Behringer EPA40 Portable PA Kills Batteries

[Doug White]

I bought a second hand one of these off eBay. It had a dead sealed lead
acid battery, and the microphone connector had a bad solder joint. I
fixed the mic, and bought a replacement battery. It worked great, but
then the battery died in short order. The PA still works fine off the
AC adapter, but it's not very portable that way.

Apparently, this is not unusual. Lots of reviews on Amazon blast these
for having lousy batteries, but I don't think that is the problem. I
think either their charger is killing the batteries, or the amp is
draining the batteries even when "OFF", and that is what kills them.
Behringer is notorious for not given out ANY service info, and insisting
you use one of their authorized service centers. It would cost more to
have a service center work on than I paid for it.

Next time I get bored I'm going to buy a fresh battery, open it up,
trace out the circuitry & fix it myself. There is clearly a design flaw
someplace. Either that, or they have a cheap electrolytic across the
battery that goes leaky and sucking it dry.

Has anyone torn into one of these?

Thanks!

Doug White

 

[Phil Allison]

Doug White wrote:

I bought a second hand one of these off eBay. It had a dead sealed lead
acid battery, and the microphone connector had a bad solder joint. I
fixed the mic, and bought a replacement battery. It worked great, but
then the battery died in short order. The PA still works fine off the
AC adapter, but it's not very portable that way.

Apparently, this is not unusual. Lots of reviews on Amazon blast these
for having lousy batteries, but I don't think that is the problem. I
think either their charger is killing the batteries, or the amp is
draining the batteries even when "OFF", and that is what kills them.
Behringer is notorious for not given out ANY service info, and insisting
you use one of their authorized service centers. It would cost more to
have a service center work on than I paid for it.

Next time I get bored I'm going to buy a fresh battery, open it up,
trace out the circuitry & fix it myself. There is clearly a design flaw
someplace. Either that, or they have a cheap electrolytic across the
battery that goes leaky and sucking it dry.

** The unit uses a 12V, 2.6Ah SLA which is being discharged at too high a rate - if played loud I bet the thing only goes for 40 minutes or so.

Try to source a new battery from a wholesaler rather than as a spare part from Behringer - cos they may well be selling ones that are more than a year old and that would explain the short life.

SLA batteries deteriorate from the day they are made and are unfit to sell after 2 years, often less.


.... Phil

 

[N_Cook]

On 15/03/2015 01:12, Doug White wrote:

I bought a second hand one of these off eBay. It had a dead sealed lead
acid battery, and the microphone connector had a bad solder joint. I
fixed the mic, and bought a replacement battery. It worked great, but
then the battery died in short order. The PA still works fine off the
AC adapter, but it's not very portable that way.

Apparently, this is not unusual. Lots of reviews on Amazon blast these
for having lousy batteries, but I don't think that is the problem. I
think either their charger is killing the batteries, or the amp is
draining the batteries even when "OFF", and that is what kills them.
Behringer is notorious for not given out ANY service info, and insisting
you use one of their authorized service centers. It would cost more to
have a service center work on than I paid for it.

Next time I get bored I'm going to buy a fresh battery, open it up,
trace out the circuitry & fix it myself. There is clearly a design flaw
someplace. Either that, or they have a cheap electrolytic across the
battery that goes leaky and sucking it dry.

Has anyone torn into one of these?

Thanks!

Doug White

So an ammeter in series with the battery,amp off, on low vol and on high
vol, shows what consumption?

 

[Doug White]

N_Cook <diverse@tcp.co.uk> wrote in news:me3fok$vgb$1@dont-email.me:

<snip>

So an ammeter in series with the battery,amp off, on low vol and on
high
vol, shows what consumption?

That will be the first test once I have a working battery.

Phil's commented that the SLA is only good for a couple years, and the
dead one appears to have a July 2012 date code. I'm currently trying to
figure out the best way to get a fresh one. I got this one from an
online audio store, and I suspect it had been sitting around quite a
while.

