[RE-wrenches] 4 ways to keep a battery for a long time

Thu Dec 17 07:18:41 PST 2015

With relays you can set the A/C up as a 
dump  load that will activate when the grid goes down.

At 06:59 AM 12/17/2015, you wrote:
>I have a customer that has had AGM batteries in 
>the Caribbean for many years without any sign of 
>capacity loss, but...they air condition (?) the 
>room they are in, and they do not use any 
>discharge, they are purely setup as a UPS style 
>system. Unless the power fails, all the power is 
>exported, and they use grid power.
>When using AGM as an offgrid solar system, they last about three years here.
>
>On Wed, Dec 16, 2015 at 9:44 PM, jay 
><<mailto:jay.peltz at gmail.com>jay.peltz at gmail.com> wrote:
>HI Luke,
>
>Without knowing what the charging parameters its 
>really hard to know whats going on.
>
>And this false issue with life span is years really gets me.
>Batteries are measured in cycle life, 
>period,Â  So to say a IND battery will get 15 to 20 years is bunk.
>Itâ€™ll get the cycles based on DOD, if its 
>charged correctly, watered and the sun is in a good phase and, and and,
>
>Iâ€™ve got a guy whoâ€™s worn out his Hupâ€™s in around 5-6 years.
>But how would any other but an IND battery 
>worked with that hard of a life, yikes, L-16â€™s would have been a set a year.
>
>But Iâ€™m guessing his 11 year old batteries 
>could be quite done.Â  And he is caught in the perfect bind.
>Do you spend money on replacing some of the cells?
>If it was my client, Iâ€™d say no, heâ€™d be throwing good money after bad.
>
>jay
>
>peltz power
>
>
>
>
> > On Dec 16, 2015, at 12:50 PM, Dana 
> <<mailto:dana at solarwork.com>dana at solarwork.com> wrote:
> >
> > We recommend an EQ when there is a 0.02 SG 
> differential on any one cell to the rest of the 
> pack, use a refractometer for SG readings, 
> install watering systems with a electrolyte 
> portÂ  or water the battery bank ourselves, & 
> do not do systems without a charging power backup.
> >
> > 
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > Dana Orzel
> > Great Solar Works, Inc -Â  NABCEP # 051112-136
> > E - 
> <mailto:dana at solarwork.com>dana at solarwork.comÂ 
> - Web - <http://solarwork.com>solarwork.com
> > O - <tel:970.626.5253>970.626.5253Â  C - <tel:208.721.7003>208.721.7003
> > "Responsible Technologies for Responsible People since 1988"
> > ï Please consider the environment before printing this email.
> >
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: RE-wrenches 
> [mailto:re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org] On Behalf Of Dave
> > Sent: Wednesday, December 16, 2015 10:23 AM
> > To: 'RE-wrenches'
> > Subject: Re: [RE-wrenches] HuP Conundrum
> >
> > Luke,
> >
> > Contac HUP for specific advice. You've probably already done that?
> >
> > What comes to mind:
> > Since you have two series strings, run the 
> house on one string of all good cells.
> >
> > Pull out the weak cells and charge them as per HUP's advice.
> >
> > I'm guessing that this problem has happened 
> because the homeowner did not properly charge the batteries.
> > Homeowner most likely did not use a hydrometer upon EQ'ng the cells.
> > Homeowner thought the cells were fully 
> charged and equal but obviously they were not.
> > Record keeping, log books etc.. for people 
> caring for expensive batteries are well worth the effort.
> >
> > David Palumbo
> > Independent Power LLC
> > 462 Solar Way Drive
> > Hyde Park, VT 05655
> > <tel:802-371-8678>802-371-8678 cell
> > <tel:802-888-4917>802-888-4917 home
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: RE-wrenches [mailto:re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org] On
> > Behalf Of Luke Christy
> > Sent: Wednesday, December 16, 2015 12:01 PM
> > To: RE-wrenches
> > Subject: [RE-wrenches] HuP Conundrum
> >
> > Hi Friends,
> >
> > With all of the battery threads going on right now I figured it would be a
> > good time to start another one.
> >
> > I have a customer with a large off-grid system who has just started having
> > trouble with a bank of HuP batteries. This system is 48V with 8x 12V
> > 6-85F-27S batteries in two series strings. 
> Charging is supplied by around 10
> > kW of PV.
> >
> > I didn't install the system and the customer has always taken care of the
> > maintenance and watering himself. He has seemingly been pretty diligent
> > about taking care of things, includingÂ  equalizing on a regular basis.
> > However, recently he started having voltage problems and when I made a site
> > visit to check on the batteries, I found that 
> 3 of the 8x 12V batteries each
> > had a cell with SG so low it wouldn't register on my hydrometer.
> >
> > Obviously this is a problem, and owing to some complicating factors I'm not
> > really sure how best to address the issue.
> >
> > Replacing the entire battery bank will be 
> unbelievably expensive, especially
> > given that the house is in a remote location and there is difficult access
> > to the battery room. To add a another factor, the house is currently
> > unoccupied while the owner tries to sell the property, so he is not exactly
> > eager to invest a lot of money into battery replacement.
> >
> > The batteries are only 11 years old, so they 
> should theoretically have quite
> > a bit of life left in them. Perhaps those of you with more experience with
> > larger batteries can advise. Can the cells be resurrected with careful
> > charging and equalizing?
> >
> > What would you do?
> >
> > Thanks as always for opinions and advice.
> >
> > Luke Christy
> >
> > NABCEP Certified PV Installation ProfessionalT: Certification #031409-25
> > NABCEP Certified Solar Heating InstallerT: Certification #ST032611-03
> >
> >
> > Solar Gain Services, LLC
> > PO Box 531
> > Monte Vista, CO. 81144
> > SGSRenewables at Gmail.com
> > <tel:719.588.3044>719.588.3044
> > <http://www.sgsrenewables.com>www.sgsrenewables.com
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
>
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>--
>Chris Mason
>NABCEP Certified Solar PV Installer™
>Solar Design Engineer
>Generac Generators Industrial technician
>
><http://www.cometenergysystems.com>www.cometsolar.com
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