[RE-wrenches] intermittent battery problem; ...Battery Sulfation

[penobscotsolar at midmaine.com]

Ron,
   I'm going to reiterate what Jeff says here. It is similar to what I had
said in my email. The charge rate must REGULARLY be C10 on the KS 
(5000 series) batteries. This means, on KS 25's, a routine bulk
charging rate of 135 amps. I find that on these types of hybrid
systems, while the batteries might occasionally (sunny day, generator
running, etc.) that kind of charging, they do not regularly see C10. I
think if you gave Jamie Surrette a call he would give you the same
possible assessment.
   I do think the problem is oversulfation, but none of this solves your
problem, I know. We have been installing KS series batteries since they
came out and this necessity of regular C10 charging has been an
integral  part of design for me for many years.

Best,
Daryl




> Ron,
>
>
>
> This reply a little late since I have been off line a few days.  I
> mentioned
> in a similar thread last year that I had an off grid home client I
> designed
> and installed in Idaho back in 1998 that had a Kohler 8.5 kw generator, a
> Trace 4024 inverter, two separate solar arrays and Outback charge
> controllers, and 16 Trojan "L-16" batteries.  This system worked
> flawlessly
> for 7 years and only required the generator a few hours per month, then it
> was time to change the batteries.  I replaced the Trojans with the same
> size
> battery made by Surrette and everything went to crap.  They had to run the
> generator hours and hours to get them past an 80% charge and we had lots
> of
> problems with overloading the generator even though we did not make any
> program changes and used the same generator.  The generator was replaced 2
> years later but this system  never worked like it did before the battery
> replacement.
>
>
>
> When researching all this at that time I had talked with Surrette, Trojan,
> and anyone else that might help and this is what I found out.  Of course
> there are just my opinions based on these conversations, but it is my
> understanding that Surrette is a much longer life battery with much less
> water loss when comparing apples and apples, and I was told this was due
> to
> a different lead composition that Surrette uses than any other battery
> manufacturer.  However, this difference requires a much longer
> absorption/taper off charge process or you will never get it past 80%
> charged.  This of course is almost impossible to achieve with a generator
> or
> undersized solar array, and you really need a grid connection to fully
> charge these things.  No doubt these would be great in some standby grid
> connected system but I no longer use them in off grid.  This was also at a
> time when battery manufacturers were just discovering solar so maybe
> battery
> designs have changed.  Again, I think Surrette is a good company and makes
> a
> great battery, but just not sure you can fully recharge them with a
> mid-sized generator.
>
>
>
> I also do not like using parallel battery layouts as its hard to keep one
> string from pulling down the other strings when there is a low performance
> cell so you might do a cell by cell check.
>
>
>
> Good Luck,
>
>
>
> Jeff Yago
>
> DTI Solar Inc.
>
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> -----------
>
> This is not what I expected after a lengthy EQ. I'm getting them to do
> another one tomorrow after a discharge cycle and charge but I'm really
> beginning to think we have something else going on here, something
> electrical, not chemical. The rapid voltage drop is puzzling.
>
>
>
> To review, it's an Outback 3524 on an Epanel, Whisper 100 & controller, 6
> 4KS 25 Surrette batteries in 24v configuration - 4.5 years old, .7kw
> solar.
> I know the charging end is undersized but they have been compensating with
> the generator and they get lots of wind in the fall, winter, spring.
>
>
>
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