That said, I have several UPS's that use somewhat larger SLA's that
typically last 5 years. This battery was purchased charged up, used to
run the PA briefly once, and when we tried it again in a couple months,
it wouldn't take a charge. It's been sitting around for close to a year
now. I finally decided it was time to revisit the problem because we
have an event in May it would be useful for.

The battery is a 12V 2.6Ah unit, and the one I have is made by Neata.
I'd love to get a Yuasa, but I don't think they make this size. There
are several other vendors of these, but none that I have heard of
(Tempest, Matrix, Jueyi), and the prioces are all over the map. The
local battery shop doesn't carry this size, so I can't check for a
freshly made one easily.

Doug White

 

[Phil Allison]

Doug White wrote:

Phil's commented that the SLA is only good for a couple years, and the
dead one appears to have a July 2012 date code. I'm currently trying to
figure out the best way to get a fresh one. I got this one from an
online audio store, and I suspect it had been sitting around quite a
while.

That said, I have several UPS's that use somewhat larger SLA's that
typically last 5 years. This battery was purchased charged up, used to
run the PA briefly once, and when we tried it again in a couple months,
it wouldn't take a charge. It's been sitting around for close to a year
now. I finally decided it was time to revisit the problem because we
have an event in May it would be useful for.

The battery is a 12V 2.6Ah unit, and the one I have is made by Neata.
I'd love to get a Yuasa, but I don't think they make this size. There
are several other vendors of these, but none that I have heard of
(Tempest, Matrix, Jueyi), and the prioces are all over the map. The
local battery shop doesn't carry this size, so I can't check for a

** You were sold a battery that had gone past its use by date.

The first SLAs I ever bought ( in about 1980) were dead flat and would not accept charge - so I returned them to the store and we had a bit of a "debate" about it. The dealer had no idea that SLA cells are ruined by being left uncharged for any length time. He had some more - they were flat too. They were apparently several years old when got them.

SLAs should all be marked with the date of manufacture - but makers are unwilling to do it fearing it will make ones more than six months or a year old unsellable.

A new SLA should ideally be near fully charged when purchased - all the ones bought from my local supplier in the last 20 years have been. If ever one required fully charging, I would return it as faulty.

NiCds and NiMH cells are not harmed by being left in a discharged state, but I still expect them to be near full charge when purchased.



..... Phil

 

[Tim Schwartz]

On 3/14/2015 9:12 PM, Doug White wrote:

I bought a second hand one of these off eBay. It had a dead sealed lead
acid battery, and the microphone connector had a bad solder joint. I
fixed the mic, and bought a replacement battery. It worked great, but
then the battery died in short order. The PA still works fine off the
AC adapter, but it's not very portable that way.

Apparently, this is not unusual. Lots of reviews on Amazon blast these
for having lousy batteries, but I don't think that is the problem. I
think either their charger is killing the batteries, or the amp is
draining the batteries even when "OFF", and that is what kills them.
Behringer is notorious for not given out ANY service info, and insisting
you use one of their authorized service centers. It would cost more to
have a service center work on than I paid for it.

Next time I get bored I'm going to buy a fresh battery, open it up,
trace out the circuitry & fix it myself. There is clearly a design flaw
someplace. Either that, or they have a cheap electrolytic across the
battery that goes leaky and sucking it dry.

Has anyone torn into one of these?

Thanks!

Doug White

Doug,

Both Digikey (www.digikey.com)and Mouser (mouser.com) sell SLA
batteries. Have the dimensions handy when you look at the listings, and
the size of the terminals. I took a quick look at Digikey in the
2.2-3.4A range and there are several. I chose that range because the
slight loss in capacity will be made up for with a good quality battery
that doesn't fail, and the charge circuit will hopefully tolerate a
slightly bigger battery, just make sure it fits.

Lastly I surmise you use this only rarely, like a few times a year,
which is not ideal for lead acid batteries. If that is your use, then
I'd consider at least adding a battery disconnect switch to the unit.

