You've signed the same purchase order more times than you can count. Your Stryker rep processes it, ships in three weeks, and the cycle repeats. You have been paying almost $700 for each Stryker battery pack for a very long time.
That is the system you were handed, and nobody gave you a reason to question it, because the people selling you batteries have no interest in telling you there's a better option. There is one. It's called recelling, and it gives you a higher-capacity Stryker stretcher battery that outperforms the original at less than half the cost, with a faster turnaround than ordering direct.
Most EMS operations managers haven't heard of it. Not because they weren't looking, but because nobody in the supply chain had any reason to tell them.
Why Most EMS Managers Don't Know About This
You bought your Power-PRO cots from Stryker. When the batteries need replacing, you go back to the same rep. One channel, one routine, year after year, and nobody in that chain has any incentive to mention an alternative. The cycle keeps turning and you keep paying full price.
Most people in EMS don't realize how much of what they rely on daily is owned by a single corporation. That concentration means limited options, several layers of distribution markup, and high barriers to entry for anyone who wants to keep costs manageable.
Legitimate, high-quality alternatives to the OEM procurement model do exist. Your Stryker rep just isn't going to bring them up.
The word "rebuild" doesn't help, either. It sounds like something you'd do to a lawnmower battery, not to a piece of EMS equipment your crews depend on during calls. So let's clear that up.
How Stryker Battery Recelling Actually Works
Recelling means we take your existing Stryker SMRT Pak, with your housing, your motherboard, and your connectors, and replace the cells inside with higher-capacity NiMH cells. It isn't an aftermarket knockoff or a generic. It is your actual OEM pack, rebuilt with better cells.
The process, start to finish:
Step 1: You place your order or send us a purchase order. We send you a free prepaid return label. Bulldog pays for shipping both ways.
Step 2: You ship us your existing Stryker battery pack.
Step 3: The pack goes to our dedicated rebuilding department, where our technicians open it and remove the old cells.
Step 4: We install new NiMH cells at 3.0 Ah capacity, compared to the original 2.5 Ah OEM cell. Same high-rate discharge and the same true deep-cycle specification, just more capacity. These cells come from one of the top three battery cell manufacturers in the world and are a proprietary high-rate discharge cell built to take heavy use without damage. General-purpose cells break down under the same conditions.
Step 5: We spot-weld the connections, inspect the motherboard for potential points of failure, remove any corrosion, and touch up solder as needed.
Step 6: We charge cycle the pack at our facility, seal it with ABS glue, and give it a full visual inspection.
Step 7: We ship it back to you fully charged and ready to go, with the return shipping on us.
Total turnaround: approximately one week. Compare that to three weeks, or longer when Stryker goes on backorder, waiting on OEM.
Quality Control Detail
Before your pack ships, every recelled Stryker cot battery goes through a multi-stage QC process:
- Cells are capacity tested and load tested twice by the manufacturer before they reach us
- Individual cell voltage check prior to installation, looking for anomalies or imbalances
- Board inspection for potential points of failure
- Corrosion removal and solder touch-up as needed
- Charge cycling at our facility
- Full visual inspection throughout the process
This is not a quick swap in a back room. Three full-time crew members work exclusively on battery rebuilding for critical power applications, and every pack that leaves our shop has been through the same documented process.
What You Actually Get Back
To be upfront about one thing: the pack you get back won't look factory-fresh. The adhesive is visible, and you might see wear on the housing from its service life. This is a rebuilt pack, not a new one out of a box.
What's inside is what matters to your operation, and what's inside is better than what Stryker shipped originally.
- NiMH cells instead of NiCd. No memory effect. Partial charges don't degrade the pack over time, so you don't have to fully drain and fully charge every cycle to maintain performance.
- 3.0 Ah capacity vs. the original 2.5 Ah. Roughly 20% more runtime per charge. More calls per charge and fewer mid-shift battery swaps.
