[RE-wrenches] Trojan L-16 charge settings

[Howie Michaelson]

William,
Those default settings are suited for sealed batteries, not flooded. While
each battery manufacturer's charge protocols are somewhat different, I
would definitely follow Trojan's recommendations as best possible in this
circumstance.

Howie
Howie Michaelson
NABCEP Certified Solar PV Installer™

Sun Catcher
Renewable Energy Systems Sales and Service
VT Solar Electric Incentive Partner
802-272-0004
On Jan 18, 2016 11:33 PM, "William Miller" <william at millersolar.com> wrote:

> Colleagues:
>
>
>
> I have an off-grid customer for whom I replaced a set of 8 Trojan L-16s as
> well as upgrading her inverter and charge controller.  Right after the job,
> we found several batteries with low specific gravity.  We spoke with the
> local distributor and received two replacement batteries.
>
>
>
> The system continues to perform poorly.  The customer EQs every 30 days to
> 60 plus volts for 3 hours.  They try to get a full bulk and absorption
> charge in every day but this time of year may not. The specific gravity
> readings continue to diverge and generally go lower.
>
>
>
> We contacted the distributor who told us they have had problems with
> Trojan batteries since the company was sold about two years ago.  We were
> told they had a brand X battery that tested better than the Trojans.  We
> agreed to try the Brand X but then were told that we had not charged the
> Trojans adequately.  Below are the settings recommended directly by Trojan
>
>
>
> These settings are significantly higher than any I have used before.
> Also, I don’t recall it being possible to set different bulk and absorption
> voltages with any of the equipment I use.  I use Trace, Outback, Schneider
> default settings of 57.6 bulk, 54.4 float and reprogram to 60.5 for
> equalization.
>
>
>
> I am curious about what charge settings you find successful for flooded
> lead-acid batteries and what any of you might think about the recommended
> settings as seen below. Do you feel it is practical to achieve these
> settings in an off-grid scenario?  Would these high settings cause
> excessive water consumption?
>
>
>
> Thanks in advance.
>
>
>
> William Miller
>
>
>
> [image: Gradient Cap_mini]
> Lic 773985
> millersolar.com <http://www.millersolar.com/>
> 805-438-5600
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> I looked at the spreadsheet and the SG. readings across each battery are
> uniform which tells be that it is highly unlikely that anything is wrong
> with the batteries except for being under-charged. Take a look at our
> User’s Guide on the Trojan website on page 19  ( Recommended Charge
> Profile) or FLA batteries.
>
> The Bulk stage should be @ 59.3V, Absorb @ 58.8V, Float @ 54V and
> Equalization @ 64.8V. When the User notices drops in the SG such as in this
> document, an EQ charge should be performed in order to get the batteries
> back up to full charge (full charge SG being in the range of 1.270 to
> 1.280. When performing the EQ, the user should take SG reading for a
> “pilot” battery every 30 minutes until the voltages reach that range.
> Termination should happen when SG reaches full charge range or if battery
> temperature reaches 112 degrees F, which-ever comes first. SG readings can
> be taken during EQ, but you have to make sure that you bump the tiny gas
> bubbles off the Hydrometer float to prevent erroneous readings.
>
> Seeing the SG readings decreasing after each month is an indication that
> maybe the Absorb Time needs to be increased, maybe from 3 hours up to 4 or
> 5 hours.
>
>
>
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