Regards,
Tim

 

Phil Allison <pallison49@gmail.com> wrote:

SLAs should all be marked with the date of manufacture - but makers
are unwilling to do it fearing it will make ones more than six months
or a year old unsellable.

I have found that better-quality SLAs tend to have a date code on them
*somewhere*, but it is always in a cryptic format. If you can find the
manufacturer's Web site, you can usually dig around and find a document
that explains the date code. This doesn't work for batteries from
People's Shining Battery Factory #83, though.

Flooded lead-acid batteries (car batteries) also tend to have a cryptic
date code, but it's easier to find explanations on the net. I have also
noticed that some distributors or sellers will put a sticker on the
battery with the month and year that *they* got it from the
manufacturer. I think this is partly so some buyers know they're
getting a "fresh" battery, but mostly to serve as a start date for later
warranty claims.

Matt Roberds

 

[amdx]

On 3/14/2015 8:12 PM, Doug White wrote:

I bought a second hand one of these off eBay. It had a dead sealed lead
acid battery, and the microphone connector had a bad solder joint. I
fixed the mic, and bought a replacement battery. It worked great, but
then the battery died in short order. The PA still works fine off the
AC adapter, but it's not very portable that way.

Apparently, this is not unusual. Lots of reviews on Amazon blast these
for having lousy batteries, but I don't think that is the problem. I
think either their charger is killing the batteries, or the amp is
draining the batteries even when "OFF", and that is what kills them.
Behringer is notorious for not given out ANY service info, and insisting
you use one of their authorized service centers. It would cost more to
have a service center work on than I paid for it.

Next time I get bored I'm going to buy a fresh battery, open it up,
trace out the circuitry & fix it myself. There is clearly a design flaw
someplace. Either that, or they have a cheap electrolytic across the
battery that goes leaky and sucking it dry.

Has anyone torn into one of these?

Thanks!

Doug White

I don't have much experience on Sony's but, (no, not Holiday Inn) I
have 11,000 VHS machine repairs performed. Before I suspect the heads, I
would look and see if it has a little brass strip that rubs on the
center of the head motor shaft. Also just try flexing the cabinet
housing and see if it changes or goes away, and wiggle the rf out
connection. You can see the little arm sticking out and rubbing
on the cylinder motor shaft here.
> http://i.ytimg.com/vi/46jbW5qJz14/maxresdefault.jpg

Mikek

---
This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
http://www.avast.com

 

[Doug White]

Tim Schwartz <tim@bristolnj.com> wrote in
news:5506C921.4090109@bristolnj.com:

<snip>

Doug,

Both Digikey (www.digikey.com)and Mouser (mouser.com) sell SLA
batteries. Have the dimensions handy when you look at the listings,
and the size of the terminals. I took a quick look at Digikey in the
2.2-3.4A range and there are several. I chose that range because the
slight loss in capacity will be made up for with a good quality
battery that doesn't fail, and the charge circuit will hopefully
tolerate a slightly bigger battery, just make sure it fits.

Neither Digikey nor Mouser carry the right size.

Lastly I surmise you use this only rarely, like a few times a
year,
which is not ideal for lead acid batteries. If that is your use, then
I'd consider at least adding a battery disconnect switch to the unit.

The good news is that it is very easy to slide the battery out of the
back of the PA. I had kept it installed and plugged into the charger in
the hopes that it would do a decent job of trickle charging the battery,
but I suspect the charger circuit isn't that good. In the future, I
will pop the battery out when not in use unless I can confirm that there
is ZERO drain when it is installed.

I think one of the issues with buying an SLA from other than a battery
shop is that they really ought to be kept at least partially charged.
I'm sure the audio place I bought this one doesn't bother.

This particular battery seems to be an odd size, which means they may
collect dust more than others. I'm trying to decide who might have A)
the best storage procedures (i.e. keeping them partially charged), and
B) have enough turn-over that they don't start out ancient. At least
one battery dealer makes a point that they keep the batteries at least
partially charged.

Doug White