[Raccoon]

^^^ I doubt if he has a licence. Also, I'm not sure if they give licences to such very small scale manufacturers... do they?? I doubt they even if they follow basic safety and environment friendly processes.

For sure the car, its charging system, pattern of usage and temperature play a vital role in battery life. But I have both experienced and seen (others) batteries last 4 to 6 years or so. NOT Exides though... Lol!

I had gone thru that site quite sometime back. Perusing that site again had me discover something - the Base Terminal website has picked up stuff directly out of there and put it on its site!! I thought BT had put up an good site. Now I know where the tech stuff has come from!

[anupmathur]

License or no license, rebuilding old lead-acid batteries has been done for decades. And some of the chaps used to do a very good job indeed.
There was one in Delhi many years ago, by the name of Micro, in Daryaganj, whose reconditioned batteries used to last us a minimum of five years in our old Landmaster!

Do note that you get a higher price for buy-back of the old hard rubber casings as compared to the PVC casings. Ever wondered why?

[gpa]

Originally Posted by Raccoon

Base Terminal website has picked up stuff directly out of there and put it on its site!!

That's plagiarism- glorified!

The site was a good informative read though. Thanks R2D2

[Raccoon]

That's plagiarism- glorified!

Yes! Thats about how unprofessional as it can get... not expected from these corporates at least!

[Raccoon]

I thought we discussed all available branded batterys in this thread. But I saw one that I'v never seen or heard yet in a battery shop couple days back - Speed. The box said its made by TAFE. The dealer said its the same group which makes Amco.

What struck me was the price. The dealer quoted some Rs. 2,200 or something for an Esteem's battery! Thats by far the lowest price for a branded battery I'v heard. A 7 Ah bike battery costs Rs. 800 whereas an Exide of the same capacity costs around Rs. 1,200, depending on dealer.

Just found their website - Welcome to TAFE Power Source Division

One interesting point mentioned there (R2D2, this is esp. for you ) -

• The Battery that stays cool even in Under-the-bonnet heat ambience*
(* SAE J240 Tests conducted at 75 degrees Celsius have shown that SPEED Batteries give as much cycle life as at 40 degrees Celsius)

If this is true, the batterys should give a longer life.

Has anybody here used Speed batterys? Would be intresting to get some reviews!

[R2D2]

Originally Posted by Raccoon

I thought we discussed all available branded batterys in this thread. But I saw one that I'v never seen or heard yet in a battery shop couple days back - Speed. The box said its made by TAFE. The dealer said its the same group which makes Amco.

What struck me was the price. The dealer quoted some Rs. 2,200 or something for an Esteem's battery! Thats by far the lowest price for a branded battery I'v heard. A 7 Ah bike battery costs Rs. 800 whereas an Exide of the same capacity costs around Rs. 1,200, depending on dealer.

Just found their website - Welcome to TAFE Power Source Division

One interesting point mentioned there (R2D2, this is esp. for you ) -



If this is true, the batterys should give a longer life.

Has anybody here used Speed batterys? Would be intresting to get some reviews!

Hey thanks Raccoon. Good find. Never heard of this brand before.

Will definitely consider this when the time comes for a replacement. Seem to have better choice nowadays including Tata Green.

BTW, did you read about Exide investing about 100 crore to upgrade their plants? They intend to produce colloidal gell cell batts for industrial use and the interesting part was production of lithium ion batteries for cars (!!). All I could say to myself is "Wow. Has this been done anywhere else in the world? They will be very expensive"

Rgds,

[gpa]

Was at my MASS yesterday for a minor accident repair and noticed that a new Swift was getting its battery changed. Looked into the bonnet and it was a Amaron that was coming out. I checked with the mechanic and he said that this customer had come to MASS atleast 5 times before with repeated complaints of poor starting, dim lights and non functioning central locking system. The battey was charged twice before finally replacing it yesterday.

The car was a Swift (P) and had covered 16,000 kms. The Amaron was changed to an Exide maintenance free battery.

[R2D2]

Originally Posted by gpa

Was at my MASS yesterday for a minor accident repair and noticed that a new Swift was getting its battery changed. Looked into the bonnet and it was a Amaron that was coming out. I checked with the mechanic and he said that this customer had come to MASS atleast 5 times before with repeated complaints of poor starting, dim lights and non functioning central locking system. The battey was charged twice before finally replacing it yesterday.

The car was a Swift (P) and had covered 16,000 kms. The Amaron was changed to an Exide maintenance free battery.

Amaron changed twice over? And replaced with an Exide? Simply hilarious.

Rgds,

[Hashim]

I wanted to write my experice with Ace car battery which I am using in my M1000. Bought this battery a year back and its cost at that time was Rs.2500 and giving the old battery for Rs500, it cost me only 2000 which was quite a cheap price for sealed (not perfectly sealed but at least not with those regular caps which spill acid eevrywhere). Battery has indicator too.

