<html>
<head>
<meta content="text/html; charset=windows-1252"
http-equiv="Content-Type">
</head>
<body bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000">
<p>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</p>
<p>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. </p>
<p><img src="cid:part1.380964B6.12781A76@solarray.com" alt=""></p>
<p>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.<br>
</p>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">R. Ray Walters
Chief Technical Officer, RemoteSolar.com
BS Mech Engineering, 1988
Former NABCEP Certified, 2004-2016
Licensed Master ELectrician, Colorado
303 505-8760</pre>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 4/26/17 2:09 PM, John Blittersdorf
wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote
cite="mid:CALp43SSG8vR83Qhd_HQsXV5UzLEb-on-sJ=GOpHyBaTA3hjOBg@mail.gmail.com"
type="cite">
<div dir="ltr">Wallace,
<div> 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.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>John Blittersdorf</div>
<div>Rob Stubbins Solar</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div> </div>
</div>
<div class="gmail_extra"><br>
<div class="gmail_quote">On Wed, Apr 26, 2017 at 11:54 AM,
Wallace Stahle <span dir="ltr"><<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:wstahle@pacific.net" target="_blank">wstahle@pacific.net</a>></span>
wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0
.8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">Hi Folks,<br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
Meanwhile the specific gravity was high on all cells and
even a week after removal are up at 1.275 on all three
cells.<br>
<br>
I suspect an open in the cell interconnects with enough
continuity to read volts but not conduct current.<br>
<br>
My question is what have any of you seen n this regard and
any knowledge of cause of such a failure.<br>
<br>
Your insights and experience are greatly appreciated.<br>
<br>
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.<br>
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.<br>
<br>
Many thanks,<br>
<br>
Wallace Stahle<br>
Future Electric Energy Co<br>
P O Box 236<br>
Willits, CA 95490<br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true" href="mailto:future@pacific.net">future@pacific.net</a><br>
CA Lic.# C10-762093<br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true" href="tel:707-459-0474"
value="+17074590474">707-459-0474</a><br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
______________________________<wbr>_________________<br>
List sponsored by Redwood Alliance<br>
<br>
List Address: <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:RE-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org">RE-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.<wbr>org</a><br>
<br>
Change listserver email address & settings:<br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org"
rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">http://lists.re-wrenches.org/<wbr>options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-<wbr>wrenches.org</a><br>
<br>
List-Archive: <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.mail-archive.com/re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org/maillist.html"
rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">http://www.mail-archive.com/<wbr>re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.<wbr>org/maillist.html</a><br>
<br>
List rules & etiquette:<br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm"
rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.<wbr>htm</a><br>
<br>
Check out or update participant bios:<br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.members.re-wrenches.org" rel="noreferrer"
target="_blank">www.members.re-wrenches.org</a><br>
<br>
</blockquote>
</div>
<br>
</div>
<br>
<fieldset class="mimeAttachmentHeader"></fieldset>
<br>
<pre wrap="">_______________________________________________
List sponsored by Redwood Alliance
List Address: <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:RE-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org">RE-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org</a>
Change listserver email address & settings:
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org">http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org</a>
List-Archive: <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.mail-archive.com/re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org/maillist.html">http://www.mail-archive.com/re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org/maillist.html</a>
List rules & etiquette:
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="http://www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm">www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm</a>
Check out or update participant bios:
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="http://www.members.re-wrenches.org">www.members.re-wrenches.org</a>
</pre>
</blockquote>
<br>
</body>
</html>