Wrenches, Thanks for all insight.
Cheers, Lou On Fri, Mar 15, 2013 at 1:49 PM, Larry Crutcher, Starlight Solar Power Systems <la...@starlightsolar.com> wrote: > Lou, > > In addition to what Allan said, if you perform the discharge test, measure > the terminal voltage across each battery. If you find one battery that > drops in voltage more than the others, continue to check/record that > voltage over time. This method will expose a weak or bad cell in a series > string before the 20 hour test is complete. > > Interstate, or any battery manufacturer I know of, will not warrant to > replace an entire bank if a cell/battery is defective. > > Let's talk Interstate batteries. A few year ago they decided to stop > selling the high quality, made in the USA, US2200 battery. The import > battery that replaced it has a notorious track record for low capacity, low > voltage, difficulty charging and short life. I am speaking from experience > having analyzed (discharge tests) and diagnosed several dozen small battery > systems. One thing I found out, and this comes from an Interstate "Engineer > and Specialist", is that the new GC2-HD *must* be charged daily for 2-4 > hours at 2.55 volts per cell. That's 15.3 volts for a 12 volt system. > <opinion>I do not know if their L16 comes from the same manufacturer but my > opinion is buying Interstate batteries are not worth the risk for the small > cost savings. Of course, I say this about any other manufacturer of poor > quality batteries.</opinion> > > Larry Crutcher > Starlight Solar Power Systems > > > > > On Mar 15, 2013, at 2:57 PM, Allan Sindelar wrote: > > Lou, > There is nothing in your message that definitively tells me that you have > either a bad cell or a bad battery. "Minor corrosion on one terminal" is > normal behavior, especially if the installer didn't coat the terminals at > installation. "One cell was not using as much water as all the rest" is a > matter of perception. You write yourself that "everything looked fine." It > seems to me that you're jumping to conclusions based on the comment of > another Wrench without doing sufficient testing first. Get the client to > put a measured load on the system without charge. This isn't hard to do > with an amp-hour meter in the system - you want a steady load of about 55 A > (a C/20 load). If you have a bad cell, it'll show up soon enough. > > For now, I'm on Interstate's side. > > Hope this helps, > Allan > > *Allan Sindelar* > *al...@positiveenergysolar.com* <al...@positiveenergysolar.com> > NABCEP Certified Photovoltaic Installer > NABCEP Certified Technical Sales Professional > New Mexico EE98J Journeyman Electrician > Founder and Chief Technology Officer > *Positive Energy, Inc.* > 3209 Richards Lane (note new address) > Santa Fe, New Mexico 87507 > *505 424-1112* > *www.positiveenergysolar.com* <http://www.positiveenergysolar.com/>**** > > ***************** > * > > > > > _______________________________________________ > List sponsored by Home Power magazine > > List Address: RE-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org > > Change email address & settings: > http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org > > List-Archive: > http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org > > List rules & etiquette: > www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm > > Check out participant bios: > www.members.re-wrenches.org > > >
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