With furniture more electrified than ever, electricity supply versus room placement is one of the first considerations. In an effort to close the gap between where you get your electricity for your new recliner, enter the furniture battery pack. Let’s look at the numbers and see if purchasing a furniture battery pack can be right for you.
What is a furniture battery pack?
A furniture battery pack is a power bank of electricity for electric recliners and furniture that may not have close access to an electrical outlet. Simply plug the battery pack into the wiring already present on the furniture. As a result, an electric recliner, loveseat, or sofa can be placed in any area without running cords across the open floor.
Let’s talk positives!
Convenience: The convenience of a battery pack is undeniable. Keeping wires from high-traffic areas, animal teeth, and curious kiddos brings peace of mind.
Ease of Use: Most battery packs are easy to plug into the furniture and charge without much difficulty. With only a couple of rules to follow, battery packs are quite passive.
Compatibility: 95% of the reclining furniture market uses the same wiring system. Look at the side picture to see what a dash-dot connection looks like.
Not All Battery Packs Created Equal?
Packs range in price based on a few factors. The two most important factors are battery capacity and battery size.
Capacity: Battery capacity is measured in milli-amp-hours, or mAh. The higher the mAh, usually the higher the battery pack’s cost. Consider how often you use your recliner. If your use is sporadic, look for a lower mAh capacity.
Size: If you haven’t noticed, the underside of your recliner does not have much space. With moving parts on the mechanism and motor and the need to keep wiring out of the way, you don’t have much room to put a large brick under your seat. Consider purchasing a smaller battery.
How mAh Works…
Remember those mAh capacity levels? Simply put, this measurement shows how many milli-amps are used in 1 hour of use. The reason your battery pack can run for so long without charging is that the average full recliner motion takes 20 seconds. That’s about 180 reclines and returns before you reach 1 hour of use.
Let’s assume your recliner needs 2000 milli-amps (2 Amp) to work properly and you purchased a 10,000 mAh (10 Amp Hours) battery pack. Your battery will last 5 hours of use, not accounting for energy bleed-off. The average battery (5000 mAh) lasts 3 weeks before charging is required.
Not bad…unless.
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When IT Is NOT In Your Best Interest to Buy A Battery Pack
Before your purchase:
1. Does your furniture switch, wand, base, or cupholder have lights on them?
2. Do you use the USB port next to your push buttons to charge your phone?
3. Does your furniture use touch sensors instead of buttons
If yes to either, then do NOT buy a battery pack. It is not for you.
As a furniture repair professional, this is one of the easiest and, at the same time, hardest jobs to work through. In 99% of the cases, I knew the problem before knocking on the consumer’s door. The problem is that there is something constantly drawing on the power. Even a 200 milli-Amp (.2 Amp) backlight will kill the battery in about 2 days; even less if you use the recliner.
It was the explanation to the consumer that made the job so difficult. While almost every consumer understood the math, there was a sense of “being had” by the furniture salesman that was hardest for them to sit with. Inevitably the question would come that I couldn’t answer, “Why did they sell me a $150 battery that I can’t use?” I want to assume that in most cases, the salesman didn’t know the limitations of the battery pack or had to make the best fit for the consumer’s budget at the time of purchase. In any case, the pieces don’t marry well.