I have three Stren feeders bought from Greg Grimes. They were all bought approx 18-20 months ago. Two of them gave me trouble with motors not firing - one failed followed by the other failing about 5 months later. I did the test with the red/black and green/white wires --neither motor worked.
I spoke with Greg, who suggested I call BA Products. They readily agreed to ship replacement units. The nice thing was the design was MUCH improved with battery and controls inside the hopper. I had experienced critter problems with chewed wires - the internal location of battery and control on the newest design eliminated the critter problem.
The customer service of BA Products is FANTASTIC. While diagnosing my issues one of the techs gave me his home phone number so I could call him on the weekend. They shipped me replacements and only asked that I return the defective units for their quality control analysis.
As far as batteries, I bought an extra battery. I charge it then swap it out with one from my three feeders, and rotate a freshly charged battery is put in each feeder every month or so. I bought the spare battery locally for $25.
