<div dir="auto"><div>Hello All; I would question the client about the origin of this battery bank. New, used, how long in storage and in service, etc. If he bought these new, that's a very expensive battery bank!</div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">Usually when I've run into banks of massively parallel, low amp-hour sealed lead acid batteries, the origin was "a great surplus deal on a whole bunch of batteries from wheelchairs/UPS units/manufacturer overrun etc."</div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">My BS meter on the manufacturer Batcap was triggered by a few things....</div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">-The company is focused on selling audiophiles xxxscratch thatxxx punks with car stereos so loud they set off car alarms 6 spots down. They need lots of amps right now to thump that bass.</div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">- The company name Batcap targets the capacitor boost market for this application, but actually a dedicated battery is a great idea, as it would recharge quickly from the (often up-sized) car alternator. But some folks seem to think the name implies there's a capacitor involved. There isn't. Sneaky language in the company name.</div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">- Sealed, low internal resistance, 100-125 amp-hours. Sounds like a stock AGM to me, compared to a VRSLA.</div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">- Spec sheet contains grammatical errors that indicate the writer does not speak English as a first language.</div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">- "Solar" seems to have been added to the website and battery label stickers as an afterthought....and 30 years cycle life in a solar application? Has Batcap been around for 30 years? Sounds like somebody importing Asian AGMs and sticking them with new stickers.</div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">DAN FINK</div><div dir="auto">Buckville Energy Consulting, Box Prairie CO 970-672-4342</div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto"><br><br><div class="gmail_quote" dir="auto"><div dir="ltr">On Tue, Nov 20, 2018, 23:28 Mick Abraham <<a href="mailto:mick@abrahamsolar.com" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">mick@abrahamsolar.com</a> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr" class="m_-3986755880765008142m_2168128817494015gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr">Hello, Drake & All~<br></div></div></div><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr"><div><br></div><div>Drake described his service dilemma about batteries bought elsewhere & whether to correct the original hinky pack wiring (copied below). My reply below may seem cynical & I may seem too eager to declare the existing battery as: "Failed". Call me jaded.</div><div><br></div><div>Mick's $0.02 is: If there's no amp-hour monitor in the system, I suggest you first try to persuade the homeowner to buy a metering shunt & a modest amp-hour meter such as the Tri-Metric--which could be used to measure & display the battery bank's amp-hour capacity. If the client won't approve that expenditure (& hourly labor for explanations), the service tech is hamstrung. Nobody can measure the health of a battery bank by just looking at it or talking about it...and clients sometimes receive the inevitable "battery bad news" if they are shown the diminished capacity on a digital display after an equitably managed "pump & dump".</div><div><br></div><div>Your thought, Drake, of holding back on any re-wiring of the battery pack...seems prudent...until the first set of amp-hour measurements are recorded as a baseline. From there...a common pattern is a series of attempted remediation efforts--all for pay, of course--until the homeowner acknowledges that it's time to start afresh. </div><div><br></div><div>Oops, I left out an important step: getting a read on whether the client has the money for new batteries or not. I'm personally terrible at getting that reconnaissance done early enough. If the client isn't materially blessed to be able to get new batteries, they might be better off spending limited funds on fuel for the engine generator instead of on battery testing & tutorials.</div><div><br></div><div>The Wrench List is the Bomb~<br clear="all"><div><div dir="ltr" class="m_-3986755880765008142m_2168128817494015m_-6805958290932026730gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div><br></div><div>Mick Abraham, Proprietor<br><a href="http://www.abrahamsolar.com" rel="noreferrer noreferrer" target="_blank">www.abrahamsolar.com</a><br><br>Landline: 970-731-4675</div><div>Cell phone or for text messaging: 970-946-6584</div></div></div></div><div class="gmail_quote"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><br>---------- Forwarded message ----------<br>From: Drake <<a href="mailto:drake.chamberlin@redwoodalliance.org" rel="noreferrer noreferrer" target="_blank">drake.chamberlin@redwoodalliance.org</a>><br>To: RE-wrenches <<a href="mailto:re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org" rel="noreferrer noreferrer" target="_blank">re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org</a>><br>Cc: <br>Bcc: <br>Date: Tue, 20 Nov 2018 11:41:17 -0500<br>Subject: [RE-wrenches] Batt Cap AGM<br>
<div>
Hello Wrenches,<br><br>
An owner of an existing system has a bank of twenty, 100 AH, 12 V Deep
cycle batteries of the
<a href="http://www.xstaticbatcap.com/what-is-a-batcap-.html" rel="noreferrer noreferrer" target="_blank">Batcap</a>
<a href="http://www.xstaticbatcap.com/what-is-a-batcap-.html" rel="noreferrer noreferrer" target="_blank">
</a>brand.<br><br>
The bank is made up of four sets of 5 batteries in parallel to produce
<b>500 AH battery sets at 12 V.</b> These four parallel sets are then
wired in series to give a 48 V nominal bank. <br><br>
The battery voltages vary from around 13 to 15 volts. The bank is about 5
years old. The CEO of Batcap told the system owner that these batteries
have lasted up to 30 years in solar applications, so he has high
expectations for these batteries being around for a while. <br><br>
My first impulse is to rewire the bank in a normal series - parallel
configuration. But there are too many strings to do this without a bus
bar. Besides, the batteries are likely damaged, and rewiring them might
cause the bank to exhibit unsuspected problems. How much money is worth
putting into this bank? $0?<br><br>
The owner seems like a reliable guy who likely hired the wrong installer.
He could use some help. What would you do in this situation? Rewire the
bank, leave it well enough alone or run for the hills.<br><br>
Thanks,<br><br>
Drake <br><br>
<a name="m_-3986755880765008142_m_2168128817494015_m_-6805958290932026730_m_668141993065556566__MailAutoSig" rel="noreferrer noreferrer"></a>Drake Chamberlin<br>
<i>Athens Electric LLC<br>
OH License 44810<br>
CO License 3773<br>
NABCEP Certified Solar PV <br>
740-448-7328<br>
</i><a href="http://athens-electric.com/" rel="noreferrer noreferrer" target="_blank">http://athens-electric.com/</a>
<br>
</div><br>
</blockquote></div></div></div><div hspace="streak-pt-mark" style="max-height:1px"><img alt="" style="width:0px;max-height:0px;overflow:hidden" src="https://mailfoogae.appspot.com/t?sender=abWlja0BhYnJhaGFtc29sYXIuY29t&type=zerocontent&guid=179fab7b-0187-4bde-bd69-7ddf5f09be55"><font color="#ffffff" size="1">\u1427</font></div>
</div></div><div hspace="streak-pt-mark" style="max-height:1px"><img alt="" style="width:0px;max-height:0px;overflow:hidden" src="https://mailfoogae.appspot.com/t?sender=abWlja0BhYnJhaGFtc29sYXIuY29t&type=zerocontent&guid=20210fc2-3ee7-43bc-98b7-aef93c98ddc9"><font color="#ffffff" size="1">\u1427</font></div>
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