Have you tried Hassan Taylor at SMA? Perhaps the default begin charging settings of 70% SOC may not be acceptable to the newer battery tech. Victron has inverters quite similar to the SMA line and their LiFe battery line along w/ their BMS, performs quite well. I have used LiFe but Im still NOT sold on them. We, as an industry, have repeatably been offered the latest & greatest, "were here for the long run” manufacturers, only to be left holding the unanswered phone. Aquion anyone? That being said, I really have not found FLA/ AGM battery performance, venting or installations to be too tough.
> On Jan 7, 2020, at 4:11 PM, Ray <r...@solarray.com> wrote: > > I recently contacted SMA about their requirement that if the LI+ battery > isn't on their list, that we must use Lead acid. I consider that to be a > really poor answer; just because they haven't tested it, we should not be > forced to use a much worse alternative. Yes, they would prefer to have all > their tech communicate with the battery tech, but telling us to use lead > acid, that has no communications available at all is the answer? Lead > and Sulfuric acid that off gases deadly H2S, with no internal BMS at all, > inefficient overall performance, and short life is preferred ??! > On top of that, SMA has no one that can even answer questions on the Sunny > Island systems at all. Tech support can't or won't answer any of our > questions. Repeated emails to Heiko Stieber (apparently the only one there > that knows) have gone unanswered. We are in the middle of a large 4 system > project, that would have used 15 Sunny Island inverters, but we had to switch > to Schneider, because of the utter lack of technical support for battery > based systems from SMA. We were also considering the Tripower Storage 60, > but it is only available in Europe, and once again, we can't get any support > or info on that product either. > My decision process works like this: if you can't answer tech questions in > the design phase, where are we going to be when we're trouble shooting this > equipment in some remote location later? > > Answer: SMA is not a viable option at this time. > > Too bad, I've been installing their equipment for almost 20 years, they were > our first choice too.... > > And back to Carl's question: most of the batteries on SMA's approved list > aren't even available in the US......so no, we don't have experience with > them. > > Rant off, > Ray Walters > Remote Solar > 303 505-8760 > On 1/7/20 12:08 PM, Carl Adams wrote: >> Hello Wrenches, >> I have a SI 5048 system installed in 2012 with Concorde PVX-4050HT AGM >> battery bank. The system has shut down a couple of times with low battery >> voltage and it seems the batteries may be on their way out. There are some >> signs of seepage on a couple of these sealed batteries. A few pictures >> attached. >> >> System owner would like to consider a Lithium Ion replacement. SMA provided >> the attached list of compatible batteries. Can any of you provide your >> experience with these batteries or others which could work for this >> application? >> >> With Kind Regards >> Carl Adams >> SunRock Solar >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> 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 >> <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 >> <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 > > 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 > > Check out or update participant bios: > www.members.re-wrenches.org > > t...@swnl.net > <blocked::mailto:t...@swnl.net%22%20%5Co%20%22blocked::mailto:t...@swnl.net> > www.SWNL.net > <blocked::http://www.swnl.net/%22%20%5Co%20%22blocked::http://www.swnl.net/> > Solarwinds Northernlights > Serving Mid Coast Maine & Northern California > 207-832-7574 Cl. 610-517-8401 > > Blair "TUMP" May > ******** MAINE'S CHARTER ******** > NABCEP "Certified PV Installer" > > ******** MAINE'S CHARTER ******** > Trace Xantrex "Certified" Dealer / Installer" >
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