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<p>You must be quoting the 6 hr forklift discharge rate. That's
actually the HUP SO-6-85-17 which is rated at 845 amp-hrs at the
20 hr discharge rate. The 20 hr rate is what we should be using
most of the time for off grid solar. The minimum charge rate for
that battery is 68 amps. That array could only do 50 amps on a
perfect day, so immediately, your array is undersized. Plus from
the sound of it, they are just chronically under charging/ over
discharging the battery. I would suggest doing a complete load
profile of their daily loads, and designing an array that can meet
that load year round. </p>
<p>Renting an off grid home is always a mess. I started charging
anytime I was going to be brought into that situation, since I
didn't design the system for the new user. Just because it worked
great fro the original user, does NOT mean its going to be
adequate at all for the average American consumer. I'm guessing
the array needs to be doubled in size. </p>
<p>Ray Walters<br>
Remote Solar</p>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 12/12/2025 3:51 PM, David Coale via
RE-wrenches wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:755099CC-CFEA-4CF3-8EEF-69A5A2C8A2C1@gmail.com">
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
Thanks for the comments so far. The system consist of two Trace
SW5548 inverter couple into a 240 volt system. Batteries are 680
amp/h 48 volts, with 2.4kw solar and an Outback charge controller.
The generator is a 7.5kW generator. When the inverters shut
down, the charge parameter are reset to default, which is too low
for these batteries. That said, this does not happen with the
charge controller which does most of the charging, though this
might not be enough in the wintertime.
<div class=""><br class="">
</div>
<div class="">The voltage used to go up to 58 on bulk charge but
now never goes higher then about 52 and the capacity is down.</div>
<div class=""><br class="">
</div>
<div class="">It’s always hard to tell from a distance what is
actually happening at the site, so I am sue I don’t have the
complete picture.</div>
<div class=""><br class="">
</div>
<div class="">Thanks,</div>
<div class=""><br class="">
</div>
<div class="">David</div>
<div class=""><br class="">
</div>
<div class=""><br class="">
<div>
<blockquote type="cite" class="">
<div class="">On Dec 12, 2025, at 1:38 PM, Jay via
RE-wrenches <<a
href="mailto:re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org"
class="moz-txt-link-freetext" moz-do-not-send="true">re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org</a>>
wrote:</div>
<br class="Apple-interchange-newline">
<div class="">
<meta http-equiv="content-type"
content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" class="">
<div dir="auto" class="">
<div dir="ltr" class="">A few questions</div>
<div dir="ltr" class=""><br class="">
</div>
<div dir="ltr" class="">What’s the charge capacity?
Like how big is the generator and solar </div>
<div dir="ltr" class=""><br class="">
</div>
<div dir="ltr" class="">How many amp hrs is the battery?</div>
<div dir="ltr" class=""><br class="">
</div>
<div dir="ltr" class="">How are they determining they
are not getting full?</div>
<div dir="ltr" class=""><br class="">
</div>
<div dir="ltr" class="">What controller?</div>
<div dir="ltr" class=""><br class="">
</div>
<div dir="ltr" class="">Is there a trimetric to keep
tabs. </div>
<div dir="ltr" class=""><br class="">
</div>
<div dir="ltr" class="">Given what you’ve said, I lean
towards constant undercharging. Are they salvageable?
Possibly </div>
<div dir="ltr" class=""><br class="">
</div>
<div dir="ltr" class="">I’d do a eq as high as possible
from the oem. Take SG readings. Let them cool a few
days and do it again. </div>
<div dir="ltr" class="">If you are seeing an increase in
SG and leveling out of the differences then keep
going. </div>
<div dir="ltr" class=""><br class="">
</div>
<div dir="ltr" class="">Depending on the size of the
generator and loads and size of the bank it could take
a lot of hours of charging. So people run out of
gasoline or hate hearing the generator or figure 2
hours is enough. </div>
<div dir="ltr" class=""><br class="">
</div>
<div dir="ltr" class=""><br class="">
</div>
<div dir="ltr" class=""><br class="">
</div>
<div dir="ltr" class=""><br class="">
</div>
<div dir="ltr" class=""><br class="">
</div>
<div dir="ltr" class=""><br class="">
</div>
<div dir="ltr" class=""><br class="">
<blockquote type="cite" class="">On Dec 12, 2025, at
11:34 AM, Jason Szumlanski via RE-wrenches <<a
href="mailto:re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org"
class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
moz-do-not-send="true">re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org</a>>
wrote:<br class="">
<br class="">
</blockquote>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite" class="">
<div dir="ltr" class="">
<div dir="ltr" class="">
<div dir="ltr" class="">
<div class="">
<div class="gmail_default"
style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">I second the chronic
undercharging suggestion. We have a client
with a 64 kWh FLA battery bank that only has
2.4 kW of PV. When they bought these
batteries two years ago, they thought they
could solve all of their energy woes by just
buying a bigger battery. It is astonishing
how many people don't understand that
batteries themselves do not generate
electricity - they just store it. They must
think it's magic!</div>
<div class="gmail_default"
style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><br class="">
</div>
<div class="gmail_default"
style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">Anyway, with that kind of
PV to storage ratio, they were probably
barely getting past the internal resistance.
