[RE-wrenches] Batteries and customer service

[Lou Russo]

Wrenches,

Thanks for all insight.

Cheers,

Lou



On Fri, Mar 15, 2013 at 1:49 PM, Larry Crutcher, Starlight Solar Power
Systems <larry at starlightsolar.com> wrote:

> Lou,
>
> In addition to what Allan said, if you perform the discharge test, measure
> the terminal voltage across each battery. If you find one battery that
> drops in voltage more than the others, continue to check/record that
> voltage over time. This method will expose a weak or bad cell in a series
> string before the 20 hour test is complete.
>
> Interstate, or any battery manufacturer I know of, will not warrant to
> replace an entire bank if a cell/battery is defective.
>
> Let's talk Interstate batteries. A few year ago they decided to stop
> selling the high quality, made in the USA, US2200 battery. The import
> battery that replaced it has a notorious track record for low capacity, low
> voltage, difficulty charging and short life. I am speaking from experience
> having analyzed (discharge tests) and diagnosed several dozen small battery
> systems. One thing I found out, and this comes from an Interstate "Engineer
> and Specialist", is that the new GC2-HD *must* be charged daily for 2-4
> hours at 2.55 volts per cell. That's 15.3 volts for a 12 volt system.
> <opinion>I do not know if their L16 comes from the same manufacturer but my
> opinion is buying Interstate batteries are not worth the risk for the small
> cost savings. Of course, I say this about any other manufacturer of poor
> quality batteries.</opinion>
>
> Larry Crutcher
> Starlight Solar Power Systems
>
>
>
>
> On Mar 15, 2013, at 2:57 PM, Allan Sindelar wrote:
>
>  Lou,
> There is nothing in your message that definitively tells me that you have
> either a bad cell or a bad battery. "Minor corrosion on one terminal" is
> normal behavior, especially if the installer didn't coat the terminals at
> installation. "One cell was not using as much water as all the rest" is a
> matter of perception. You write yourself that "everything looked fine." It
> seems to me that you're jumping to conclusions based on the comment of
> another Wrench without doing sufficient testing first. Get the client to
> put a measured load on the system without charge. This isn't hard to do
> with an amp-hour meter in the system - you want a steady load of about 55 A
> (a C/20 load). If you have a bad cell, it'll show up soon enough.
>
> For now, I'm on Interstate's side.
>
> Hope this helps,
> Allan
>
>  *Allan Sindelar*
> *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/>****
>
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> *
>
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