L-16 "cycling" requirements? [RE-wrenches]

[Tom Elliot, Guffey Energy Works]

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While we are talking about cycles.....

What is a cycle?

Travis,

I had a talk with a Dynasty battery engineer when I was researching deep 
cycle AGMs.  I asked him about cycle life and when I told him that the 
majority of the time my bank would be discharged less than 20% of its 
capacity he commented that "it barely counts" and that cycle life was based 
on 80% DOD.  At 20% DOD he said the battery would last far longer.  He also 
repeated what just about every battery expert I've talked to said "batteries 
want to be charged" and that keeping them fully charged was always the best 
condition.

My old trojan bank was always kept floated at 29.5vdc, which kept them 
gently bubbling.  I seldom equalized them and the watering issue was not as 
big a deal as I thought.  I had to water them maybe one more time a year 
than if I had not kept them at that high a voltage.  They failed, but not 
because of their charge voltage but more because of their configuration.

Tom Elliot



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With forklifts, floor scrubbers, and golf carts it's pretty easy to define.
Draw the battery down, often way down, then charge the heck out of it back
to 100% and do it all over again the next day.  That's a cycle that's easy
to see.

But with a RE system it's a lot more complex. Varying loads are coming and
going all the time.  At least several times a day the loads exceed the
charging system.

Is a cycle clicked off every time state of charge changes direction?  If
that's the case some RE systems could have at least 20 or 30 cycles per day.
Even though they might just be 1% or smaller changes in state of charge
that's still a cycle, right?

Food for thought..

Have a good weekend.  I'm going to go fill up the stock tank, oops, I mean
kiddy pool and splash around with the kids. They think it's a kiddy pool and
that's what counts.

Travis Creswell
Ozark Energy Services, Inc.

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