The batteries are completely toast now, and
the client is moving to LFP (with more solar
per my demand).</div>
<br clear="all" class="">
</div>
<div class="">
<div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature">
<div dir="ltr" class=""><br class="">
Jason Szumlanski
<div class=""><span
style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Roboto,RobotoDraft,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px"
class="">Principal Solar Designer |
Florida Solar Design Group</span><br
style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Roboto,RobotoDraft,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px"
class="">
<span
style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Roboto,RobotoDraft,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px"
class="">NABCEP Certified Solar
Professional (PVIP)</span><br
style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Roboto,RobotoDraft,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px"
class="">
<span
style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Roboto,RobotoDraft,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px"
class="">Florida State Certified Solar
Contractor CVC56956</span></div>
<div class=""><font color="#333333"
face="Roboto, RobotoDraft, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" class="">Florida
Certified Electrical Contractor
EC13013208</font></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<br class="">
</div>
<br class="">
<div class="gmail_quote gmail_quote_container">
<div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Fri, Dec
12, 2025 at 1:32 PM Michael Morningstar via
RE-wrenches <<a
href="mailto:re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org"
class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
moz-do-not-send="true">re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org</a>>
wrote:<br class="">
</div>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote"
style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">
<div dir="auto" class="">Chronic
undercharging, electrolyte dilution, lack of
informed equalization, and adding water
without knowledge of the how’s, whys, and
when’s will kill those batteries in no time.
I’ve pulled out to many of those heavy
bastards to count, most of them at a fresh
young age because the installer didn’t
educate the clients properly. </div>
<div dir="auto" class=""><br class="">
</div>
<div class=""><br class="">
<div class="gmail_quote">
<div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Fri,
Dec 12, 2025 at 10:21 AM David Coale via
RE-wrenches <<a
href="mailto:re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org" target="_blank"
class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
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wrote:<br class="">
</div>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote"
style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">Hi
Wrenchers,<br class="">
<br class="">
I have a client with an old off-grid
Trace system and he is having trouble
with the batteries. He has HUP Solar
One FLA batteries that are about 4 years
old, so they should be in good shape.
The last set lasted almost 20 years with
a fair amount of abuse.<br class="">
<br class="">
Here is he history and what I think is
going on. 7/21 they got new batteries
after about 19 years of use.<br class="">
<br class="">
7/22 I get a call saying the batteries
are not charging up all the way. When I
check out the system, the batteries
needed cleaning, and I found three low
cells, and the charger settings were
back to default, not set high enough to
charge the batteries all the way (it’s
always multiple problems). The client
(now a new renter, new to the system)
said he was filing the batteries once a
month and experienced some overflowing
when the batteries were charged up.<br
class="">
<br class="">
I cleaned things up, reset the charging
parameters and set up an equalizing
charge to even out the cells. Hopefully
this will fix things.<br class="">
<br class="">
11/25. The client calls and said the
batteries don’t charge up all the way
and he is running the generator a lot
and worried about getting though the
wintertime.<br class="">
When I check things out, there are three
bad cells and there is soda on the
batteries. It is hard to get a good
voltage readings because of the soda.
Most of the cells are reading 2.1 volts
under about a 40 amp load.<br class="">
<br class="">
Yesterday I check things out, and all
the cells are reading between 1.93 to
1.98 under a 40 amp load in the morning,
and I don’t find any bad cells. The
charging voltage is never going over
about 52 volts so the system is never
getting fully charged up. The charge
setting look OK, so not sure what is
going on. This is acting like an old
battery pack but these batteries are
relatively new.<br class="">
<br class="">
My guess at this point is that maybe the
batteries lost acid with the overflowing
event and lost capacity. Maybe adding
acid back in would bring them back up to
working order. The SG measured at 1.150
or less.<br class="">
<br class="">
At this point the client (renter) has
had enough of these battery problems and
is wondering every morning if the
batteries will last long enough to until
the sun comes up. The renter is pushing
for a replacement LFP battery, but there
should be lots of life left in this
battery pack.<br class="">
<br class="">
Let me know what you all think.<br
class="">
<br class="">
Thanks,<br class="">
<br class="">
David<br class="">
<br class="">
<br class="">
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<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.members.re-wrenches.org">http://www.members.re-wrenches.org</a>
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