[RE-wrenches] unique battery bank design question

[Darryl Thayer]

I have had one experiance with equalizers, the batteries be came very unequal.  (over time of course)


From: R Ray Walters <ray at solarray.com>
To: RE-wrenches <re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org>
Sent: Saturday, September 3, 2011 5:55 PM
Subject: Re: [RE-wrenches] unique battery bank design question

Systems I tried years ago with Vanner equalizers, still ended up being unequal. I pulled them all years ago. It seems to be about as much a problem as not balancing your battery cables so each battery string has the same wire resistance,
I know that you couldn't imagine a few amps on 12" of 2/0 making a difference, but after 5 years the battery damage is very consistent and identifiable.
The only load I would consider tapping would be metering, or maybe a low milliamp relay. I wouldn't go over 100 mA, and even then I bet you would see some long term imbalance. I've seen imbalances due  to some batteries just being closer to a cold outside wall.

R. Walters
ray at solarray.com
Solar Engineer




On Sep 2, 2011, at 10:45 AM, Michael Welch wrote:

> What the Vanner Voltmaster equalizer does is track the voltage differences between two parts of the string, and provides current from the other part to the first part when needed. If a tap decreases the voltage in part of the string, the other part of the string is used to help make up for it -- equalizing the two. 
> 
> Gosh, I hope I described that well enough, not being a real wrench and all.
> 
> http://www.vanner.com/battery-equalizers/
> 
> Rob Shappell wrote at 06:53 AM 9/2/2011:
> 
>> As far as I know, The DC/DC and the Equalizers do basically the same thing
>> (step up or down). I recollect that the Equalizers are adjustable and can be
>> used as a load dump. Enermaxer comes to mind. It's been a long time.......
>> but a refresher will be gladly accepted from those in the know.
> 
> _______________________________________________
> List sponsored by Home Power magazine
> 
> List Address: RE-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org
> 
> Options & settings:
> http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org
> 
> List-Archive: http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org
> 
> List rules & etiquette:
> www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm
> 
> Check out participant bios:
> www.members.re-wrenches.org
> 
> 

_______________________________________________
List sponsored by Home Power magazine

List Address: RE-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org

Options & settings:
http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org

List-Archive: http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org

List rules & etiquette:
www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm

Check out participant bios:
www.members.re-wrenches.org
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org/attachments/20110903/fa931a61/attachment-0003.html>