[RE-wrenches] Failed L16 with perfect Sp.Gr.

Thu Apr 27 10:51:19 PDT 2017

That was my point: voltage is not very helpful on the 2 v L16s, as all 3 
cells are internally paralleled.   With the Flir I was able to see all 
the dead cells in the set in seconds.

R. Ray Walters
Chief Technical Officer, RemoteSolar.com
BS Mech Engineering, 1988
Former NABCEP Certified, 2004-2016
Licensed Master ELectrician, Colorado
303 505-8760

On 4/27/17 10:22 AM, Dave Angelini Offgrid Solar wrote:
> The FLIR is nice but SG and voltage would have told the same thing, would
> it not?
> I have excellent experience with the L16 2V cells but will be switching to
> the LG RESU 10 very soon for my clients.
>
>> Here's a thermal image from a recent inspection of 2 v Trojan L16REs.
>> Notice the normal batteries above and below, they are cool blue, running
>> around 75F
>>
>> 2 of the cells of the center battery are obviously shorted.  Cell
>> voltage was 2.07 v compared to about 2.3 to 2.4 v for surrounding good
>> batteries.  Dead cells are much easier to find on 6 v batteries.  I
>> wouldn't have found this without the Flir 167.
>>
>> About 1/4 of the batteries in this set had hot cells; 25 -30 deg F
>> warmer. Obviously time for some fresh lead.   Owner couldn't recall how
>> old the set was, he thought 2 to 4 years.  Rated at 1000 cycles to 80%
>> DOD, these Trojan RE batteries should do much better than that.  I have
>> never been impressed with L16s anyway. John, my experience has also
>> been: higher Capacity = more premature cell failures.
>>
>> R. Ray Walters
>> Chief Technical Officer, RemoteSolar.com
>> BS Mech Engineering, 1988
>> Former NABCEP Certified, 2004-2016
>> Licensed Master ELectrician, Colorado
>> 303 505-8760
>>
>> On 4/26/17 2:09 PM, John Blittersdorf wrote:
>>> Wallace,
>>>     I installed some Interstate RE batteries (green case) L16's that
>>> supposedly are made by US Battery.  As with Trojan and other High
>>> Capacity L16's I had several cell failures.  I have always felt that
>>> gleaning more amp hours from the same box must lead to cutting corners
>>> on robustness.  I have found that often when the batteries are full,
>>> they work OK for awhile but as the voltage drops and the current flow
>>> rises, the cell will eventually drop out.  Other adjacent batteries in
>>> the string often overcharge to compensate.  In my case with the green
>>> batteries, they were about 2 years old as well.  I took them back to
>>> my distributor and replaced them with standard L16's at a special pro
>>> rated price. I have found that all lead acid batteries that have
>>> problems seem to first have a cell failure somewhere along the line
>>> and finally the capacity diminishes to the point that it is an
>>> annoyance. Seems  bad cells seem more numerous lately.
>>>
>>> John Blittersdorf
>>> Rob Stubbins Solar
>>>
>>>
>>> On Wed, Apr 26, 2017 at 11:54 AM, Wallace Stahle <wstahle at pacific.net
>>> <mailto:wstahle at pacific.net>> wrote:
>>>
>>>      Hi Folks,
>>>
>>>      I was called by a customer with the complaint of the MS4024
>>>      inverter shut down and ME-ARC controller and Trimetric acting
>>>      strange, intermittent and even even showing 29 volts at times.
>>>
>>>      The batteries are four 2.5 year old US battery L16XC 380 AH and
>>>      checking each battery showed one at 4.8 v under charge while the
>>>      other three were at 7+ volts and no current.
>>>
>>>      Meanwhile the specific gravity was high on all cells and even a
>>>      week after removal are up at 1.275 on all three cells.
>>>
>>>      I suspect an open in the cell interconnects with enough continuity
>>>      to read volts but not conduct current.
>>>
>>>      My question is what have any of you seen n this regard and any
>>>      knowledge of cause of such a failure.
>>>
>>>      Your insights and experience are greatly appreciated.
>>>
>>>      They were installed by others and are out of warranty. I donated a
>>>      serviceable used USB L16 to get her back to a working system.
>>>      She did recall her Ex stating along the lines of "oh this one has
>>>      a problem but dont worry, it'll come around" as they were installed.
>>>
>>>      Many thanks,
>>>
>>>      Wallace Stahle
>>>      Future Electric Energy Co
>>>      P O Box 236
>>>      Willits, CA 95490
>>>      future at pacific.net <mailto:future at pacific.net>
>>>      CA Lic.# C10-762093
>>>      707-459-0474 <tel:707-459-0474>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
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>
> Dave Angelini Offgrid Solar
> "we go where powerlines don't"
> http://members.sti.net/offgridsolar/
> e-mail  offgridsolar at sti.net
> text 209 813 0060
>
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