow fade?

I have a 24v 12ah sla battery pack for an electric assist bike. I have been through about 75 charge cycles over the last 9 months (not used for 5 months of winter, but charged every 6 weeks). Recently I am noticing an audible decline in the motor hum when faced with a load near the end of my commute. I assume this is due to battery wear out. Is this a sign that the end is near or is there a plateau in the sla lifecycle? I want to make certain that I have enough power to get home against a headwind and the weak motor sound is eroding my confidence in the batteries.

RoySv
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Joined: Sunday, December 10, 2006 - 16:19
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Re: sla lifespan-- rapid decline or slow fade?

I'm on my second set of SLA's. First were non-deluxe B&B's, second are Powersonic. I think slow fade is the best description unless you are typically running them to low states of charge. Or are pulling high currents. Generally the range will simply decline slowly and you will replace to get your range back. That's what happened with my first set of batteries after about 1,1000 miles. On the second set, I added another brick to get to 60v nominal and also added a current limiter control. The set of 5 was going well and past 1000mi when a single battery in the string just died. I was able to get back on the road by taking one of the old B&Bs and inserting it. That was 300 miles ago. So yeah, SLA's normall just fade away unless you really discharge aggressively or they have a (probably mechanical) internal failure.

Roy Terry
Crystalye #408 front, 60v 12AH SLA, in Tandem, Drainbain, powercheqs, current limiter

tilt2468
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Last seen: 9 years 11 months ago
Joined: Wednesday, May 27, 2009 - 06:57
Points: 76
Re: sla lifespan-- rapid decline or slow fade?

For anybody looking at range/ endurance-- I got about 750 miles and 80 charge cycles out of my pair of Interstate battery 12v 10a on a Merida assist cycle. There is still some life in the batteries, but they are starting to struggle when faced with a headwind on a 9 mile commute.

tilt

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