Hello All; I would question the client about the origin of this battery bank. New, used, how long in storage and in service, etc. If he bought these new, that's a very expensive battery bank!
Usually when I've run into banks of massively parallel, low amp-hour sealed lead acid batteries, the origin was "a great surplus deal on a whole bunch of batteries from wheelchairs/UPS units/manufacturer overrun etc." My BS meter on the manufacturer Batcap was triggered by a few things.... -The company is focused on selling audiophiles xxxscratch thatxxx punks with car stereos so loud they set off car alarms 6 spots down. They need lots of amps right now to thump that bass. - The company name Batcap targets the capacitor boost market for this application, but actually a dedicated battery is a great idea, as it would recharge quickly from the (often up-sized) car alternator. But some folks seem to think the name implies there's a capacitor involved. There isn't. Sneaky language in the company name. - Sealed, low internal resistance, 100-125 amp-hours. Sounds like a stock AGM to me, compared to a VRSLA. - Spec sheet contains grammatical errors that indicate the writer does not speak English as a first language. - "Solar" seems to have been added to the website and battery label stickers as an afterthought....and 30 years cycle life in a solar application? Has Batcap been around for 30 years? Sounds like somebody importing Asian AGMs and sticking them with new stickers. DAN FINK Buckville Energy Consulting, Box Prairie CO 970-672-4342 On Tue, Nov 20, 2018, 23:28 Mick Abraham <m...@abrahamsolar.com wrote: > Hello, Drake & All~ > > Drake described his service dilemma about batteries bought elsewhere & > whether to correct the original hinky pack wiring (copied below). My reply > below may seem cynical & I may seem too eager to declare the existing > battery as: "Failed". Call me jaded. > > Mick's $0.02 is: If there's no amp-hour monitor in the system, I suggest > you first try to persuade the homeowner to buy a metering shunt & a modest > amp-hour meter such as the Tri-Metric--which could be used to measure & > display the battery bank's amp-hour capacity. If the client won't approve > that expenditure (& hourly labor for explanations), the service tech is > hamstrung. Nobody can measure the health of a battery bank by just looking > at it or talking about it...and clients sometimes receive the inevitable > "battery bad news" if they are shown the diminished capacity on a digital > display after an equitably managed "pump & dump". > > Your thought, Drake, of holding back on any re-wiring of the battery > pack...seems prudent...until the first set of amp-hour measurements are > recorded as a baseline. From there...a common pattern is a series of > attempted remediation efforts--all for pay, of course--until the homeowner > acknowledges that it's time to start afresh. > > Oops, I left out an important step: getting a read on whether the client > has the money for new batteries or not. I'm personally terrible at getting > that reconnaissance done early enough. If the client isn't materially > blessed to be able to get new batteries, they might be better off spending > limited funds on fuel for the engine generator instead of on battery > testing & tutorials. > > The Wrench List is the Bomb~ > > Mick Abraham, Proprietor > www.abrahamsolar.com > > Landline: 970-731-4675 > Cell phone or for text messaging: 970-946-6584 > >> >> ---------- Forwarded message ---------- >> From: Drake <drake.chamber...@redwoodalliance.org> >> To: RE-wrenches <re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org> >> Cc: >> Bcc: >> Date: Tue, 20 Nov 2018 11:41:17 -0500 >> Subject: [RE-wrenches] Batt Cap AGM >> Hello Wrenches, >> >> An owner of an existing system has a bank of twenty, 100 AH, 12 V Deep >> cycle batteries of the Batcap >> <http://www.xstaticbatcap.com/what-is-a-batcap-.html> >> <http://www.xstaticbatcap.com/what-is-a-batcap-.html>brand. >> >> The bank is made up of four sets of 5 batteries in parallel to produce *500 >> AH battery sets at 12 V.* These four parallel sets are then wired in >> series to give a 48 V nominal bank. >> >> The battery voltages vary from around 13 to 15 volts. The bank is about 5 >> years old. The CEO of Batcap told the system owner that these batteries >> have lasted up to 30 years in solar applications, so he has high >> expectations for these batteries being around for a while. >> >> My first impulse is to rewire the bank in a normal series - parallel >> configuration. But there are too many strings to do this without a bus bar. >> Besides, the batteries are likely damaged, and rewiring them might cause >> the bank to exhibit unsuspected problems. How much money is worth putting >> into this bank? $0? >> >> The owner seems like a reliable guy who likely hired the wrong installer. >> He could use some help. What would you do in this situation? Rewire the >> bank, leave it well enough alone or run for the hills. >> >> Thanks, >> >> Drake >> >> Drake Chamberlin >> >> >> >> >> >> *Athens Electric LLC OH License 44810 CO License 3773 NABCEP Certified >> Solar PV 740-448-7328 *http://athens-electric.com/ >> >> ᐧ > ᐧ > _______________________________________________ > 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 > >
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