life expectancy of sealed batteries [RE-wrenches]

[Todd Cory, Mt. Shasta Energy Services]

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Hi James,

Interesting that you had water consumption problems with a lead calcium 
configuration. One of the characteristics of the old lead calcium 
batteries I have is extremely low water use. I have an old e-mail around 
here that I cannot find at the moment from Windy Dankoff talking about 
lead calcium battery chemistry. I'll keep looking and send it on if I 
can find it.

Pricing considerations have been the big roadblock with these kinds of 
flooded cells. Here is some cost comparisons I did a couple of years ago:

/*****************
The price to replace those lead calcium wet cells down at the dam was
around $10K for 12 kW (20 X 6 volts X 100 a/h). By comparison 20 kW of
L-16's were at the time about $1.3K. And that is for about twice the 
a/h's. The life span is about 1/3 but still, even considering that the 
price differential is about 10X!!/
*****************


>From what I understand, sealed batteries are lead calcium. The problem seems to be with the fragility their being sealed and the implications for electrolyte loss leads to short lifespans.

As fossil fuel prices continue to climb, the obvious switch for heating applications will be to electricity. As the grid's loads increase, we could likely see more grid outages in the future. This would obviously lead to more people wanting critical loads backed up, and the increased installation of battery based grid tied PV systems. The battery technology to serve this market will be crucial to that effort being successful.

If you or someone else could build a good lead calcium, wet cell battery in a L-16 style case/ah range at a cost competitive price to lead antimony, I'd think you/we would have THE battery for grid tie with battery backup applications. 

Todd


James Surrette wrote:

>Todd,
> 
>We can make these (Ca+ / Ca-).  We made several prototypes but used them in typical cycling applications and we were not excited about the minimal improvement in water loss, which did not off set the lower cycle life.  However, if you or some colleagues want some test sets for stand by, I can arrange but lead time would be 6-8 weeks.  I'd just like some feedback.
> 
>Regards,
> 
>Jamie 
> 
>James Surrette
>
>Surrette Battery Co. Ltd
>1 Station Rd.
>Springhill, NS, CAN
>B0M 1X0
>
>Direct: 902.597.4027
>Fax: 902.597.8447
>


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