Buying a Used Battleborn?

[ibuzzard]

I cannot get the age from the seller, he did some work on van, and took this as partial trade., and therefore doesn’t know himself. How can I know if it is going to last me awhile? Thanks.

 

[PlethoraOfGuns]

I don't think you can know. Even new batteries can fail prematurely. Get it super cheap and try not to lose sleep over it.

 

[ibuzzard]

Thanks, what would you guess it to be worth?

 

[frater secessus]

You may already know this: the warranty is not transferable (pdf) so there is no reason to expect BB to help if the battery is injured/dead.

How can I know if it is going to last me awhile? Thanks.

There's not a good way to predict that, IMO. The best predictor would be an owner who could tell you both

1. how BB says to use and charge the battery; and
2. how they've actually been using and charging the battery (both voltage and current), and their rationale behind it; and

If they can't tell you both without checking notes I'd assume it's been abused and would not achieve the 3,000 cycle life rating. Along those lines: I think BB started hitting the market in a real way 5 years ago, IIRC, so it could be up to 1,800 cycles so far. The cycle rating to 100% DoD (apparent, not actual) is claimed to be 3,000, so if it was charged and discharged to spec it could have another 3.25 years left in it before EOL. Maybe there's a date code on it that might help us understand its age.

If you can see it in operation (it charges and discharges ok at ~50A) I might pay $150 cash for it and expect diminished capacity (85-95Ah). New chins/amperetime/etc 100Ah are $400 delivered so I don't see much sense in paying a lot for a first-gen batt with unknown provenance. BB has always been priced proudly so do not be influenced by the "it was $1000 new!" line. We are interested in its value now, not then.

If you buy it please report back how it works out.

 

[Tony's Dream]

Batteries either work or they don't. My question would be......why did the seller get a new battery? If the mechanic took it in as a partial trade, he must know there was a problem to begin with. I agree, if you got it cheap....use it until you need to replace it.

 

[frater secessus]

Batteries either work or they don't.

I am not convinced this is a useful way to think about it. An abused BB with degraded solvent (electrolyte) or lithium-plated anode might appear to act normally {at first glance} but have severely-reduced capacity.

Damage to lead-chemistry batteries often shows up as voltage sag under load, but Li's low internal resistance means it's not a reliable indicator for them.

My question would be......why did the seller get a new battery? If the mechanic took it in as a partial trade, he must know there was a problem to begin with.

Since the current owner "did some work on van, and took this as partial trade" one scenario would be

* mechanic does work on van
* van owner short on cash, offers BB as part of payment
* mechanic does not need BB so lists it for sale

 

[tx2sturgis]

If it has been sitting for awhile, (not hooked up to any charging source or discharging load) and you can walk up to it and hook up a digital voltmeter, and it shows somewhere around high 13's to around 14 volts, I'd assume at that point it's in good health and worth...oh I dunno...let's say around $250 if it looks cosmetically perfect, maybe $200 if it had bumps and bruises.

Offering up $150 and willing to go a bit higher seems reasonable to me. Again, IF the terminal voltage is showing 'healthy'.

If for some unknown reason it is sitting at 12 volts or lower, it STILL might be healthy but it will need to be fully recharged to verify this.

BTW I have a Battle Born 100ah battery and use it daily in my ham station here and its been working extremely well in daily partial charge-discharge cycles for about 4 years now.