Universal Power Group (35Ah)

I bought a 2 pack, of the 35 amp hour, UB12350, 12V, SLA AGM batteries from this company. These are standard sized and will fit in almost all power mobility scooters and wheelchairs.I am rating them 4 stars. Why? Service. Price. Quality. Quick Shipping. All deserve 5 stars.However, packaging for the shipping and arriving sometimes with bent terminals? Should get 3 stars at most.Each battery was shipped separately, inside its original box (made in China), and that box was then placed inside another box. One battery arrived with 2 bent terminals (one of the terminals also being squashed kind of flat) and the other battery arriving in perfect shape. I had previously read that there are sometimes problems with shipping. Too bad. Just putting them inside a little bit better shipping box could avoid ANY problems. Then I would give them 5 stars. But as it is, your battery may arrive with bent or squashed terminals. Then you have 4 concerns:1. Should you try to straighten out the terminals? Lead is soft and straightening it out can sometimes be done. But you have the fear that you might break the terminal completely.2. Or, you might crack the `leakproof' battery case, either at the top, around the terminal or on the side, while using pliers and wrenches to fix the terminal.3. If you try to fix it yourself, are you voiding the warranty, if your attempt to fix it fails and you need to return it?4. If you decide NOT to try to fix it, but just to return it for another, you will then have the hassle of contacting Amazon.com, repackaging it, printing a shipping label and waiting for a replacement. Not necessarily a big problem, but an inconvenience, and there is no guarantee that the replacement might not also arrive with bent terminals. Still, this is probably the `safest' option of the 4. (Save your shipping boxes.)Both of my batteries arrived fully charged at 12.85 and 12.86 volts, measured on my voltmeter. After straightening the posts on the one battery and putting them on my charger, they ran up to 13.05 volts, but once the surface charge was bled off, they sat at 12.94. This is greater than or equal to 100% charge, which is generally listed as 12.7 volts, in case you don't know. They provide plenty of long lasting power, and will send my power wheelchair/scooter many miles. I plan to go to Disneyland with mine, next month, which is why I bought new batteries.These are SLA (Sealed Lead Acid) AGM (Absorbed Glass Mat) batteries. Some people contend that power wheelchairs and scooters should use equivalent GEL batteries, but there is not much practical difference for most users. The GEL batteries MIGHT survive a few more chargings, that is the advantage of GEL, but the difference is probably nil for most people. How many more chargings do you need when they can both be charged well over 1000 times, if properly cared for? On the other hand, the AGM batteries cost considerably less than GEL, carry about 10% more power (35 amp hours, compared to 31 amp hours for the equivalent GEL battery), and they charge faster with less problems. Both types of batteries are fully sealed, leakproof, and rated for travel, including on airlines.If your scooter or wheelchair takes two batteries, you should probably replace both batteries at the same time. Certainly you SHOULD NOT use one GEL battery and one AGM battery together.I am very happy with mine, and I will order these again, if I ever need more.Update: I took my mobility scooter out and I went 3 and ½ miles in it. Then I checked the voltage of the batteries and they had dropped to 12.48, indicating about a 15% discharge. According to that, these batteries should power my chair at least 15 and maybe even 20 miles before draining too far, and I am a very big heavy guy. Clearly they are working well. Most people could probably go farther. Around the house they might only need to be charged once a week, but if using them more, they should be charged every day. Most experts agree that with batteries like this, if you charge them daily, or at least regularly and don't drain them more than 50% between charges then they should last for years.

After purchasing my 16th battery, it's now time to give some feedback.I initially purchased these batteries because they are sealed lead acid, AGM. Absorbtive Glass Mat technology is proven to be reliable and very efficient and was exactly what I was looking for. I am currently using these with a small solar array at my house. Although I'm an electrical engineer with 20+ yrs of experience, I wanted to start small to better understand the technology and techniques before scaling up to a more major install.I've learned a tremendous amount and am ready to begin a major upgrade. During this time I can say that my (small) "bank" of batteries has performed extremely well. I have not connected any of them to a CBA (computerized battery analyzer), but they have been cycled numerous times as I've powered a couple of rooms in my house with them. There have been no problems whatsoever. I am very pleased.Now that I am looking to upgrade, I've been comparing batteries, battery companies, etc. I have found that these little AGM batteries have very similar characteristics to the better known solar battery companies (like Trojan, Concorde, etc.). So, after deciding the performances were comparable, I wanted to know what the difference in price will buy me. Here was part of my analysis - and I hope it helps anyone who is looking to do the same:Volts: Nominal voltage of the batteryAh: Amp*Hours (theoretically how many AMPS you could pull for one hour before full discharge ++)Wh: Watt*Hours = Volts x Amp*Hours (Theoretically how much POWER a battery can produce until full discharge ++)++ This number will change as the discharge rate changes. The slower the discharge the longer the life of the battery.Concorde batteries from Solarblvd . com:MODEL Volts Ah Wh Cost Cost/WhPVX-490T 12 55 660 $181 $0.27PVX-560T 12 63 756 $206 $0.27PVX-690T 12 79 948 $216 $0.23PVX-890T 12 102 1224 $274 $0.22PVX-1040T 12 120 1440 $287 $0.20PVX-1080T 12 126 1512 $306 $0.20PVX-2120L 12 253 3036 $581 $0.19PVX2580L 12 305 3660 $694 $0.19PVX-2580L 6 224 1344 $333 $0.25And for the UB12350?MODEL Volts Ah Wh Cost Cost/WhUB12350 12 35 420 $62.50 $0.15The cost per Watt*hour for these batteries is by far the lowest for the AGM batteries I've listed above.This analysis seems solid to me. To boot, these batteries weigh about 22 lbs each - rather than 60 to 100 lbs for other "solar" batteries like the ones listed above. The downside is that I will have to make many more connections between batteries, but I'm willing to do that rather than pay 30% more for the SunExtender series from Concorde.If anyone - after looking at the datasheet for this battery compared to the Concorde series - can see a reason why I would choose NOT to use these batteries for a larger solar system, PLEASE leave any comments.Thank you

Purchased these back in June of 2016, for a small solar system, and they worked well in the beginning, I don't think I ever got the full 70AH from the 2 hooked in parallel. But I was pleasantly surprised at how easily they powered my 1500W inverter. I used these to run and charge things in my garage, as well as when camping to power TV and entertainment devices, and keep electronics and ligths charged up. At home it paired with 200W solar panels, when camping only a 50W so it would sometimes get low when camping. So they recieved a little abuse when camping, and not fully recharging, I also once ran a 1000W space heater off my older inverter. It ended up shorting out something in my old inverter after about 20mins, but the batteries were fine.Around the 3rd year mark I noticed they were draining faster then before. There were a couple drains below 11.0V volts due to DC loads not shuting off. But other then a few times I rarely pushed them below 12V. The last 1.5 years I have only used them sparingly for LED lighting and charging devices. I decided recently to load test them with with some LED lighting, running directly off DC voltage, after fully charging with Solar. I got a little over 6 hours before it dropped below 12V. Probably could have got another 1-1.5 hours before it dropped below 11.4V, so roughly 18AH (2x9AH each). After 5 years, and not the best up keep on charging I am ordering 2 more for this price point they definitely worked for my applications and use.