L-16s like higher voltages [RE-wrenches]

[Phil Undercuffler]

Tom Hund gave a speech at a Dankoff training some years ago in which he
stated much of what he just published.  Tom's monitoring of battery
performance is impressive, but it does seem like it is all backwards.  Big
battery banks, small array charging rates, and LOTS of generator finish
time.  Lord knows we see this a lot in older systems, but that doesn't mean
it is good or desireable.

Based upon information given by Jim Drizos of Trojan, I changed a few things
in my own home and in how I design systems.  I used to be proud that I could
go a week+ of cloudy weather without running the genny, but as Jim pointed
out golf cart batteries are designed to run fat people over hill and dale
all day long.  If you can get them back to full every day, you'll get the
maximum amphours out of them.  He really wants to see an accurate amphour
meter, a C/10 or C/20 charge rate, a 50-80% discharge every cycle (that's
every night, folks), and replace a small bank more often.  I can't quite
commit to going that extreme, but I took his information to heart.

First, I really downsize the battery bank to better fit the array charging.
At home, I replaced a failing 660 Ah bank, 11 amps charge rate with 440 Ah
and added 2 modules and a SolarBoost for 15-20 A charge rate.  That changed
me from a C/60 to a C/20 on sunny cold days.  I also set the controller to
bulk to 29.6, the high end of Trojan's recommendations.  As a side note, the
SolarBoost's ability to regulate with the external shunt sense is
astonishing.  Even at that high voltage I only add water twice a year, if
that.  Great product.

Second, in the business I stopped using L16s!  If a system gets beyond 3 or
4 strings of golf carts, I steer the client to Surrettes/industrial cells as
a better investment.

With Tom's example systems, IMHO a fossil fueled generator is ideal for bulk
charging at high C rates, and the array charge at the lower C rate necessary
for finish charging.

Enjoy the Sun!

Phil Undercuffler
Positive Energy

"The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious....
the fundamental emotion which stands at the cradle of true art
and true science"  --Albert Einstein

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