I would prefer to use William's method, as it is certainly quicker
if indeed it provides long-term protection. Bob-O recommends the
same thing.
I forwarded all replies to Russ in Taos; his reply follows. Russ is
a skilled installer.
Thanks for forwarding this discussion to me. The
connections were definitely tight, and the Quick Cote wasn't
dirty.
We originally used Vaseline on the connections five years ago, so
there was no old Quick Cote on the jumpers (which we reused), and
the contact surfaces were clean (Vaseline does a good job of
"spooging" out of the way when you tighten the bolts down).
Curiously, this was a warm battery bank (when we came to remove
the old batteries, they were quite warm from charging (insulated
battery box)), but the vaseline didn't melt off and expose the
cable lugs to corrosion, as I would have expected -- every cable
was in perfect condition.
BTW, this was a set of Rolls series 5000, large 6 volt batteries,
that the customer killed off in 5 years from deep cycling (he'd
wait until the system shut down before turning on the generator)
and inadequate recharging -- the size of the battery bank was
designed before the house was finished, and the customer added a
bunch of loads that weren't listed on the load profile (like a 3hp
pump, instead of the smaller one anticipated by the homeowner).
Andy looked into the warranty, but the folks at Rolls said they've
never warranted an entire battery bank that was abused like that.
He knew the customer wouldn't get warranty coverage for the whole
bank, but he had to at least look into it.
On 2/22/2011 11:33 PM, William Miller wrote:
Allan:
We have had problems if battery terminals are not absolutely
clean and
dry when mating to connectors. We use a wire brush, usually
chucked
in a small right-angle grinder. We apply no coating until
connections are done and tested. We then apply a spray product
we
purchase at Napa Auto. It drys eventually to a non-sticky
consistency.
William Miller
Hiya Allan & Roy,
I do the same thing Roy does. I prefer the connection to be
"bright & tight", then put the gooey on. Seems like you
would get a better connection without the gooey between and when
the stuff spooges out during tightening, it seems like it might
keep the bolt from getting completely tight. Different stroke
for different folks, I guess.
Hope you both are well. This getting older shit ain't fer
sissies!
Best, Bob-O
On Feb 22, 2011, at 4:46 PM, Allan Sindelar wrote:
On 2/22/2011 5:29 PM, Roy Butler wrote:
Allan,
I used Quick Cote for years until my local supplier had problems
getting it in a timely manner.
I never had a problem with it but then again, I never put it on
the lug/ terminal mating surfaces
prior to making the connections. Then I carefully coated the
terminals, making sure to not
miss any spots.
I've had several opportunities to have a look at the mating
surfaces years later and never found
any corrosion. I would imagine that grit would indeed create a
connection problem. But you say
you've never seen this yourself?
I wonder if the formulation has been changed recently?
Roy Butler
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