[RE-wrenches] Battery capacity testers

Mon Oct 4 16:58:36 PDT 2010

I remember a few years back. a customer insisted on a particular arrangment, I said that it was a mistake, it would not work, I did it his way, it did not work, He sued saying I was the expert and I should not have done it that way.  in spite of his insistance.  I lost.  the settlement was not to hard but I learned something.  
Darryl

--- On Mon, 10/4/10, holtek at sbcglobal.net <holtek at sbcglobal.net> wrote:

From: holtek at sbcglobal.net <holtek at sbcglobal.net>
Subject: Re: [RE-wrenches] Battery capacity testers
To: "RE-wrenches" <re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org>
Date: Monday, October 4, 2010, 4:46 PM

Since when does the customer make these decisions?

since they started writing the checks. Communicate the options, answer the questions honestly and openly, give your opinions and recommendations then let them decide what kind of system they want to own. 

Holt E. Kelly
Holtek Fireplace & Solar Products
500 Jewell Dr.
Waco TX. 76712
254-751-9111
www.holteksolar.com

----- Original Message ----- 
From: toddcory at finestplanet.com 
To: RE-wrenches 
Sent: Monday, October 04, 2010 3:24 PM
Subject: Re: [RE-wrenches] Battery capacity testers

"The battery choice was the decision of the system owner."

Since when does the customer make these decisions?

Todd

On Monday, October 4, 2010 6:36am, "North Texas Renewable Energy Inc" <ntrei at 1scom.net> said:

Todd
I've heard the same arguement, as well as its inverse. The battery choice was the decision of the system owner. I know they are more sensitive to charge/discharge abuse but I see the full charge rate last week at 52.xx V, just like day 1and I trust the Trimetric and the Sunny Islands. We're taking down the entire system to upgrade & install a 400A transfer switch so the batteries will have time to stabilize for the VOC check & cleaning. 
I guess a more accurate question would be is it good enough to properly check cell VOC and not bother with the discharge capacity check? A compromise could be cap check 12V blocks of cells instead of all 24 separately. Or is the capacity checker a waste of money.
Jim

 ----Original Message-----
From: re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org [mailto:re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org]On Behalf Of toddcory at finestplanet.com
Sent: Monday, October 04, 2010 2:23 AM
To: RE-wrenches
Subject: Re: [RE-wrenches] Battery capacity testers

I know many on this list disagree, but this sounds SO typical for sealed batteries. It is why I never use em... never! If they are 5 years old, you are probably at the limit of their life. Replace em with flooded lead calciums and your customers (and you) will be happy for 20+ years.

my .o2

Todd

On Sunday, October 3, 2010 9:28pm, "North Texas Renewable Energy Inc" <ntrei at 1scom.net> said:

I have a customer with a set of 24 Concord PVX-6480s that have twice failed during grid outages during the night. No large loads are on the critical load panel and, since it's at night when they drop to 50% dod, I'm not sure what's up with them. I plan on cleaning and retightning all the cable connections first to eliminate that possibility then checking VOC of each cell. 
Eventually we'll install a 25 kW genset but my first task is to find out the state of the batterys. The system turns five next spring so I don't think they are near an early death. The BOS is 2 Sunny Island 4248s with upgraded chipsets and the charger is set to spec though that may need to be bumped up. The only culprit I suspect is the high summer temperatures in this unconditioned equipment room. 
Finally it may be time to invest in a capacity tester. What brand is popular among those Wrenches with lots of experience in diagnosing a batterys health? The Concord DC5000 only comes in 12 & 24 V models and these are 2V cells. 
Thanks as always

Jim Duncan
North Texas Renewable Energy
486 W.N. Woody Road
Azle Texas 76020

NABCEP Certified Solar PV
Installer No.31310-57
TECL 27398
ntrei at 1scom.net 
817.917.0527
www.ntrei.com

Sent from Finest Planet WebMail.

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