Look at this “Clever” Scam. They sell what seems like a 7 or maybe 18Ah battery as a 65 ah battery. Install it in a bigger “Casing” and will some cavities with Cement/Concrete to give it some weight.
Flippen crazy, and short of breaking it open, is there any way to pick this up?
Load test. A 20A load on a 65Ah battery is a rough, but doable for a short period. A 20 load on a 12Ah battery will drop the voltage off a cliff… 
I dont think so, you would just see that the batteries are failing after a month or so of proper use. I guess this is what happened, they must have failed prematurely, and on breaking them open to see whats going on, they must have discovered this.
Your right, did not think of this option.
The average boikie will maybe have a multimeter, and if he gets a 12.5V reading he thinks it’s good! This scam will catch a LOT of people that way…
1 Like
You can’t fault them for not being creative… Now you make me paranoid for everything I own but haven’t opened up yet…
I would guess that only buying batteries from reputable sources will pay off in the long run, due to it being in their best interest to get your repeat business.
1 Like
Buying a second hand vehicle… man, now that can be a can of worms. I plugged in the OBD2 scanner, launched the app that talks to the airbag computer… and was so relieved to see a clean log (there were a few historical codes related to seat-connectors being unplugged only). I’d say you cannot buy a second hand car anymore without owning one of these scanners. Well worth it.
I keep it in my glove compartment. I’ve never needed it on my own car, but I did help out two people on the side of the road already… German cars
4 Likes
One has to ask who is selling these… (On the internet??)