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    <div class="moz-cite-prefix">Vince,<br>
      Seconding Larry's advice. The Concorde 8A8D is rated 250 A/h at
      the C/20 rate, so 5 strings is 1250 A/h. Use instead one string of
      PVX-12150HTs, 1,200 A/h as 2V cells. The physical size matches an
      L16, and they have dual terminals for each pole, so you can either
      run dual 4/0 cables (assuming that you downsize the DC inverter
      breaker to 125A for 500A total) or make short bussbars, as we did
      recently. You can then easily double the capacity, as this retreat
      center clearly needs. <br>
      Allan<br>
      <br>
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        <font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"><b>Allan Sindelar</b></font><br>
        <small><a href="mailto:Allan@positiveenergysolar.com"><font
              color="#000099" face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"><u>Allan@positiveenergysolar.com</u></font></a></small><font
          face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"><br>
          <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 href="http://www.positiveenergysolar.com/"
              target="_blank"><u>www.positiveenergysolar.com</u></a><o:p></o:p></span></font>
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      On 8/3/2012 4:03 PM, Larry Crutcher, Starlight Solar Power Systems
      wrote:<br>
    </div>
    <blockquote
      cite="mid:186666AE-A25E-4515-A646-724EA75BD409@starlightsolar.com"
      type="cite">Vince,
      <div><br>
      </div>
      <div>I know of no such "vulnerability". In fact, an AGM can
        provide much more instant current than any flooded
        battery. Concorde (Lifeline, SunXtender, etc.) and Fullriver
        AGM's are very robust designs. On the other hand, Deka AGM's,
        specifically the 12 volt 8A8D, are not to be trusted at all. We
        have stopped selling all Deka/MK AGM's due to very high failure
        rate.</div>
      <div><br>
      </div>
      <div>One other point to consider, having 5 parallel strings of 12
        volt batteries is generally asking for short battery life,
        especially with an AGM since you can not check the SG to be sure
        all are charged fully. Cells do not charge at the same rate and
        having parallel paths for current will leave some cells deficit
        charged. Having many parallel strings exacerbate this issue. If
        you do upgrade the bank, opt for lower voltage, higher capacity
        batteries.<br>
        <div>
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                          <div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline">
                            Larry Crutcher</div>
                          <div>Starlight Solar Power Systems</div>
                        </div>
                      </span></span>
                    <div>(928) 342-9103</div>
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            <font face="Arial Narrow">Just a word of caution on the AGM
              batteries. AGM's do have some vulnerabilities compared to
              deep cycle wet filled batteries. We had a bank of 20,
              8A8D  </font>running a Buddhist Retreat compound and were
            unable to convince our clients that there were limitations
            to the amount of power that they could run at one time. They
            managed to overheat and destroy the whole bank of batteries
            we think by using too much power during a retreat camp.
            People had brought there own appliances to use at the camp
            and we still don't know what the total load was on the 4,
            Outback VFX 3648 inverters. I'm guessing it was up there
            close to the 14.4 kW limit of the Outback inverters. We also
            petitioned our client for a larger battery bank but they
            didn't think they would ever need that much power. <br>
            <br>
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                <p class="MsoNormal"><b><span
                      style="font-family:"Arial
                      Narrow";color:black">Vince McClellan<br>
                      Energy Design <br>
                      <u><a moz-do-not-send="true"
                          href="http://www.solarenergydesign.com/">www.solarenergydesign.com</a></u><br>
                      p: 541.485.8122; f: 541.338.3168</span></b><span
                    style="font-family:"Arial Narrow";
                    color:black">  <br>
                  </span></p>
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