Interstate is not a long life battery. 5 years is probably getting near
the end. As they age, they start using more water which leads to
running them dry, which leads to killing them even quicker. The end of
service for L16s is usually not pretty. I'd be checking for dead cells,
in addition to Steve Higgins's recommendations. Whether she can recover
them or not, its time to at least start shopping for new batteries. As
this continues, they'll use more and more water, make more acid mess,
and in general not work as well from here on out. Then, cells will
start dying left and right, and it will get really miserable. Basically
it comes down to how long she is willing to suffer.
Ray Walters
Remote Solar
303 505-8760
On 7/18/18 9:38 AM, Mac Lewis wrote:
Hello Wrenches,
I have a homeowner client that takes pretty good care of her
batteries. She has a 5 year old set of Interstate L16s (2 strings of
8). However, she recently didn't water them for longer than normal
and they gulped up more distilled water than usual (4 gallons). She
was unsure if any of the plates were exposed. She has reported that
since she added the water the battery bank has lost about 1.5-2V (48V
bank) of her bank voltage in the morning. She reported ~49.5V in the
morning before she added the water and now she is below 48V.
I have advised a good strong equalize charge to destratify the
electrolyte.
Will diluting the electrolyte make the voltage sag like that? Is
there any other advice you might give her until I can get up there?
Thanks
--
Mac Lewis
*
"Yo solo sé que no sé nada." -Sócrates
*
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