- Proprietary high-rate discharge cells. These aren't general-purpose cells dropped into a medical device. They're built for the heavy, repeated discharge cycles EMS work demands, to the same deep-cycle spec as OEM, with more capacity.
- Compatible with your existing Stryker battery charger. No new equipment and no new training. Slide it on, charge it, go.
- One-year free replacement warranty, plus a 30-day money-back guarantee. If something goes wrong, we handle it the same day: we ship a replacement immediately and include a prepaid label for the defective unit. You are never left without a battery while a claim is resolved.
- Expected lifespan: approximately 10% longer than OEM. For heavy-use 24/7 operations running multiple transports a day, expect roughly 18 months. Moderate-use environments get significantly longer.
In plain terms, you get more calls per charge out of a pack that costs less than half of what you're paying now.
Not sure whether your packs are ready for recelling yet? Start with the 7 signs your Stryker battery is failing, including what the charger LED codes actually mean.
The Numbers: What You Need to Bring to Your Boss
| OEM Stryker | Recelled (Bulldog) | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost per SMRT Pak | $686 | $325 |
| Cell Capacity | 2.5 Ah (NiCd) | 3.0 Ah (NiMH) |
| Cell Type | High-rate discharge | High-rate discharge, proprietary deep cycle |
| Ship Time | ~3 weeks | ~1 week |
| Shipping Cost | You pay | Free both ways |
| Warranty | Stryker standard | 1-year free replacement + 30-day money-back |
| Warranty Process | Standard | Same-day ship, never without a battery |
| Memory Effect | Yes (NiCd) | No (NiMH) |
| Appearance | Factory new | Rebuilt, adhesive visible |
| Expected Lifespan | Standard | ~10% longer than OEM |
| Failure Rate | N/A | Less than 2% across 3,000+ packs |
Fleet Example: The Math to Forward to Your Boss
The average Bulldog customer runs about 35 trucks. A conservative example:
10 cots × 2 packs each = 20 Stryker power cot batteries per replacement cycle
- OEM annual cost: $13,720
- Recelled annual cost: $6,500
- Annual savings: $7,220
That is $7,220 back in your maintenance budget, for a higher-capacity battery with a documented sub-2% failure rate, every replacement cycle. Want your own fleet's numbers? Run them in our free Stryker battery savings calculator.
Scale it up: 35 trucks × 2 packs = 70 packs/year
OEM: $48,020 | Recelled: $22,750 | Annual savings: $25,270
$325 flat rate. One Stryker SMRT Pak model, no variation by condition, and no volume discounts needed, because the price is already less than half of OEM. The price is firm.
"Will This Void My Warranty?"
It's the number one question we get, so here is the straight answer.
The fine print in Stryker's service contracts says aftermarket components may void the warranty if they are found to be the cause of an issue. That doesn't apply here, for two reasons.
First, the stretcher and the Power-LOAD system have no way of detecting or recording what type of battery is installed. Second, we reuse the OEM circuitry and BMS, the exact components Stryker uses. They make good stuff. The battery cannot cause damage or malfunction to the stretcher because, electrically, it is the same battery.
We're giving you the same engine with more horsepower.
A large portion of our customer base, 150+ EMS companies both private and municipal, still uses Stryker's service plans and equipment warranties. They just no longer get their batteries replaced under the ProCare plan. That's where we step in.
"We Tried Generics Before and They Were Garbage"
We hear this a lot, and you're right. Generic Stryker battery replacements don't perform. Inadequate runtime, too few lifts per charge, and poor service life. If you've been burned by aftermarket batteries before, your skepticism is earned.
Our recelled packs are not generic replacements. We use all OEM Stryker components: the original BMS board, clamshell, clips, buttons, and contacts. We remove the worn cells and replace them with new, higher-capacity ones, and everything else about your pack stays identical. It is an internal battery refresh, not a generic swap.
The OEM Stryker cell is a 2.5 Ah high-rate discharge, deep-cycle cell. We install a 3.0 Ah cell with the same high-rate discharge and true deep-cycle specification, sourced from one of the top three manufacturers worldwide. We state the facts and let the specs speak for themselves.
