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My test: Group 31 battery roundup *round 1*


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Let me first say that I know one of the batteries in this testing was/is a bit of a hot button topic. And honestly... the B.S. surrounding it is part of what prompted me to do this testing. The "testing" or "evidence" being cited was, IMO, utter bullshit so I decided to do my own more relevant testing.

Let me also say that Scottie knows all about this tetsing. I contacted him about doing it and he was stoked to help. He jumped at the chance to showcase his product and I had a battery on my doorstep with the quickness. His cistomer service has been outstanding through the whole process.

I also asked a mod if it was cool to post my results. So anyway... let's get to it...

You will notice that I denoted this test as "Round 1". I'll just go ahead and admit that the design of this one did not meet my standards. And it was only until I was halfway through the testing that this came to light. There is still some extremely useful data here so I'm going to go ahead and report my findings, but this isn't the last you will see of this group.

The theory...

My intention was to find a spot on the knob that would net me a ~ 500A draw for burps. Then ~ 200A draw on music. And this worked great for the control. BUT... when I got into the individual battery testing... not every one of them could handle these draws so I had to back up and punt and change the methodology mid-test. And that's just messy.

What I had to do was rewire the amp to 1ohm and then back to .25. Back and forth, back and forth to try to get some semblance of consistency between them all. But the problem is... the amp just did not stress the batteries enough at 1 ohm and was too much stress at .25. For some, at least. My hope was that the stronger/faster batts would reveal themselves. What I found was... well, you'll see.

Note: I have a shit ton of video of all of this, but haven't had time to trim, edit and upload. So, you guys will just have to take my word for all of this shit for the time being. I was going to at least do screen shots, but the batt, draw, voltage, score and power aren't in the screen at the same time at any point so I could just as easily make that shit up anyway.

The contenders and the amp used. (Ampere 5k)

20140702_112613_zpsrheh6cuv.jpg

The setup...

20140702_142231_zpsxduo2qad.jpg

The method...

- (3) back to back to back burps with 30 seconds of "rebound" in between using a 10A charger. Listed voltage is the lowest drop for each burp.
- Music runs are USACi Street Beat disk. 30 second average. I really tried to get them all to the same starting voltage for each run. Listed voltage is where the voltage was at the end of the run.
- It felt weird using a brand spanking new, unused battery right out of the box, so we "seasoned" them by loading them, recharging, load, recharge, repeat for (10) load cycles and back up to 14.4v. This. Shit. Took. Forever.
- I am human (surprise!). Not a single battery could come full tilt out of pause at .25, so I had to roll into it. I am no stranger to this, but it's impossible to do this exactly the same every damn time.
- Every burp was at the same volume on the knob. Every music run at 1 ohm was at the same volume EXCEPT THE .25 MUSIC RUNS. I'll explain this later.

- Power listed is from the AMM-1 in "dyno" mode.


Let's get to it...

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The control...

Stolen from Jason's FB...

Screenshot_2014-07-04-05-10-01_zpsvmztcu

I used Jason Oakley's rather formidable battery bank for the control. This is (12) Group 27 Reikken batts, truck off. Which, you will agree, is plenty for a 5k. even at .25.

I did not realize during the control that I would have to use 1 ohm later, so the only data I have for the "control" is .25.

.25 burps...

- 11.52v - 417A - 4,631w - 154.5db
- 11,45v - 383A - 4,558w - 154.5db
- 11.39v - 338A - 4,491w - 154.4db

.25 music...

- 12.24v final - 148.8db 30 second average.

Note: This is at volume 34 on the HU. This is where I found the amperage draw to be ~ 180-200A on average. This was to be used for the rest of the testing, but most of the batts couldn't hack it here so I had to change it up. This battery bank could obviously have supported a much louder run. Jason left for the day so I couldn't revisit this test.

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Crescendo Logic F-31HP
Price - $300 shipped
Ah - 120
Link: http://store.crescendoaudio.com/crescendo-logic-f-31hp/

Stock photo.

nendo_zps91922ec9.jpg

Close-up of terminal...
20140702_185733_zpstpnhq2sz.jpg

1 ohm burps...
- 11.89v - 155A - 1,690w - 150.4db
- 11.60v - 138A - 1,602w - 150.3db
- 11.55v - 150A - 1,629w - 150.1db

1 ohm music...
- 11.57v final voltage - 148.0db 30 second average.

