Life with Lead Crystal Batteries

Some information for those who have bought Betta Lead Crystal Batteries.

We purchased three 110 ah batteries in November 2017 and all three have failed.

Betta first said that the batteries had been under charged and that they had gone into ‘sleep’ mode. These could be rejuvenated.

The only problem with this was that Betta Batteries, Yatala, Queensland is the only place with the equipment to do this (at the time we were at Port Augusta, SA).

Betta could not rejuvenate our batteries.

Our setup would be the same as most Bushtrackers with AGM batteries.

We have a 40 amp mains charger, 3 solar panels (now increased to 4) plus a small connection to the tow vehicle.

The specs of the batteries indicate that the initial charging/boost current is 33 amps per battery (0.3c) at 14.7 volts and a float voltage of 13.6 volts.

Unless we charged the batteries one at a time, we would never have the charging capacity.
Our AGMs with the same setup lasted 7 years.

Betta then said that we had overtightened the terminals and had broken the internal busbars and therefore would not cover the batteries under warranty.

We started our travels in June this year and it involved 700 – 1000klms on corrugated and dirt roads.

We disputed their diagnosis based on experience and technical background, we are well aware of the fragility of electronics and batteries.
In our humble opinion, the batteries could not withstand the corrugations and rough roads.

The batteries did perform well while on sealed roads.

Our experience may be one in a thousand but be aware.

Chris & Pam