battery stuff [RE-wrenches]

Doug Pratt dmpratt at sbcglobal.net
Tue Nov 16 19:09:26 PST 2004


 

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Todd, large lead calcium cells were universally used by the phone system
to drive their 48-volt relay switching systems, up till they started
converting to digital switching in the '70s & '80s. I sorta suspect that
with dozens of these cells in every town, Ma Bell knew what she was
doing. For shallow-cycle service, you can't beat these large wet cells.
I've talked with their engineers. They expected 20 to 25 years on
average.

In the early '80s some of the not so aged phone batteries found their
way into early off-grid homes. This wasn't a great idea, as they didn't
appreciate deeper cycling too much, but they were sometimes free for the
hauling. (I actually got the phone company to deliver the entire battery
pack from the Cotati switching station 80 miles north to Ukiah on their
truck for no charge. I split the pack up and distributed it among my
off-grid country neighbors. It helps sometimes to have a neighborhood
fire association with printed letterhead...)

Stick with the lead calcium. Nobody's building a better lead acid
battery yet for *shallow* cycling. 

Cheers,
Doug Pratt 

-----Original Message-----
From: Todd Cory, Mt. Shasta Energy Services
[mailto:toddcory at finestplanet.com] 
Sent: Tuesday, November 16, 2004 5:47 AM
To: Wrenches
Subject: battery stuff [RE-wrenches]

Battery experts,

One of the things I do when not putting in RE systems, is to work at our
local 6.5 mW hydro plant. It has been in service for 20 years now, and
time to replace the 120 volt DC, back up battery bank. To date we have
had a set of 20, six volt @100 ah lead calcium flooded cells. The cells
are rarely cycled and these have proved to be a good, low maintenance,
reliable back up supply. The plant owners are wanting to switch to gel
or AGM cells. I think replacing what we have now would be best.

Questions... what do other list folks think? Would AGM batteries last 20
years? Would they perform as well as the lead calcium cells we have been
using?

Todd
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