The 'Nendo just could NOT hack a .25 burp for some reason. It kept sending the amp into low voltage protect no matter how slowly I rolled the knob. The absolute best I could get out of it was 150.8. I was unable to record any other data for that run.

So .25 - 150.8 (protect).

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Juciebox Black Cherry
Price - $220 + ship
Ah - 110
RC - 252
Link: juiceboxbattery.com (although I don't think the Black Cherry is on the site)

JB_zps3b3b8206.jpg

20140702_185632_zpsenpidleo.jpg

1 ohm burps...
11.96v - 150A - 79,723w** - 150.5db
11.94v - 149A - N/A - 150.4db
11.92v - 149A - 1,919w - 150.4db

1 ohm music...
11.81v final voltage - 148.3db 30 second average.

.25 burps...
10.09v - N/A - 4,693w - 153.0db
10.05v - 301A - 4,322w - 153.1db
10.05 - 302A - 4,328w - 153.0db

JB couldn't hack .25 on music. Well... it *could* but the score wasn't any higher than the 1 ohm run so whatever.

** No, that wattage is not a typo. The AMM-1 drove me crazy during testing (more on that at a later date). I obviously haven't sent mine in for the firmware update. Or perhaps the JB + AA5000.1 is the strongest amp+batt combo to ever exist?

Screenshot_2014-07-04-03-52-42_zps0fdcag

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Energizer AGM commercial Group 31
Price - $199 + tax + core charge at Sam's Club (~ $235 out the door)
Ah - 100
Link: http://www.samsclub.com/sams/31a-agm-12-mo-free/prod7710329.ip

energizer_zps48a285de.jpg

This batt didn't come with hardware (which is annoying)

20140702_185609_zpselpyw9bz.jpg

1 ohm burps...
12.15v - 152A - N/A - 148.6db
12.02v - 150A - 1,585w - 148.6db
12.00 - 149A - 1,632w - 148.5db

1 ohm music...
11.81v final voltage - 148.4db 30 second average.

.25 burps...
10.51v - 303A - 3,760w - 153.7db
10.55v - 303A - 3,760w - 153.4db
10.35v - 304A - 3,589w - 153.4db

.25 music...

This batt struggled mightily at .25 on music. I am only including this result because it is higher than the 1 ohm score. No other data was recorded, but assume it was pretty damn close to the 1 ohm run.

148.8db 30 second average. Yeah... not a huge gain.

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XS Power d3100
Price - $369 (sonicelectronix.com among others)
Ah - 110
RC - 237 minutes
Link: http://4xspower.com/shop/d-series/d3100/

xs_zps0870c91e.jpg

20140702_185618_zpsgkyub1bh.jpg

1 ohm burps...
12.25v 150A - 6,896w** - 150.6db
12.17v - 151A - 1,837w - 150.6db
12.06 - 149A - 1,573w - 150.4db

1 ohm music...
12.04 final voltage - 148.4db 30 second average

.25 burps...
10.64v - 304A - N/A - 153.8db
10.57v - 303A - 3,860w - 153.8db
10.61v - 304A - 3,872w - 153.5db

.25 music...
AGAIN... did not do well here. hardly worth noting, actually. Kept protecting the amp when I got into the knob.

11.86v final voltage - 148.5db.

So close though. It would be wangin, wangin, wangin.... protect. Shit. Again... same. Damnit. Oh well. What are you gonna do?

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Northstar NSB-AGM 31
Price - $363.69 + ship
Ah - 100
RC- 205
Link: http://northstarbatteries.com/batteries/nsb31.htm

nsb_zps6184b25b.jpg

20140702_185558_zps7g7yao3t.jpg

1 ohm burps...
12.29v - 146A - 5,301w** - 150.7db
12.22v - 147A - 5,301w** - 150.6db
12.12v - 144A - 1,637w - 150.6db

1 ohm music...
12.06v final voltage - 148.5db 30 second average

.25 burps...
10.77v - 307A - 4,015w - 154.0db
10.68v - 306A - 3,873w - 153.6db
10.63v - 307A - 3,873w - 153.7db

.25 music...
11.42v final voltage - 149.7db 30 second average.

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Whew. I'm not sure if y'all realize how long that shit took. It was a 9 hour day of testing in the suffocating heat and I want to thank Stuart for sticking around and for lending his setup, Benny for his help and Jason for use of his truck.

