Does anyone have reliability issues with Excide battery status indicators?

My new 25 day old Excide indicator showed "Check Battery" this morning and taking it back to Auto One (Cannington) I was going to get an exchanged by the store assistant before the owner rudely intervened saying the battery is ok and not subjected to exchange. Apart from telling his staff off and treating him & me like idiots, his reasons of non exchange were:

1. the indicator isn't accurate its a gimmick.
2. the indicator is affected by weather (it was rainy today but it's a sealed battery?)
3. battery is ok according to their battery tester.
4. there's a problem with my car.
5. the battery indicator will indicate all's ok with a charge of 16V which my car is not capable off providing.

It's incredible. Eventually, I made him call the Excide and they told him to give me an exchange. Battery had 36 mth warrenty.

What have other owners experienced with battery indicators? Are they prone to failures? What do you guys do with loud & rude people who runs the store?

The indicator only reads 1 cell of the battery,so 5 could be stuffed and it will only read red or bad if the last cell goes bad.Is just a sales gimmic.

I would have smacked him in the mouth. At least you managed to score a new battery.

:tantrum:

I could tell you a number of stories about that store and it's owners... i used to work next door at the video shop... they arn't at all helpful and wayyyyy overpriced on 99.95% of their products...

I had a battery for a ford falcon from them about two or three years ago that failed after about 6 months, had eveything in the car checked and nothing was wrong but according to another retailer the battery had been on their shelves for a while the batch number or what ever was ages old.

hence i only shopped there while they gave me a discount on stuff i now no longer do...

and if they give you lip again just turn around and wonder out the door saying loudly isn't that super cheap over the car park... not that its any better... but hey! :bowrofl:

tip - before you buy a battery make sure you get it testes, you;d be suprised how much the batterys deplete from just sitting ther month after month.

I guess he was very moody that day? I dont know as I bought Auto Glym wax when it was on discount the day before and I asked if I could get it at discount price on the current day and he gave it to me. (I think he was the boss)

Such people are everywhere, I encountered one at Magna Wreck bad luck for me as he gave me older parts than what the current car was. They are being bossy and choosey as they feel we dont know about cars or something and sometimes just want to have a go a us. The have this feeling that they are the experts in this trade and we know nothing about our cars and products.

Just a note on Batteries that I learnt when working for a major auto battery warehouse.

You can never be certain that the battery you are buying from a store is Brand new, so don't always assume that there is something wrong with your car(not a bad idea to get electricals checked out anyway) if your battery fails early. The company I worked for (it wasn't exide) used to supply retailers etc and when the battery goes flat in the store or wherever the store just sends it back and it gets charged up at the warehouse. The date stamps on the terminals get done again to match the date it has been recharged. So you could end up with an old battery that is just new to you.

This is the advantage of buying the 2 year warranty batteries, because if its an 'old' battery you have a better chance of still being in the warranty/replacement period.

Personally I have had bad experiences with the Exide evolution batteries that I had in my import skyline - it took me 3 of them to find one that was ok, it could be they had poor heat protection or were just duds. Previously before that, I had the century batteries and always got atleast the warranty period out of them.

So don't be afraid to ask for a new replacement battery if it isn't working as you expect.

yes i've had problems with exide batterys i brought a 550HE with in a month it's leaking acid everywhere, so i took it back they rudely blame it on my alternator is overcharging the battery so i got it checked, the sparky told me my alternator has problems is putting out 13 volts @ 23amps, so that explained why my sigma bearly cranked over as the battery was flat so he checked the battery and he said it was fine but it leaks. and i still have it today and it still leaks but i'm not buying them again

yes i've had problems with exide batterys i brought a 550HE with in a month it's leaking acid everywhere, so i took it back they rudely blame it on my alternator is overcharging the battery so i got it checked, the sparky told me my alternator has problems is putting out 13 volts @ 23amps, so that explained why my sigma bearly cranked over as the battery was flat so he checked the battery and he said it was fine but it leaks. and i still have it today and it still leaks but i'm not buying them again
Arn't you worried that your battery is leaking as it'll cause severe corrosion?

I have never had a problem with my exide battery. I bought it years ago :)