[RE-wrenches] FLA battery set points with larger arrays

Tue May 26 07:32:16 PDT 2015

Jason,

Even a battery stored in a warehouse at say 35C before even put into service can/will degrade.   It won’t degrade much over such a short period of time of storage, but even batteries that sit for years if they are not boosted properly and kept in that 77F range (25C) can develop issues.

Higher temps, above 25C regardless of manufacture (Lead Acid) always reduces life cycle, lower temps, below 25C reduce overall capacity. That capacity does recover once the battery temperature recovers.  Unfortunately high temperatures you don’t get recovery, because you’ve actually caused plate damage.

When it comes to stocking temperatures, if your battery supplier is in the South west,  most of them manage stock fairly well, but there are still some who don’t seem to understand.   It’s always prudent to note the shipping dates on the batteries just to make sure you’re getting fresh stock.   It’s also a good idea to check SG’s at the distributors location just to make sure that they’ve been boosted before you accept them.

When designing for heat you just have to figure a “duty” cycle,  If the installation is in the south west about 1/3 to ½ the time they are going to be hotter than normal.   If I was installing in BCS Mexico, unless you added air conditioning to the battery room you are going to see a 20-30% degradation in life cycles because 4-6 months of the year the average battery easily see’s 90-100 degree temps…  If installing in Alberta Canada, and the residents are full time, I may add capacity due to excessive cold temps during the winter.

From: RE-wrenches [mailto:re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org] On Behalf Of Jason Szumlanski
Sent: Monday, May 25, 2015 12:50 PM
To: RE-wrenches
Subject: Re: [RE-wrenches] FLA battery set points with larger arrays

Steve,

Can you elaborate on how heat affects batteries that sit in float service at high temperatures? What kind of cycle/capacity changes can we expect? Say, for example, that a bank of S-530 batteries are 5 years old and have spent days at 40C and nights at 25C, and have essentially been in float service except for a couple dozen cycles to 50% over the years. If these batteries are now put into regular daily cycles at the same temperatures, would they act much differently than batteries that were stored at a constant 25C?

I guess my question boils down to whether cycling during high temperatures is more damaging than just being "stored" at high temperatures.

Thanks,

Jason

On Mon, May 25, 2015 at 1:14 PM, Steve Higgins <steve at surrette.com<mailto:steve at surrette.com>> wrote:
Typically you want the BTS installed and any and every case…  The BTS should be installed below the level of the plates not on the top of the battery.   To do this you need to have the BTS about 1/3 to ½ the way down the side (Single Wall) of the battery, and I would suggest running some duct tape around the battery on the sensor to keep it on the side of the battery.

For a Double wall battery, Although the sensor will be close, it will get better readings in between the plastic walls.  To do so you can pull the top off the battery and put it between the walls.   There is usually some black silicone around the pos/neg terminals, all you need to do is replace that with regular old RTV silicone…

Post mounts are okay, but Surrette prefers the side mounts with another method of securing the sensors…  The post mounts only sense the plate temp, not the overall temp of the battery.

Temperature is a killer, and my years at Outback, and Trace I had no idea of how damaging this was until I came to work for Surrette.
For every 10 Degrees C above 25 you lose 50% of your life cycles… For example if you installed these in the Mojave desert where six month of the year they would reach 95F+ you would probably lose about 25-30% of your life cycles… One of the ways to combat this if you can is vault them…it’s a lot of work, but the earth even in those environments will keep them cooler.

Steve Higgins
Technical Services Manager
P: +1.902.597.4020<tel:%2B1.902.597.4020>
M: +1.206.790.5840<tel:%2B1.206.790.5840>
F: +1.902.597.8447<tel:%2B1.902.597.8447>
Surrette Battery Company
Exclusive manufacturer of
[cid:image002.jpg at 01D09781.6AFE2400]<http://www.rollsbattery.com>

From: RE-wrenches [mailto:re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org<mailto:re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org>] On Behalf Of Ray Walters
Sent: Saturday, May 23, 2015 8:05 PM
To: RE-wrenches
Subject: Re: [RE-wrenches] FLA battery setpoints with larger arrays

Having the LVD be temperature compensated so that the load is always disconnected above the freeze point of the battery would be a Huge Improvement on the whole concept of LVD.  In combination with State of Charge monitoring, like the Whiz bang Jr, would be the most effective, and just program the disconnect to stay above freezing for a typical lead acid battery.  I got this from a Trojan White Paper:
[cid:image003.jpg at 01D09781.6AFE2400]

R.Ray Walters

CTO, Solarray, Inc

Nabcep Certified PV Installer,

Licensed Master Electrician

Solar Design Engineer

303 505-8760<tel:303%20505-8760>

FLA batteries will freeze easier if they are discharged.  I suppose that you could
use the battery temp sensor to make sure you charge them up good when
the temp gets cold enough.

boB

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