Wrapping this shit up...

Right off the bat... let's talk about the NSB's .25 music score. It was the only batt that let me get to volume 35 on the knob (control was volume 34 which is why it's louder than even the huge batt bank). The XS Power would only play to volume 34 before voltage would dip and protect the amp- which is why its score is so close to the control. Same knob.

The fact that it let me go to volume 35 is impressive to say the least, but the higher volume is why it was over 1db louder. As evidenced by the rest of the scores... if I'd stayed on volume 34, they'd be what and what. I'm not making excuses for anyone- everyone else got the chance to get where the NSB did and none could.

Crescendo... I don't know what to say about this batt. It probably underperformed a bit, IMO. It wasn't too far off on the 1 ohm burps, but this should be a walk in the park for any G31. 150.27 average is 2 tenths less than the next loudest batt, but it did whoop the Energizer. In a daily app... no sweat. If you're chasing tenths... that's not good. It also took a nose dive when shit got real. It was the only batt that couldn't hack .25 burps and that concerns me. Enough so that I want to revisit this one. Maybe it didn't get "seasoned" well enough or maybe this one is bad or... something. I don't know, but a 300A draw should not drop a batt of this size past 9.5v.

Juicebox... solid value here. About .2 off of the big dawgs at 1 ohm means a nice discharge rate. The more expensive batts pulled away a bit on the larger draws, but that's to be expected. It handled .25 burps but got wore slap out at that sort of draw on music. That's a brutal run for a G31 anyway and maybe a bit of an unrealistic expectation for a battery at this price point. Voltage drop was over .5v worse than XS and NSB, but she kept the amp running. Solid effort from this budget oriented batt, IMO.

Energizer... [Edit: this batt is NOT made in the US as I had originally thought. That's a big negative for me]. It's available locally for most, the price is pretty damn good and it performed very well. Interesting to me that it was so lackluster on the 1 ohm burps even though amperage draw was similar to the others. I can only assume this is an internal resistance issue since the cranking amps are rather meager for a battery of this size. It was over 1.5db behind the next loudest batt. That's HUGE. But when I asked more from it- it delivered. .25 burps and larger draws catapulted it past the Juicebox and on put it on par with the NSB. That's serious bidness.

XS Power- the absolute standard in car audio. Mention car audio and battery in the same sentence and most will default to XS. The XS showed us why it's won so many championships. .25 burps were no sweat and it matched the NSB for loudest average. Super fast discharge rate and big reserve. There is no denying that it should have performed a little better on the music run, so I can't make excuses for it here. But I know a lot of world champs that could. Including the man that beat me at finals in Bass Boxing last year. I was running NSB, he was running XS. Ask him how he feels about his batts.

NSB... some of the loudest and most respected names in SPL have been using NSB for YEARS and years. They are no secret in the lanes. They've only recently been brought into the mainstream. The prices have come down and they are marketing some products specifically for car audio use. It's about time. I'm a fan of NSB and Ive run them every year that I've used batts. Crushed on the music run and posted the highest single burp of the day. This will most likely NOT surprise anyone that's used NSB in the past. And it honestly didn't surprise me either. It's very difficult to make an argument against this battery. It's US made and it's actually competitively priced. And much cheaper than some others like BatCap or Stinger- which is the reason those two weren't even included here.

That's enough of my soapbox. You guys can make up your own minds. I'll leave you with the numbers all in one spot. If anyone is so inclined, feel free to make a graph or chart or something.

1 ohm burps (average)...
NSB - 150.63
XS - 150.53
Juicebox - 150.43
Crescendo - 150.26
Energizer - 148.56

1 ohm music...
NSB - 148.5
XS Power - 148.4
Energizer - 148.4
Juicebox - 148.3
Crescendo - 148.0

.25 burps (average)...
NSB - 153.77
XS Power - 153.7
Energizer - 153.5
Juicebox - 153.0
Crescendo - N/A

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I knew then xs and man would be close. Really looks like between those it's whichever you can get a better deal on because there both winners.

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Hell yeah! Glad to see this test done finally. Thanks again Tfade!

 

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On 10/3/2013 at 10:00 AM, ROLEXrifleman said:

Anyone who says they knew everything they wanted out of life at 19 can go suck a bag of dicks cause they are lying to themselves or brought up in a cult.

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