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Allan,<br>
<br>
My first thought about the high s.g. measurements is that the
electrolyte level may have been low when the measurements were made.
When full, there is about a liter of electrolyte above the plates in
a L16. The s.g. will rise by 0.03 if the electrolyte level is at the
top of the plates.<br>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">Kent Osterberg
Blue Mountain Solar, Inc.
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="http://www.bluemountainsolar.com">www.bluemountainsolar.com</a>
t: 541-568-4882</pre>
<br>
On 6/1/2012 1:28 PM, Allan Sindelar wrote:
<blockquote cite="mid:4FC92603.4000004@positiveenergysolar.com"
type="cite">
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Wrenches,<br>
A long-time off grid client has a 48V Outback VFX system, with
1,680 watts of PV and two strings (16 batteries total) of Deka
L16s, installed last October. The array is undersized, as the
system is running three households; one efficient home and two
single-person tiny homes, but still too much for the system. We
learned a few weeks ago that the system had apparently stayed at
30-50% SOC for the entire winter (this is approximate, as her
TriMetric monitors would eventually drift away from % accuracy if
never allowed to get full and reset). Eventually the batteries
became sufficiently sulfated that the system began shutting down.<br>
<br>
As the batteries were nearly new, we figured that the sulfation
had not yet become permanently crystallized, and they could
recover. We initiated a long "corrective equalization" from her
combined generator (45A DC from the single inverter) and MX60
controller, for a maximum C/12.5 charge rate; less in proportion
to any loads that were on while charging. She ran this procedure
for three hours/day for five days, and when that offered only
partial recovery (as measured by specific gravity measured with a
refractometer), ran for six hours/day for five days. During this
time the MX60 was also manually set to EQ each morning, with a 62V
EQ voltage and 3 hour EQ time, so that the array would add its
amperage to the gennie until the batteries had been above this
setting for three hours.<br>
<br>
We went out there yesterday, arriving while the EQ was in process.
All of the cells had recovered, as measured by SG. SG readings
were all in the 1.280 - 1.300 range, with most above 1.290. We had
never seen SG readings this high before. Given the situation and
the back story, should we have any concern about the high SG
readings?<br>
<br>
Thank you,<br>
Allan<br>
<div class="moz-signature">-- <br>
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<font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"><b>Allan Sindelar</b></font><br>
<small><a moz-do-not-send="true"
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<span style="font-size: 10pt;">NABCEP Certified Photovoltaic
Installer<br>
NABCEP Certified Technical Sales Professional<br>
New Mexico EE98J Journeyman Electrician<br>
Founder and Chief Technology Officer<br>
<b>Positive Energy, Inc.</b><br>
3209 Richards Lane (note new address)<br>
Santa Fe, New Mexico 87507<br>
<b>505 424-1112</b><br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.positiveenergysolar.com/" target="_blank"><u>www.positiveenergysolar.com</u></a><o:p></o:p></span></font>
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