Page Index Toggle Pages: 1 Send TopicPrint
tip top battery maintenance (Read 2817 times)
PaulH
Full Member
***
Offline


the hills are alive

Posts: 127
Location: Coll de L'Alba
Joined: Jul 21st, 2007
Gender: Male
tip top battery maintenance
Dec 27th, 2007 at 12:32pm
Print Post  
Bon Nadal & Felices Fiestes William
Thank you for the tip top tip on battery maintenance in Winter, my Batteries are now in tip top condition! Might you be able to advise on this though. I have Hoppecke 940A/H rated at 1.24 kg/l, does this mean 1.24 is 100% & therefore the following is roughly accurate, 1.221 is 90%, 1.201 80%, 1.18 70%, 1.158 60% etc. I also have 1 battery 0.5 to 1.0 lower than others even after equalising & float charging, can anything be done to rectify this, ie changing acid?
Many thanks for your input here, very useful stuff.
Regards Paul
  
Back to top
 
IP Logged
 
PaulH
Full Member
***
Offline


the hills are alive

Posts: 127
Location: Coll de L'Alba
Joined: Jul 21st, 2007
Gender: Male
Re: tip top battery maintenance
Reply #1 - Dec 27th, 2007 at 12:35pm
Print Post  
I probably meant 0.05 to 0.10 lower.
Paul
  
Back to top
 
IP Logged
 
William of Orange
Ex Member


Re: tip top battery maintenance
Reply #2 - Dec 29th, 2007 at 6:03pm
Print Post  
Paul a bit more information on bank configuration would help, and battery voltage 2 v I guess at 900 ah ? each . Is it a 12 volt 24 or 48v system, how many strings . If you have a slightly weaker battery try positioning it near to the end of the string near the +ve terminal where your charger is attached.
How old are they . Also check the terminal connections especially  on this one cell make sure its clean with no corosion.or mechanical problem ! Remember to take a  accurate sg reading you need to wait about two hours after a full charge when the batteries have had no load. Which I find almost impossible to do, I rely on accurate voltage readings to do comparisons. I also use a  Xantrex  Battery Monitor which are very expensive to monitor voltage amps and amp hours in and out of my battery bank.

It may be sulphated slightly more than your other batteries and you may consider trying a desulphator unit that I have for sale in the Tortosa Section
I have a 2100 ah 24 volt battery bank consisting of 36 Varta 2 volt 700 ah cells wired 3 strings  of 12 in series to give 24 volt at 700ah then   paralleled together to give 2100 ah .My desulphator has been running with these batteries for last 18 months  . These were secondhand batteries  which had wildly varying S.G they are now very similar although it is a long slow process. Carry on the charging method I reccomended but also watch your electrolyte level as correctly well charged LEAD ACID wet cells will need distilled water. If your not using water then your batteries are not been fully charged enough.

Desulphators use a high voltage electronic harmonic pulse  to help free  stubborn sulphated crystals off the lead plates whilst a battery is charging thus exposing more lead plate to the electrolyte and thus increase the charge capacity of the battery, the freed sulphite crystals are absorbed back into the acid and the S.G goes up.

HTH WoO
« Last Edit: Dec 29th, 2007 at 8:17pm by »  
Back to top
 
IP Logged
 
PaulH
Full Member
***
Offline


the hills are alive

Posts: 127
Location: Coll de L'Alba
Joined: Jul 21st, 2007
Gender: Male
Re: tip top battery maintenance
Reply #3 - Dec 30th, 2007 at 11:23am
Print Post  
William, Its a 12v system of 6 x 2v cells that are 18 months old, 60A 3 stage Studer charger, 360 watts solar & AirX 400 watt turbine. I rely solely on solar controller to equalise which occurs every 30 days approx. but noticed after your tip they were equalising for 3/4 days! I moved the weak cell some time ago but to the negative terminal, I will change that to the positive as you suggested. I've been running a desulphator for 5 months now & realise its a slow process but well worth it. Water levels are going down equally & voltage readings show a difference of 0.02 but I dont think my multi meter is that accurate. I'll try sg readings after 2 hours of rest. 
Thanks so much for your advice.
Paul
  
Back to top
 
IP Logged
 
William of Orange
Ex Member


Re: tip top battery maintenance
Reply #4 - Dec 30th, 2007 at 1:27pm
Print Post  
Sounds Like your on track in looking after your bank. Desulphation is a sloooow process,    Also does your  Studer charger have a batt temp sensor option if so this will be an essential item as well I know the larger studer inverter charger units have a BTS . There not expensive and are a simple plug fit . If your solar charge controller also has a BTS option,  I suspect from your description of a 30 day auto equalise cycle  it maybe a Xantrex C60 CC then fit one to this as well then both units are singing from the same hymn sheet.
  
Back to top
 
IP Logged
 
Page Index Toggle Pages: 1
Send TopicPrint
 
  « Board Index ‹ Board  ^Top