On the same day when battery was intalled, I forgot to switch off car headlight and it draiend the battery completely and since then battery was not giving good response, it failed may times to start the car.

I got the battery charged few times but it was not giving optimum performance then one day I charged the battery for 2 days continuesly at home with my handmade charger and magic happened. Battery came to its life once again and till now it has been more than a year, battery is giving no problem at all. I have even installed 100/130 W rally bulbs and I drive at night almost daily but no problem like dim lights or starting trouble anytime. Consdering my car to be quite old 1994 make (read weak alternator), this battery is a good performer in my opinion.

The link: ACE

[MileCruncher]

Originally Posted by gpa

Was at my MASS yesterday for a minor accident repair and noticed that a new Swift was getting its battery changed. Looked into the bonnet and it was a Amaron that was coming out. I checked with the mechanic and he said that this customer had come to MASS atleast 5 times before with repeated complaints of poor starting, dim lights and non functioning central locking system. The battey was charged twice before finally replacing it yesterday.

The car was a Swift (P) and had covered 16,000 kms. The Amaron was changed to an Exide maintenance free battery.

We faced the same problem on our Alto Lxi. Factory fitted battery replaced within 1.5 years with 2 cells gone bad. I think its more to do with the quality of OEM as they are covered only for 1 year of warranty. But the same brand on the replacement market with 3 year warranty has a much better quality. I guess because of cost cutting my manufacturers and squeezing the last penny out of suppliers, quality is just about right to get it through the warranty period.

All my cars run on TATA Green .. id reccomend TATA green anyday with YK technology from japan they cant g wrong in near future. More over they got options like for a Safari go for Gold Platinum or Titanium according to your budget. Plus they less polluting at the time of exposing off as qouted by them hence they call them TATA Green. Choose your batery at Our Products check the pricing and a dealer should be able to give you 200-400 discount for your old battery ranging on its size.

Regards,
Ash

[WasavaTyres]

Amaron for me all the way. From Cars and 2 wheeler to the home & office inverters. They've never let me down. Has anyone checked out the Bosch Gel batteries that have been launched for 2 wheelers.

[gpa]

Originally Posted by R2D2

Amaron changed twice over?

I think you got it wrong. I said charged twice and not changed twice.

[lejhoom]

Has anyone checked optima batteries. I don't think they are sold here. Please check their website.

[Raccoon]

Originally Posted by R2D2

Hey thanks Raccoon. Good find. Never heard of this brand before.

Will definitely consider this when the time comes for a replacement. Seem to have better choice nowadays including Tata Green.

BTW, did you read about Exide investing about 100 crore to upgrade their plants? They intend to produce colloidal gell cell batts for industrial use and the interesting part was production of lithium ion batteries for cars (!!). All I could say to myself is "Wow. Has this been done anywhere else in the world? They will be very expensive"

Rgds,

Hmm... I would however mention that the bike battery that I checked out did not look exactly terrific on the exterior at least. And the fact that its from the Amco stable kinda dissuades me. Also the warranty was for 1 year only and not 15 months which is what Exide and Amco give for their 7 Ah batterys. However, the price is the most attractive factor. I think it might be worth trying it out if someone wants a battery on a budget or for temporary use or for an old car, etc. Anyway, unless we see some reviews from users, it would be unfair to say anything.

Originally Posted by gpa

Was at my MASS yesterday for a minor accident repair and noticed that a new Swift was getting its battery changed. Looked into the bonnet and it was a Amaron that was coming out. I checked with the mechanic and he said that this customer had come to MASS atleast 5 times before with repeated complaints of poor starting, dim lights and non functioning central locking system. The battey was charged twice before finally replacing it yesterday.

The car was a Swift (P) and had covered 16,000 kms. The Amaron was changed to an Exide maintenance free battery.

Could be an issue with the charging system also. I wont be surprised if they did not properly check that out. Or of course it could be true that even Amaron is making low grade stuff for OEM use.

Originally Posted by Hashim

I wanted to write my experice with Ace car battery which I am using in my M1000. Bought this battery a year back and its cost at that time was Rs.2500 and giving the old battery for Rs500, it cost me only 2000 which was quite a cheap price for sealed (not perfectly sealed but at least not with those regular caps which spill acid eevrywhere). Battery has indicator too.

The link: ACE

So yet another brand to consider! How do their prices compare with Speed batteries? If that Rs. 2500 battery is the same rating as the one quoted for my Esteem, then its more expensive than Speed. Which makes Speed the cheapest amongst branded batteries (amongst those we know, at least).

Originally Posted by WasavaTyres

Amaron for me all the way. From Cars and 2 wheeler to the home & office inverters. They've never let me down. Has anyone checked out the Bosch Gel batteries that have been launched for 2 wheelers.

Bosch 2 wheeler batts are now available with the Poona dealer. Don't know anybody who has tried them yet. I guess they should be amongst the best. However, none of the battery dealers I'v been to had a Bosch. Don't know how Bosch will make a dent in the market by just making it available with one dealer in town.