What About Downtime?
"How long are my cots without a battery?" is the third question most prospects ask, and it's a fair one. A stretcher without a battery isn't a budget problem, it's an operational emergency.
We always recommend staggered shipments: send batteries in batches rather than all at once. Since Bulldog covers shipping both ways, there's no added cost, and most of your fleet stays operational throughout.
When we have cores available, we can also ship pre-built replacements before receiving your old units, effectively providing loaners. It isn't always feasible, but when it is, we make it happen.
Turnaround is about one week per batch. Most customers send 3 to 5 packs at a time and rotate through their fleet over a few weeks. Nobody goes dark.
Who We Are
It started with a battery dropped on our counter.
A local ambulance company we already worked with brought in a Stryker SMRT Pak. They were frustrated with the price and lead time they were getting from Stryker on a battery critical to their daily operations, and asked if we could do anything with it. We decided to try.
Bulldog Battery already had a successful rebuilding division handling many battery types, but this was our first Stryker SMRT Pak. It worked, and that customer brought us all of their Stryker battery business.
It took a few more years to recognize this was a nationwide need. Stryker batteries regularly went on backorder, carried long lead times, and were priced beyond what many EMS operations could sustain. Batteries had become a significant line item on the P&L, and nobody was solving it for them.
Today:
- 15+ years in the rebuilding division
- Over a decade specializing in Stryker SMRT Pak recells
- 150+ EMS customers, private and municipal
- 3,000+ packs rebuilt
- 3 full-time crew members dedicated exclusively to battery rebuilding
- Less than 2% warranty claim rate
- Nationwide service: continental US, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico
- Free shipping both ways on every order
Eric Ineman leads our outside sales program. He grew up in the battery business; his father was a founding member of Bulldog Battery. Eric spent his early years at the front counter helping customers with everything from automotive to commercial applications before moving into the EMS and Stryker work as demand for it grew. He isn't a specialist who learned one narrow thing. He's a battery guy, and has been his entire life.
None of this is a new idea. It's a proven program most people haven't heard of yet.
Is This Right for Your Operation?
Good Fit
- You're buying OEM Stryker replacement batteries regularly and feeling it in the budget
- Your fleet runs Stryker Power-PRO, Power-LOAD, or other stretchers with SMRT Pak batteries
- You're in a metropolitan or dense urban market with high call volume, where battery performance is a daily operational concern
- Your maintenance budget is a recurring conversation with leadership
- You're spending $686 per pack and wondering if there's a better option (there is)
Not a Fit (And We'd Rather Be Upfront About It)
- You're on a ProCare service plan that includes battery replacement. About 20% of the prospects we talk to fall into this category. ProCare is a disqualifier, not an objection to overcome. If you're covered, you're covered.
- Your fleet is small enough that the per-unit savings don't move the needle
- Your organization prohibits third-party components regardless of quality or documentation
Don't Assume Your Pack Is Too Far Gone
We carry a wide inventory of replacement parts: clamshells, tops, bottoms, screws, springs, buttons, and sometimes boards. Cosmetic damage like cracks or missing clips can be addressed with ABS filler and replacement parts. If you've been sitting on a pile of beat-up packs thinking they're destined for the trash, send them in and let us assess them. There is no Stryker SMRT Pak model or condition we won't look at.
Ready to See the Numbers for Your Fleet?
Reach out and we'll run the savings for your specific fleet. No obligation, no sales pitch.
The first conversation covers price, turnaround, how it works, and warranty details, because that's what every prospect asks about first.
Most customers start with a small trial run, a few packs to get into the hands of their crew and test in the field. Once the product proves itself, the bulk orders follow. There's no pressure to commit to anything upfront.
Call: 440-942-2555
Email: eric@bulldogbattery.com
Product: Re-celled Stryker SMRT Pak, $325
