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FAST FRED (209.26.87.65)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, February 10, 2001 - 5:50 am: | |
Talmage Solar Engineering, Inc
www.talmagesolar.com
207-967-5945
These folks have a design primer they charge$1 for that has lots of useful info. The following is lifted from their catalog:
"There are many types of batteries available and after years of working with all different types we have found the conventional wet cell lead acid batteries are best. We don't recommend the use of standard automotive starting batteries which have lots of cold cranking amps, but no deep discharge capability. We do recommend you ignore all the manufacturers hype and get true cycling batteries. These weigh 2/3 to 1 lb per amp hour of storage at the 20 hour rate and have at least 600 cycles as indicated by the standard BCI test. At a minimum, for a seasonal camp or light use system we would go with quality "deep discharge" rec vehicle or marine trolling battery which can last up to 5 years. For heavier seasonal or modest use all year use golf cart batteries are a good choice giving up to 7 years of service. for standard year round use we would use the commercial grade L16 size battery with a life of up to 10 years. These all use lead antimony plates that have good cycle life with the L16 having heavier and thicker plate construction. Remember bigger batteries means less cells and less maintenance. If you want a battery to last over 20 years mine cart batteries and others are available but cost 4 times more than standard batteries.
Charging - The maximum charge rate should be under 15% of the batteries 20 hour rate capacity lead acid batteries should be float charged to 2.33 volts per cell. Higher voltage than this will cause excessive gassing. while lower voltage does not fully charge the batteries. Relay type chargers should cut out at 2.38 and resume at 2.28. These values can be adjusted if the temp is different from 65 degrees for long periods of time. The correction is 2.0 millivolts per cell per degree F, increasing with colder temps. Equalizing charge should be done bimonthly using a current source no greater than 10% of the bank's total capacity bringing the voltage up to 2.5 and holding it there for one hour. If the batteries are fully charged every day or 2 as happens in very conservatively sized systems equalizing need not be done. Discharging - Batteries should not be regularly discharged below 20% of their capacity and average daily discharge should be no more than 7% (10%) for seasonal use. Cycling the batteries below these levels will reduce their life. They should never be discharged for a period over 1/2 hour at a rate greater than 20% of their amp hour capacity. Higher rates will cause destructive battery heating, and a good deal of lost power. Never leave the batteries for longer than a day at a discharge level below 50% if capacity. The longer a battery sits discharged the lower it's capacity becomes due to the permanent sulfation that builds up on the plates. A battery on float charge will last a very long time." Power Pulse from www.pulsetech.net or their Solargizer will reverse the sulfation but it takes a couple of weeks to bring a battery back from almost dead. These units do work but the company has suffererd reliablity problems so if you install one it would be good to check occasionally that it is still working. I am told Home Power liked the units but couldn't give a thumbs up because of reliablity problems, this was 2 years ago and as they are now selling units to Uncle Sucker, tehy must have gotten their act together.
FAST FRED |
Richard T. Ince (152.163.204.206)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, February 18, 2001 - 6:26 am: | |
Fast Fred
At C & J Technology Inc. we have worked with PulseTech battery maintenance products for over 4 years now and I must take issue with your statement on reliability of the product. We first worked for over 1 1/2 years testing the product and during this time removed some 600-800 batteries of all types, from discard bins and pulsed them back to life and used double load tests and they would stand up and a new battery would not. Currently I am working with a number of major companies on their fork lift batteries, golf courses with their deep cycle batteries, trucking companies and a tremendous number of marine applications, and motorcoach and RV's. In all situations the results are the same the capacity of the battery is increased so it takes a charge faster and holds it longer. I would be happy to provide you with as much documentation as you would care to read. As to your comment about Uncle Sam you should also note that at Fort Hood, TX where the military started testing the product, they were looking to reduce battery purchases by 50% in a 5 year time period with PulseTech products and the goal was achieved in less than 5 quarters.
It is time for people to realize that the lead acid battery is not a simple throw away item to further clutter our environment and any thing we can do to get longer life out of it should be explored. |
FAST FRED (209.26.87.36)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, February 18, 2001 - 12:26 pm: | |
AS time goes by some stuff DOES get better , HOWEVER my "source" for the problem with Pulse Tech is the best in the industery HOME POWER mag.
AS you know they have a load of cash {now} and a bunch of great geeks that test stuff.
Last time the Pulse Tech stuff was tested ,, and it was tested only because it does work GREAT, they found the reliability too POOR to give the much desired "Things That Work" certification.
Hopefully producing the same item for a while ,, and the high priced stuff for Uncle, has given them the ability to build stuff that works RELIABILY.
Certainly the cheap unit I have seems to still be OK , will have to put it on a scope to find out ,, just watching the blinkey light only tells if its powered , NOT if its producing the "proper" pulses to have a batter live 10+ years.
Hope they ARE better, and they finally can get a "things that WOrk'
FAST FRED |
Dave-CA (64.20.169.215)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, March 04, 2001 - 4:28 am: | |
Richard, I would like some info on the Pulse techs. Can you send the documentation to me? |
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