[RE-wrenches] Battery Experience
Kent Osterberg
kent at coveoregon.com
Thu Feb 9 10:22:15 PST 2012
Mark,
The warranty reads, "After the first 36 months of service, defective
batteries will be adjusted for a period of up to 120 months prorated
from the date first in service at prices in effect at time of adjustment."
Prorate means to divide up proportionally. In this case, the value is
proportional to the time. Five years is 60 months or 50% or 120 months.
There must have been a mistake in someone's computations. The customer
should have been credited 50% the value of a new battery.
Kent Osterberg
Blue Mountain Solar, Inc.
www.bluemountainsolar.com
t: 541-568-4882
On 2/9/2012 8:51 AM, Mark Dickson wrote:
>
> 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 ^(TM)
>
> 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 Crutcher,Starlight Solar Power Systems
> <mailto:larry at starlightsolar.com>
>
> *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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