flooded v. sealed batteries [RE-wrenches]

[Joel Davidson]

Hi Matt,

In general, L16s and forklift batteries are just big golf cart batteries.
Golf cart batteries are cheap (under $50 at Sam's Club) because thousands
are produced and consumed daily. Significantly fewer L16s are produced and
priced accordingly for the specialty floor scrubber market. Not enough
batteries are bought by the RE market to affect prices. I prefer Industrial
Battery Engineering (IBE) 119 pound 2-volt cells, because they are locally
made in Sunland, California, good quality and about as heavy as one guy can
handle with a dolly.

I encourage wrenches to visit a battery factory. It's a real (stinging)
eye-opener. IBE and Trojan are pretty clean plants. Trojan monitors
employees' lead content, but I don't know what they do with employees who
are maxed out with lead. The Trojan factory charging room made me think of
Dante's Inferno.

I'm sure there are more recent reports on batteries, but for starters see
Battery Testing For Photovoltaic Applications by Tom Hund at
http://www.sandia.gov/pv/docs/battery1.htm

Best regards,
Joel Davidson

Matt Tritt wrote:

> Marco,
>
> I've found over the years that regular, old fashioned lead acid bat's
> are the most forgiving - if also the most inconvenient - for RE systems
> of any appreciable size. I've migrated away from L-16's to large
> industrial steel clad types because of the far greater life expectancy.
> They are indeed a royal pain in the posterior to transport, but
> man-O-man, there's just no comparison in warranty, reliability and
> resiliancy. Cost-wise they pay off in the long run, but scare many
> buyers away with the initial outlay.
>
> Matt T

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