Ecotech Battery Repair

[sahin]

The battery for my MP10's died many months ago and I had been putting off buying a new battery since I thought I didnt need one urgently...well I need a working battery next week as electrical works are taking place in our building.

None of my buddies have a battery backup which I found a bit surprising...:eek2:

Anyway, I looked at a new battery price and didnt like the price...for a battery...so I read that some people replaced the internal battery.

So decided to order a replacement battery and fixed it myself. New battery cost £35 shipped. A battery from Ecotech is around £175 shipped.

Here is the process...

Dead battery:

Drill out the rivets:

What it looks like inside (nothing much...just a battery and some connections):

Some housing and connections is all:

The new battery (in front) and old (behind):

New battery in place:

Quick test to ensure connections and battery is good (yes I have monster veins...):

Secure cover together with Rivet Gun and Rivets:

All done:

Tested on my MP10's and works fine. In fact new battery is 21A.H. Which means it has a bit more juice and my MP10 will last longer than running with the original battery.

 

[shaginwagon13]

Very cool DIY.

Was your new battery better in terms of length it could be used for power heads if the electricity went out?

 

[Reef Frog]

Nice job! How long did your battery last before it needed replacement? How did you determine that it needed replacement? Did the battery just "fail" suddenly or did it gradually run down where the pump would only run for a few hours at a time?

Thanks.

 

[sahin]

Very cool DIY.

Was your new battery better in terms of length it could be used for power heads if the electricity went out?

If you want to you any DC battery to run mains powerheads, you will need some kind of DC to AC converter. So yes, you could buy a bank of 3 of these batteries for example and run powerheads in an emergency situation.

Nice job! How long did your battery last before it needed replacement? How did you determine that it needed replacement? Did the battery just "fail" suddenly or did it gradually run down where the pump would only run for a few hours at a time?

Thanks.

AS you can see by the ICECAP symbol, this battery is one of the early ones produced by Icecap for Ecotech, so the battery is quite a few years old. Ecotech produce their own (which is the same basically).

The battery just died one day. I test every month that it is still working, but checking that the MP10 runs off it for 10 mins etc.

I run my MP10 on 50% power for over 14 hours on my last test when I carried out a longer test before electrical works.

A few months ago I tested the battery and it wouldnt run the MP10 or charge up.

The battery saved my tank a few times.

 

[janey]

Hi, I need to replace mine as well wont take a charge.. Where did you get the battery ??

Also where can i get the dc to ac converter ??

thanks

 

[sahin]

Hi, I need to replace mine as well wont take a charge.. Where did you get the battery ??

Also where can i get the dc to ac converter ??

thanks

Hi,

I got the battery off eBay. You just need to search up the model number specification shown on then photos I posted.

With respect to the charger, I just checked my charger specs for you: pickup a wall charger with these outputs:
12v ie 12volts and
0.5A ie 0.5amps.

Hope that helps.

Way cheaper than buying a new battery from Ecotech. Incidentally the battery size used is typically used in motorised wheelchairs mobility equipment etc. so you should be able to locate it on ebay or online.

 

[sahin]

PS you need to ask for AC to DC charger (with 12v, 0.5A output). Not DC to AC.

 

[Reefvet]

If you want to you any DC battery to run mains powerheads, you will need some kind of DC to AC converter. So yes, you could buy a bank of 3 of these batteries for example and run powerheads in an emergency situation.

Slapping together some batteries is fine if you keep them high and dry, away from your tank.

Or better yet just buy a quality UPS with a high enough power rating and replace the batteries every 2-3 years. They're the same Sealed Lead Acid batteries.

If the UPS has a AVR, automatic voltage regulation it'll keep a trickle charge on the batteries to keep them at full charge and your pump/powerhead will never vary with changes in the line voltage.

A good UPS produces a true sine wave, not a stepped wave. That's one of the big advantages of using Ecotech's battery backup. You avoid the converter issue, sine wave quality, because it's a direct current source to the powerhead.