Question to the battery wizzs' here and this may have some impact on the current thread.-
I was told long ago by a Trojan battery rep. in 1990? that we should not extend beyond [12] L-16s in a bank due to too many connections and to many cells to achieve a really go balance on the cell to cell charge. I have seen this to be a reality over the years though I have no concrete evidence other than observation. The more L-16s in a bank the more imbalance or probability of imbalance due to the greater of cells and interconnects, points of connection, number of strings. At [12] L-16s I have seen the longest life at 8-9 years and any # of batteries beyond it drops off to the 5-7 year range. This is all, off grid observations as I have not seen any L-16 wet lead acid in grid tie applications. Manufacturers could you chime in and wrenches what is your experience? Thanks Dana Orzel Great Solar Works, Inc E - [email protected] V - 970.626.5253 F - 970.626.4140 C - 970.209.4076 web - www.solarwork.com "Responsible Technologies for Responsible People since 1988" From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of john Sent: Wednesday, February 15, 2012 9:18 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [RE-wrenches] wrenches] Interstate L-16 vs Trojan L-16REB William, Back to the original question you posed. I have had good luck with Interstate L-16 batteries (so far). My first ones were installed in 2005 so I am just at the 7 year mark. I just looked some today and they are now failing at 7 years... one string of 4 real strong and the other 3 strings showing a weak battery in each. This system has been heavily abused with deep cycling due to generator problems and undersized PV array (and large loads). This was the system installed in a shed to power construction of a "modest" house that turned into a 3 story 5000 sf house and 3000 sf barn with 1200 watts of PV. I added another 1600 watts and now will be adding more along with new batteries. I have had lots of problems with the Trojan L16 HC's. Virtually all that I sold (may 5 or 6 systems) had premature failures. (1 to 3 years). I have seen comparable results with the Interstate L16 and the standard Trojan L16, but the interstates were considerably less expensive. I also have an Interstate supplier one block from my shop so convenience is part of the plus. I have had a few with leaking cell tops but was able to get instant replacements at no charge. On the question of grid tie, I had a set of 24 Trojan L16's last 12 years with one cycle per month performed by the owner. Off grid, however, around 7 years seems to be the norm. John -----Original Message----- From: William Miller <[email protected]> To: RE-wrenches <[email protected]> Sent: Tue, Feb 14, 2012 3:45 pm Subject: [RE-wrenches] Interstate L-16 vs Trojan L-16REB Colleagues: Do any of you have experience with Interstate L-16 batteries? Are they a good value? Thanks in advance, William Miller Miller Solar Voice :805-438-5600 email: [email protected] http://millersolar.com <http://millersolar.com/> License No. C-10-773985 _______________________________________________ List sponsored by Home Power magazine List Address: [email protected] Options & settings: http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org List-Archive: http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org List rules & etiquette: www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm Check out participant bios: www.members.re-wrenches.org <http://www.members.re-wrenches.org/>
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