EPIRB Battery replacement

[Talulah]

The battery pack in our EPIRB is about to expire.
It's an ACR Satellite 2 EPIRB. The battery pack comprises of 3 batteries made my Shaft. These batteries are available on the web at £11.75 each. The cost of a battery pack from a service centre is about £150, almost the price of an EPIRB. In fairness, the battery pack is probably the most expensive part as all the other electronics inside are nothing special.
However, the manufacturer of the batteries gives a shelf life of 10 years on the batteries. ACR Service Centres are told by ACR not to service anything older than 12 years. 12 years being the products useful life.
So what do people on here do?
Do they get a new battery pack after 5 years at huge expense, take the opportunity to buy a new EPIRB, by the batteries and make up their own battery pack or ignore the 5 year date and wait for the 10 years to come up?
I know this question has come up before but couldn't find it through the search engine.

 

[mireland]

I have the same issue. To be fair they do test the thing for £150 - reputedly better than the internal user test but all the same it stinks. I am considering buying a PLB with a 7 year life in addition to the EPIRB which I will keep in the grab bag. OPinions on this situation also gratefully received.

 

[bobgoode]

I would guess that a seal is also replaced at the service centre. I agree, 150 smackers is a lot though.

 

[fishermantwo]

I have a New Zealand made EPIRB that has batteries you change yourself on my fishing vessel, brand name escapes me at the moment. No soldering involved, just change the reminder date on the exterior. Having a vessel in survey makes you a target for all these rip offs. Fire extinguishers are my pet peeve at the moment. Regulations combined with unnecessary servicing and high charges is making someone rich.

 

[roly_voya]

The McMurdo fast find PLB has a user replacable battery so aviods the problem, hence it is the one I will be getting

 

[Piers]

Hi Talulah, when I had McMurdo replace the battery in my GPS EPIRB it was £250 incl VAT. Rip off or what?

 

[nigelmercier]

[ QUOTE ]
The battery pack in our EPIRB is about to expire.
It's an ACR Satellite 2 EPIRB. The battery pack comprises of 3 batteries made my Shaft. These batteries are available on the web at £11.75 each.

[/ QUOTE ]

Got a link? I may be able to find an even cheaper alternative!

 

[Sailfree]

Yes more details please ,

I have the same EPIRB coming up to 5 years old so bought a personal one instead but would replace batteries if I could do them at a reasonable cost.

 

[Talulah]

The batteries for the ACR Satellite 2 are 3 of LO26SX made by Saft America. They are 3v Li/SO2 cells.
The battery pack is easily dismantled. The cells are held together with double sided tape and are connected together in series. When you de-solder the existing setup you'll see that in the connecting links from one battery to another are a couple of diodes and a couple of thermal breakers. These are easily added back in when you re-assemble.
http://www.fedcobattery.com/b.cfm/lithiu...ions_LO26SX.htm
or
http://www.cpsbatteries.co.uk/3v-liso2-s...afa663fe48132c6
or
http://www.cellpacksolutions.com/Search_Data_Sheet.asp?ID=LO26SX