Watchdog Battery back up Sump pump.

[glider]

I have been getting alarms for check battery connections, have battery checked. I did replace with a Watchdog battery. Still getting same alarms. Gave the company a call and talked to a tech. Determined it was 10 years old. Agreed to ship the charging unit to them (Glentronics, Inc. in Illinois). They received it on Friday. Was bench tested, replaced few parts. Shipped same day and received on Saturday with no charges. Has been hooked up a few days now with no alarms. Glentronics stepped up and went above and beyond what I expected.

 

[fastrucken1]

I put one of those in my last house and was amazed at how quiet it was over the older no name brand the builder put in. But I remember it wasnt uncommon to read about some issues about the charger. I'm glad they stepped up stood behind their product and took care of you...

 

[ford33]

Surprised they fixed it for no charge. I had replaced an old charger a few years ago and didn't even think of submitting a warranty claim. Good to know.

 

[Augus7us]

This is good to know. I just bought one myself about 6 months ago and read about the failed controllers. I wanted to buy a Wayne but no one carried them locally and I needed one quick. Now I'm not as worried if the thing goes bad.

On a side note, I've since lost power once for around 6 hours, thing works like a champ and is super quiet, well minus the annoying beep...

-Clint

 

[crucible]

I had a model of the AC/DC version that did the same thing-it would alarm irritatingly repeatedly (and almost daily) for no reason stating there was a battery problem even with a new and charged battery. I had sent it to Glentronics once before where they changed/updated a few circuits and it came back working, but a year or so later but the alarming came back. Another call to them revealed a ("oh that unit-that's really old" and not really supported anymore), so I went with a new Wayne.

For the times that it worked in power outages, it worked well however.

 

[glider]

In my conversation with Glentronics. They were fishing for $75.00 if they had to put so much time in it. I was not interested in putting money in a 10 year old unit. They were good with that.

 

[engineer2]

The Basement Watchdog works OK with a new battery, but as soon as the battery gets old be prepared for frequent false alarms. Their charger is a "dumb" charger and will frequently cook the water out of the battery. You need to refill the battery every month or so.

A little better than my Ace-in-the-Hole which would blow the circuit board rectifier and/or wall charger annually.

 

[^&right]

Had the same unit years ago. Same types of issue though I don't recall particulars. Being the plumbing supervisor at a large orange box store got me a free repair with the vender when they came in. IIRC I had a current unit, but I do recall it was well out of warranty.

It did what I needed it to during power outages. Good product.

 

[Augus7us]

Mine didn't come with the battery and I went to the auto store and bought a sealed AGM battery. The d bag that owned my house had acid all over the basement to fill up the cheap battery in the old unit and still toasted it.

-Clint

 

[cherrybomb]

I to have a battery back up from Glentronics.I've also replaced the controller.I noticed it started running for long periods of time.The battery used a lot of water also.Like car batterys of old,I started checking each cells ,and when one started getting weak,I got a sealed,glass battery.Its a system,everything has to be working correctly or problems will show.I think my going with a sealed battery was well worth the added expense. I also in the spring,before winter thaw,check everything over,including turning off power,and pouring water in sump.I like to know everything's operating,just in case.I have a digital meter to keep up on battery voltage also.

 

[Showkey]

Agree with engineer........

Had a watch dog in my prior home. Replaced/disabled the watch dog charger section and installed a smart charger. No more problems and the battery would last 5 years or more.

 

[glider]

They have you by the short hairs on the battery. If you want all the alarms. I have got about five years on a battery. I check it regularly and manually trip it.

 

[yeldogt]

I have one of those units .. you do need to check the water in the battery ... I have had long life. In my case it's actually for a sewer issue .. so very important ... thankfully never needed it.

 

[avgjoeracing]

I also have on of those with the same problems. But I used a sealed battery for low maintenance (I thought). I'd like to know more about bypassing their charger and hooking up a smart tender. I'm not terribly literate in the world of circuit boards and such.

Thanks.