Drake et al I only design with series strings (no parallel) I use a fairly high bulk and absorb setting and I always calculate the absorb time. Further I don't pretend there is enough solar if there's not. I design for a full charge daily for 8 months a year from solar alone, thus insuring fully charged batteries at a minimum of every 10 days.
I have been selling Trojan for years and with the new RE line we have never seen a failure that wasn't caused by abuse, either a poor bank design or bad or no charge settings or failure to maintain properly (this includes judicious equalization). Failing batteries after two years always indicates improper charging and probably too many parallel strings that are not being dealt with the way parallel strings require. I have been selling batteries for 47 years now and in that time I have only seen 5 honest to goodness (Manufacturing defect) batteries. Everything else was abuse. Kind regards Tom Duffy Senior Solar Design Engineer [Real-logo-X-195] E-Mail: t...@thesolar.biz Panama Office: 507-6126-1253 Direct Toll Free: 888-503-6772 International: 575-539-2111 SKYPE Address: thesolarbiz NOTICE: Due to recent budget cuts, the rising cost of electricity, gas, and oil...plus the current state of the economy............the light at the end of the tunnel, has been turned off... It should have been solar. Confidentiality Notice: This message including any attachments is for the sole use of the intended recipient and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender and delete any copies of this message. From: RE-wrenches [mailto:re-wrenches-boun...@lists.re-wrenches.org] On Behalf Of Mark Frye Sent: Wednesday, August 12, 2015 9:23 PM To: RE-wrenches <re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org> Subject: Re: [RE-wrenches] Trojan Batteries It does not bode well that Trojan is currently back ordered on at least some AGM batteries until October in order for them to address issues on their manufacturing line. On 8/12/2015 6:44 PM, Ray Walters wrote: Oh I'm going to risk the wrath of Trojan and others, but I can confirm issues with the Trojan L16 having premature cell failures within a couple of years just as you reported. We use the T105 RE and have not had problems, but stay away from their L16 line. I otherwise do not know or understand the causes behind these failures, but I think this list proves to be at its most valuable when we can save each other and our customers needless suffering. R.Ray Walters CTO, Solarray, Inc Nabcep Certified PV Installer, Licensed Master Electrician Solar Design Engineer 303 505-8760 On 8/12/2015 4:03 PM, Drake wrote: Hello Wrenches, I have had a number of customers with Trojan L-16s have problems lately. In some cases, I know that the batteries weren't very well cared for, but in no case were the batteries totally discharged and let get cold or sit for a long time. It doesn't seem that the batteries should have died after a couple of years. I could see diminished output and a reduced life. One customer who supposedly knows someone with inside information claims that Trojan started cutting corners a few years ago to be more competitive on price. Has anyone else seen more problems with Trojan Batteries, or heard that the company is cutting corners? Thanks, Drake Athens Electric LLC OH License 44810 CO License 3773 NABCEP Certified Solar PV 740-448-7328 http://athens-electric.com/ _______________________________________________ List sponsored by Redwood Alliance List Address: RE-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org<mailto:RE-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org> Change listserver email address & settings: http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org List-Archive: http://www.mail-archive.com/re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org/maillist.html List rules & etiquette: www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm<http://www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm> Check out or update participant bios: www.members.re-wrenches.org<http://www.members.re-wrenches.org> _______________________________________________ List sponsored by Redwood Alliance List Address: RE-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org<mailto:RE-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org> Change listserver email address & settings: http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org List-Archive: http://www.mail-archive.com/re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org/maillist.html List rules & etiquette: www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm<http://www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm> Check out or update participant bios: www.members.re-wrenches.org<http://www.members.re-wrenches.org>
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