battery shoot-off [RE-wrenches]

Wed Jan 5 06:46:29 PST 2005

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In a message dated 12/25/04 5:27:51 PM Eastern Standard Time, 
toddcory at finestplanet.com writes:

> Actually the Trojan  L-16H is now 420 a/h the L-16 P is 396 a/h
> 
> Todd
> 
> 
> 
Todd

My experience with all batteries is that none of them give the amp hours they 
are rated at so I don't buy for amp hours, just longevity.  I have had 
failures with the L16G (many) but also long lives.  I have sold a few sets of Trojan 
L16H and so far no problems but we are only 3 years out.  I have standardized 
on the Trojan L16P because they supposedly have thicker plates and time will 
tell if that will help longevity... so far only one failure out of the box (2 
months old- bad cell).  I have had equal luck with Interstate UL16  and U2200 
golf cart (I think they are made by US Battery) .  The one and only set of 
Surrettes I sold had backward polarity on one battery and another would not come 
up to the correct s.g.  I had to pay to ship two heavy batteries back.

Overall I have had good luck with Trojan T105's and L16G & P.  My main 
problem with customers is lack of instrumentation on their systems.  We get a long 
sunless spell and they start calling about batteries not holding up.  I don't 
warranty batteries at all now unless they purchase a TriMetric or equivalent 
meter so we can see the battery performance, especially as to whether they have 
received a full charge and absorbtion.  The fact that they don't SEEM to hold 
a charge means nothing.  My L16G's (going  on 6 years of abuse) work just fine 
when I truly charge them.  I have thought they were failing several times til 
I just gave them a really good hot (30.5V) long charge.  They spring back to 
life.  For folks without a backup generator or a large array to recharge 
properly, we can only look at the TriMetric to see daily overnight consumption and 
daily recovery to see what is going on.  I find that capacity drops with age 
but unless there is a dead cell,  most batteries still perform to about the 94% 
efficiency factor programmed in a TriMetric.  I have my battery capacity on 
my 6 year old L16G's set at about 68% of rated ah capacity and it goes up and 
down from 50% to 100% fairly accurately.  I have noticed lately that I am 
hitting 24 .1VDC at 60% indicated on the e-meter so I need to push my rating down 
again.  I'll try 55%.  With the e-meter, and with readjusting the capacity 
setting to a realistic actual, the meter a-h capacity setting is actually showing 
the slow degradation of capacity.  It is not much if you start with a 
realistic assumption of actual capacity.  Thanks, Ralph, at Bogart Engineering for 
explaining the myth of battery capacity numbers to us.  My E-meter gave totally 
bogus % of charge numbers till I set it up using TriMetric instructions!!!  By 
the way,  I would like a 3 or 4 channel meter so I can record wind input, 
solar input, house consumption and net battery... all for about $300... any 
takers?

John Blittersdorf
NABCEP Certified Solar PV Installer TM
Central Vermont Solar & Wind, Inc.
231 S. Main St. (US Rt. 7 South)
Rutland, VT 05701

802-747-0577
802-773-0924 Fax
www.cvsolar.com

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