[RE-wrenches] Battery Experience

Thu Feb 9 08:51:01 PST 2012

Just have to chime in here about Surrette. . .

We have used them almost exclusively in the past as they seem far superior
to the other batteries in their class.  However, recently we had a customer
have three 2KS33PS prematurely fail in their bank after 5 years.  After
swapping them out and shipping them back to Surrette, we were told that yes
indeed they were bad and at no fault of the customer.  After badgering them
to follow through on their 10yr (prorated) warranty they finally relented
and offered the customer a check for $40 per battery!!!  Talk about
pro-rated!  Thus they figured these batteries were only worth ~3% of what
they originally cost 5 years prior.  We were offered more from the battery
recycler.

We were pretty bummed about this as was our customer.   It would be nice if
battery companies were forced to list their pro-rating chart with their
warranty statements.  We will probably continue to sell them while at the
same time looking for other options and taking their 10 year warranty with a
grain of salt.

Best regards,

Mark Dickson,

NABCEP Certified Solar PV Installer T

Oasis Montana Inc.

Mark Dickson, Certified Solar PV Installer

  _____  

From: re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org
[mailto:re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org] On Behalf Of Chris
Schaefer
Sent: Thursday, February 09, 2012 9:28 AM
To: 'RE-wrenches'
Subject: Re: [RE-wrenches] Battery Experience

Wes,

            Is there any reason why you are not considering Surrette? I see
on the list that wrenches are talking about AGM, but I can't imagine using
them when considering the size of your system. Their (Surrette) service has
been A++. I have several systems that are now over 10 years old and show
very little sign of aging. I love their dual containment system.

Good Luck,

Christopher Schaefer

  _____  

From: re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org
[mailto:re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org] On Behalf Of Larry
Crutcher,Starlight Solar Power Systems
Sent: Thursday, February 09, 2012 11:05 AM
To: RE-wrenches
Subject: Re: [RE-wrenches] Battery Experience

Ken,

Interesting. Do you know if Deka has more than one manufacturing plant? 

My Deka representative did respond. Perhaps I could have expressed this
better: the response was "they are out of warranty". I knew that.  However,
due to the number of Deka battery failures we were experiencing, I would
have expected something more than "no warranty".  They did replace one 8D
that failed at 13 months. Thanks Deka.

During the last few years that we sold and installed the Deka AGM's, we also
sold Lifeline, Sun Xtender, Trojan, Optima and FullRiver. We sold 3 times as
many Lifeline as we did Deka. Zero failures form any other brand.

I have a customer coming in today that has 2 8D AGM's. I installed these 11
months ago. His complaint is that the voltage will drop to 11.5 within 5
hours of use. I'll let you know what I find.

Larry Crutcher

Starlight Solar Power Systems

On Feb 9, 2012, at 5:24 AM, Ken Schaal wrote:

We have used Deka wet and sealed, AGM and Gel, since 1999 and never had a
premature failure.

I have a set of 8D AGM's  in my own system.

The local factory warehouse is responsive to our needs.

Ken Schaal

CommonWealth Solar

----- Original Message -----

From: Larry <mailto:larry at starlightsolar.com>  Crutcher,Starlight Solar
Power Systems

To: wes kennedy <mailto:hathasolar at yahoo.com>  ; RE-wrenches
<mailto:re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org> 

Sent: Wednesday, February 08, 2012 3:14 PM

Subject: Re: [RE-wrenches] Battery Experience

Wes,

While I don't have experience with the Deka Unigy AGM's,  I can tell you
that we are experiencing many failures of the 4D, 8D and other 6 and 12 volt
Deka AGM batteries. The company will not respond to the problems so we will
never sell another Deka or MK (made by Deka) AGM battery.

Larry Crutcher

Starlight Solar Power Systems

(928) 342-9103

On Feb 8, 2012, at 9:02 AM, wes kennedy wrote:

Howdy Gents,

I have a project (high altitude, off grid, 25 kw PV, 9 x SI5048's,
multicluster) where I am considering two similar batteries.

The Absolyte GP (GNB 100G17)  vs the Deka Unigy II (AVR95-19).  Both have
similar reported Lifecycle curves, 1200-1300 cycles at 80% DOD.

Any field experience to share? The Deka seems better on paper, larger AH
capacity per dollar quoted from my distributor.

Thanks!

-Wes Kennedy

Solar Geek since 1996
303-653-3073

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