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Deep Cycle Systems

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Contents10
  1. Consumer impact summary
  2. Incidents
  3. Defamation lawsuit against YouTuber
  4. Battery degradation in government testing
  5. Hidden warranty policy update
  6. Suspected fake positive reviews
  7. Parliamentary submission on cyberbullying
  8. Reported battery fire
  9. See also
  10. References
Deep Cycle Systems
Basic information
Founded 2016
Legal Structure Private
Industry Batteries,Energy storage
Also known as DCS
Official website https://deepcyclesystems.com.au/


This article is about the battery manufacturer. For other uses, see DCS (disambiguation).


Deep Cycle Systems (DCS) is an Australian manufacturer of lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries for off-road, marine, solar, & recreational vehicle use. The company is notable for suing independent YouTuber Stephan Fischer for defamation after he published reviews documenting battery degradation & misleading warranty changes; the District Court of Queensland ruled that DCS had no standing to bring the claim.[1] Independent testing by the ARENA-funded Canberra Battery Test Centre found a DCS battery dropped to 57% state of health after roughly 1,100 cycles.[2]

DCS Pty Ltd (ABN 63 611 396 591) has been active on the Australian Business Register since 1 January 2017.[3] The sole director, Marek Tomolowicz, is also the sole director of Energy Tech Electronics Pty Ltd & Tomprop Pty Ltd.[1] The company manufactures batteries, battery management systems (BMS), cell management systems, DC-DC charging systems, & solar regulators.[4]

Consumer impact summary

  • DCS sued a small YouTuber for defamation over accurate product reviews, then refused to pay court-ordered costs after losing.[1]
  • Government-funded testing found a DCS battery dropped to 57% state of health after roughly 1,100 cycles & could not sustain discharge at its rated output.[2][5]
  • DCS changed its warranty terms to weaken capacity thresholds for engine bay installations without updating the "last updated" date, creating the appearance that the weaker terms had been in place since 2021.[6]
  • ProductReview.com.au detected & removed suspected fake positive reviews from DCS's listing; the company holds a 1.4 out of 5 star rating from 14 verified reviews.[7]
  • DCS submitted a complaint to the Australian Parliament's Joint Select Committee on Social Media accusing unnamed parties of "orchestrated cyberbullying" via YouTube.[8]

Incidents

Defamation lawsuit against YouTuber

Main article: DCS sues small YouTuber for accurate review

On 2 May 2024, DCS filed a defamation lawsuit against Stephan Fischer, the creator of AllOffroad 4x4 Adventures TV, in the District Court of Queensland. Fischer had published video reviews between August & December 2023 documenting battery degradation & warranty discrepancies.[1] The District Court ruled against DCS on 11 March 2025, finding that DCS was not an "excluded corporation" under section 9 of the Defamation Act 2005 (Qld) & therefore had no standing to sue for defamation. The court found DCS failed on both the employee count test & the associated entity test, citing financial intermingling between DCS & Energy Tech Electronics.[1]

DCS refused to pay Fischer's court-ordered legal costs. Fischer served a statutory demand, which DCS ignored, & is pursuing a Federal Court winding-up application to force recovery.[9]

Battery degradation in government testing

The ARENA-funded Canberra Battery Test Centre (run by ITP Renewables) tested DCS's PV 10.0 battery as part of an independent lithium-ion battery testing program. The DCS battery reached a state of health of approximately 57% after roughly 1,100 cycles & could not sustain discharge at its rated C3 rate.[2] Consumer watchdog Choice reported the battery "rapidly declined in capacity" near the end of the trial in 2022.[5] SolarQuotes noted that DCS's battery discharge rate was "much lower than it should be" & that the unit "will shut down well before it runs out of available stored energy."[10]

Hidden warranty policy update

DCS's warranty page claims a "last updated" date of June 2021, but National Library of Australia web archives show the terms changed between March and November 2023. The March 2023 policy set the defective battery threshold at 80% of rated capacity for all installations. By November 2023, a new clause reduced the threshold to 70% for engine bay installations, weakening protections for those customers without updating the displayed policy date.[11][12]

Suspected fake positive reviews

ProductReview.com.au placed a warning on DCS's listing stating they had "detected a number of positive reviews for this listing which we suspect have been falsely generated." The suspected fake reviews were removed.[7] Following the purge, DCS holds a 1.4 out of 5 star rating based on 14 verified reviews, with 93% rated negative.[7]

Parliamentary submission on cyberbullying

On 14 August 2024, DCS submitted a document to the Australian Parliament's Joint Select Committee on Social Media & Australian Society (Submission 214). The submission described DCS as the target of an "orchestrated cyberbullying attack via YouTube since September 2023" based on "one person's opinion and supported by a group of online followers," claiming the campaign was "used to discredit the quality of our products" & had caused "millions of dollars" of damage.[8] The submission did not name any individual by name.

Reported battery fire

A consumer on ProductReview.com.au reported that on 24 August 2023, a DCS battery installed in a Holden Commodore exploded & caught fire. CarExpert noted the review came from a "verified" purchase but stated "there's no way for us to verify the validity of this story."[6]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Byrne KC DCJ (11 Mar 2025). "Deep Cycle Systems Pty Ltd v Fischer [2025] QDC 25". Queensland Judgments. Retrieved 28 Mar 2026.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 ARENA (Mar 2022). "Public Report 12 (Final Report) - Lithium-ion Battery Testing" (pdf). ARENA. Archived (PDF) from the original on 28 Apr 2023. Retrieved 28 Mar 2026.
  3. ↑ "ABN Lookup - Deep Cycle Systems Pty Ltd". Australian Business Register. Retrieved 28 Mar 2026.
  4. ↑ "About Us". Deep Cycle Systems. Retrieved 28 Mar 2026.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 "Solar battery trial". Choice. 19 Apr 2024. Retrieved 28 Mar 2026.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Maric, Paul (14 Aug 2024). "DCS batteries suing YouTuber for 'honest' review sets scary precedent". CarExpert. Archived from the original on 14 Aug 2024. Retrieved 28 Mar 2026.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 "Deep Cycle Systems (DCS) Reviews". ProductReview.com.au. Archived from the original on 14 Dec 2025. Retrieved 28 Mar 2026.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 "Submission 214 - Deep Cycle Systems" (pdf). Parliament of Australia. 14 Aug 2024. Retrieved 28 Mar 2026.
  9. ↑ Fischer, Stephan. "Help Fight for Truth in YouTube Reviews". GoFundMe. Archived from the original on 2 Nov 2025. Retrieved 28 Mar 2026.
  10. ↑ "Battery Test Centre Reports". SolarQuotes. 22 Feb 2021. Retrieved 28 Mar 2026.
  11. ↑ "DCS Warranty, Shipping & Return Policies". DCS. Archived from the original on 9 Mar 2023.
  12. ↑ "DCS Warranty, Shipping & Return Policies". DCS. Archived from the original on 7 Nov 2023.
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