[RE-wrenches] Was, Old School 12V Independent System? Now, controller tests

Mark Dickson Mark at OasisMontana.com
Thu Oct 11 12:45:13 PDT 2012


Sorry not to hijack, but. . 

I am sort of in the same situation. . .

I am replacing a worn out battery bank (24 off-brand T-105s in six strings
of 4) with nice new set of AGMs (3 strings of 4).  It has a solar array and
Whisperer 200 turbine charging the bank and no generator.  Customer says the
old batteries which are pretty worn, were always boiling and losing water.
I tested all the cells with a hydrometer on my last visit and found no
obviously dead cells but all of them seemed week with some visual sulfation.
I am thinking the bad batteries are most likely the culprit, but I would
like some ideas on what and how to test both the C40 and Whisper controller
to make sure they were not causing the overcharging.  Any ideas on what
tests to perform?  

 

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 Allan
Sindelar
Sent: Thursday, October 11, 2012 1:23 PM
To: RE-wrenches
Subject: Re: [RE-wrenches] Old School 12V Independent System?

 

Bill,
Give her sealed batteries for this application. We like Concorde SunXtender,
both because the few sets that have been in operation off grid have shown
exceptional life (we have one series pair of PVX-2580Ts going into its 13th
year still in good shape) and are available in sizes that easily replace
standard flooded sizes. Contact me off list for a good distributor referral.

If indeed they have "abused the batteries to death" then the batteries are
indeed dead. I'd suggest that you sell her replacement sealed batteries.
They'll arrive charged. Thus during daytime you can use the array itself and
the full batteries to test the C-40, and set proper regulation voltage at
the same time. Save the customer a second service call, make you a decent
sale, worth the trip.

Just my $.02001 
Allan
 

Allan Sindelar
 <mailto:Allan at positiveenergysolar.com> Allan at positiveenergysolar.com
NABCEP Certified Photovoltaic Installer
NABCEP Certified Technical Sales Professional
New Mexico EE98J Journeyman Electrician
Founder and Chief Technology Officer
Positive Energy, Inc.
3209 Richards Lane (note new address)
Santa Fe, New Mexico 87507
505 424-1112
www.positiveenergysolar.com <http://www.positiveenergysolar.com/>  

 

 

On 10/11/2012 1:07 PM, William Dorsett wrote:

A client has an old school 12VDC remote cabin, (SunDanzer fridge, Sureflo
pump, 12VDC lights and fans) which she visits perhaps every three months. It
isn't her interest to clean terminals, much less run the generator through
one of her two days of country quiet to equalize the battery bank. The
consequence is that she (and guests who borrowed the cabin) have abused the
batteries to death. The first suggestion will be a maintenance
agreement.yes. First I need to test the Trace C-40 charge control and would
appreciate suggestions on choosing a portable 0-16V variable voltage power
supply to check its function and set points etc. It should be as easy as a
couple batteries in series, multimeter and a potentiometer. Thanks for your
thoughts.

 

Bill Dorsett

Sunwrights

1715 Leavenworth

Manhattan, KS

785/539-1956 Home/Office

 






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