Sealed Lead-Acid Battery

[Robert Atkinson 2]

On Robert Atkinson 2 Said:

The very best is the SBS range formerly by Hawker. They are AGM. You pay for quality…
https://uk.farnell.com/enersys/sbs30/battery-lead-acid-26ah-12v/dp/2070725

Robert.

Still expensive, but less than Farnell; yes I can vouch for them, as they were used in some our kit on BT
https://www.tayna.co.uk/enersys/powersafe/sbs30-12/ £273
https://www.batterycharged.co.uk/shop/batteries/vrla-batteries/enersys-powersafe-sbs-30-12v-26ah-battery-1757274.html £212

There’s often some on eBay, but that’s obviously a bit risky on reliability depending on age and previous use.

Alternatively if the full 26Ah isn’t required, these might suffice, either as Odyssey or Harker
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/335189347603
https://www.tayna.co.uk/industrial-batteries/odyssey/pc545/
Bill

[Robin GrahamParticipant @robingraham42208]

Michael, I suppose it depends on what you mean by a ‘general power supply for testing stuff’.  One of my best ever buys was a Duratool 30V 5A benchtop power supply which is going for £60 from CPC Farnell currently. I also have lead-acid batteries (6 and 12V 7Ah) from PRO-ELEC for the rare occasions when I need portability and/or  more than 5A .  I also have an ‘intelligent’ charger (Halfords in my case) but I never really trusted it.  I now charge the lead-acids with the benchtop PSU so I can monitor charge current and  voltage directly which gives me a much better idea of what’s going on.

Best, Robin.

[John HaineParticipant @johnhaine32865]

I agree that a variable bench supply is a better bet than a battery – no maintenance worries, variable voltage etc.  Nowadays also pretty cheap. One thing that bugs me is that most of them only have 4mm sockets which is a pain. Much better to have screw terminals, ideally the ones with a 4mm socket as well.

One of the reasons they are now so cheap is that they mainly use switch mode which saves a lot of cost in the transformer and semiconductors – this is fine as long as your application can tolerate the supply noise.

[Dave HalfordParticipant @davehalford22513]

The original Hawker battery specs also gave you a graph of life against temperature. Now you get  ‘recommended for not more than 30C’.

 

[Robin Graham]

On Robin Graham Said:

Michael, I suppose it depends on what you mean by a ‘general power supply for testing stuff’.  […]

I really meant something more like …

I’ve just bought this little motor [or whatever] … best check that it works before leaving positive feedback

Its primary use is as a power source for my static inverter if we have a mains power-cut.

MichaelG.

[John HaineParticipant @johnhaine32865]

Aha!

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