All I can say without being too product specific, the larger batteries tend to have larger, thicker positive, and negative plates. Of course a taller plate gives you more surface area on the plate and thus may require more voltage to keep happy. One thing to keep in mind with taller batteries is you tend to run into more stratification issues then the smaller batteries. These higher voltages cause a bit more gassing which helps stir up the electrolyte preventing stratification. I can’t tell you the number of customers that report good voltages, but low SG and you ask them to up their Absorb Voltages and Times a tad bit and the SGs come right into the green.
Battery manufactures are cramming larger plates into the chassis of the batteries to get extra cycle life in an attempt to complete with some of the other battery technologies that are popping up here and there. In reality most customers are looking for those magical 5000-10,000 cycles, but don’t really want to pay the $$$$ required for the proper BMS systems. As we all know, with recent events Boeing did this recently and have learned the hard way with the 787 Dreamliner issues. What I often compare battery based systems to is driving a car down the freeway at 55mph… it takes many small adjustments to accelerator, and steering to keep the car on the road and at that speed, when you start making wide range adjustments to your driving is when you end up all over the road. You can’t just hold the accelerator and steering in the same place and expect to stay on the road. Some of the best advice I can offer, is no two systems are alike because your customers energy usages are usually not alike. Start with the midrange settings that the battery manufacture recommends, use temperature compensation, and adjust the Absorb Voltage, Absorb Time, and even Float Voltage to help control the end users Specific Gravity measurements. If you check your SG and they are in the high range take away .2vdc or 30 mins off the absorb time… if they are low add that .2 or 30 mins, or even bump up the float. For a new, or problem system you should be checking SG every 15-30 days, eventually when you get a handle on how the customer is using the system most people can lengthen the time between their SG checks to 45-90 days. As for Refractometers… I always suggest the EXTECH RF41, usually 80-90 bucks on amazon. Also about Every 4-6 months the SG measurements should be compared to what your SOC meters are reporting, and you should manually adjust the SOC meters according to those SG measurements. From: re-wrenches-boun...@lists.re-wrenches.org [mailto:re-wrenches-boun...@lists.re-wrenches.org] On Behalf Of Dan Fink Sent: Wednesday, August 07, 2013 5:00 PM To: RE-wrenches Subject: Re: [RE-wrenches] Trojan L-16s You can get a decent battery refractometer now for about $80. We got one and it works fine. Check Amazon. The one we got is an Extech. Dan Fink, Executive Director; Otherpower Buckville Energy Consulting Buckville Publications LLC NABCEP / IREC accredited Continuing Education Providers 970.672.4342 On Wed, Aug 7, 2013 at 4:43 PM, William Miller <will...@millersolar.com<mailto:will...@millersolar.com>> wrote: Friends: I make sure I recommend and, if necessary, sell a refractometer to all of my battery customers. I don't leave this to chance. They also get a copy of a white paper I wrote about battery maintenance. WM Steve Higgins Technical Services Manager M: +1.206.790.5840 F: +1.902.597.8447 Surrette Battery Company Exclusive manufacturer of [cid:rolls8701fc]<http://www.rollsbattery.com> ________________________________ From: re-wrenches-boun...@lists.re-wrenches.org<mailto:re-wrenches-boun...@lists.re-wrenches.org> [mailto:re-wrenches-boun...@lists.re-wrenches.org<mailto:re-wrenches-boun...@lists.re-wrenches.org>] On Behalf Of Bob-O Schultze Sent: Wednesday, August 07, 2013 3:36 PM To: RE-wrenches Subject: Re: [RE-wrenches] Trojan L-16s Steve, Good advice but I'm not at all surprised that most folks don't have a hydrometer. Frankly, unless you are willing to spend a bunch of dough, you aren't going to get one that is worth having. And, they are damn hard to find. The $5 cheapies with the floating balls, etc are just worthless, IMO. Bob-O _______________________________________________ List sponsored by Home Power magazine List Address: RE-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org<mailto: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<http://www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm> Check out participant bios: www.members.re-wrenches.org<http://www.members.re-wrenches.org> This email and its attachments have been scanned by iConnection E-Mail Firewall for viruses, spam, and malicious content. The information transmitted in this email is intended only for the entity or person to which it is addressed and may contain confidential/privileged material. If you received this in error, please contact the sender and delete the material from any computer. Any review, retransmission, dissemination, or other use of this information by persons or entities other than the intended recipient is strictly prohibited. %^^%
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