I have seen a high number of Trojan L 16's losing single cells for no apparent reason
Probably starting five or six years ago Many on battery banks for the people that had banks previously and gotten 10 or 12 years life out of them so I wouldn't expect anything different on the replacements All I can think of is that something has changed in the Trojan L 16's Couldn't tell you why but there's been too many failures to have any other reason As usual this is just my opinion! Bob > On Nov 23, 2015, at 9:42 AM, Starlight Solar Power Systems > <[email protected]> wrote: > > Dan, > > Last week I had a 3+ year old Trojan L16H-AC with one dead middle cell, SG > shows water. The bank has 8 batteries and the customer is diligent about > maintenance and charging. I wish I knew why this happens but it seems over > the last few years like there is a pattern with Trojan L16’s. > > Larry > > > On Nov 22, 2015, at 7:49 AM, Dan Fink <[email protected]> wrote: > > Esteemed Wrenches; > > I'm looking for input on what could be going on with a battery bank at the > college I teach for. It's a stand-alone system with 4 Trojan 12v T-1275 in > series / parallel for 24v, 660w of PV, running only a drainback solar hot > water system for space heating. So, 3 pumps and 3 DTCs, max load 100 watts > and doesn't run all that often, outback CC is usually in float. The batteries > are only 2.5 years old and are regularly maintained. > > My lab class tested and maintained the battery bank last week, and on one > battery there was one cell, in the middle of the battery, with a SG so low it > wouldn't even register on our refractometer or midnite hydrometer. That > battery reads about 0.2v lower than the others. All the other cells in that > battery read reasonable SG, with 2 cells on the downstream side reading SG > slightly low, but still in reasonable range. This was of course all before > topping up the electrolyte with distilled water. > > Our troubleshooting exercise looked at: > ~ Measurement error? Nope, I was right there supervising and 2 different lab > classes got the same results with 2 different instruments; > ~ Stratification? A suspicion especially since the system is usually in > float. We equalized twice, no change in SG. I DID hear that likely this was > the first time the batteries had ever been equalized, but no way to know for > sure. > ~ Spilled electrolyte from tipped battery replaced with water by a previous > instructor's class? Can't see this, all the other cells would have lost > electrolyte too; > ~ A student accidentally discharged electrolyte into the bucket instead of > back in the cell, then was replaced by distilled water when topping up? I > can't see that either, the midnite hydrometer needs only a small sample. > > So, I'm left with "likely we have a cell that is failing for some reason" and > students secretly smug that the professor is also stumped. > > Any ideas? > > > Dan Fink > Adjunct Professor, Ecotech Institute > IREC Certified Instructor™ for: > ~ PV Installation Professional > ~ Small Wind Installer > Executive Director, Buckville Energy > NABCEP Accredited Continuing Education Providers™ > 970.672.4342 > > > > _______________________________________________ > List sponsored by Redwood Alliance > > List Address: [email protected] > > Change listserver email address & settings: > http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org > > List-Archive: > http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html > > List rules & etiquette: > www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm > > Check out or update participant bios: > www.members.re-wrenches.org >
_______________________________________________ List sponsored by Redwood Alliance List Address: [email protected] Change listserver email address & settings: http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org List-Archive: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html List rules & etiquette: www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm Check out or update participant bios: www.members.re-wrenches.org
