[RE-wrenches] low batteries with a sunny island

[Nathan Jones]

August,
Lots of golf cars are 48 volt. Know a buddy with one that would let you borrow his charger? Or maybe a repair shop would let you borrow/rent one for a day.
Just a thought.
Nathan Jones

On Wed Nov 17th, 2010 8:54 PM CST August Goers wrote:

>Hi All Battery Friendly Wrenches -
>
>We have a situation I haven't crossed yet - we have a Sunny Island grid tied
>battery back system system with a 48 V battery bank consisting of eight 6
>Volt AGM batteries. The charging breaker feeding the Sunny Island in the
>main electrical panel was shut off by another contractor for about 3 months
>which caused the Sunny Island to slowly drain the batteries until it fully
>shutoff in order to protect the batteries. The bank now reads 24  Volts.
>That's low! The Sunny Island is, according to SMA, powered directly from the
>battery bank and won't even turn on. SMA tech support is recommending that
>we charge the batteries and then turn the system back on.
>
>Any ideas about the best way to charge a 48 V battery bank?
>
>Thanks for your advice,
>
>-August
>
>-- 
>August Goers
>VP, Engineering
>
>Luminalt Energy Corporation
>1320 Potrero Avenue
>San Francisco, CA 94110
>O: 415.641.4000
>M: 415.559.1525
>august at luminalt.com