On Dec 12, 2025, at 11:34 AM, Jason Szumlanski via RE-wrenches
<[email protected]> wrote:
I second the chronic undercharging suggestion. We have a client with
a 64 kWh FLA battery bank that only has 2.4 kW of PV. When they
bought these batteries two years ago, they thought they could solve
all of their energy woes by just buying a bigger battery. It is
astonishing how many people don't understand that batteries
themselves do not generate electricity - they just store it. They
must think it's magic!
Anyway, with that kind of PV to storage ratio, they were probably
barely getting past the internal resistance. The batteries are
completely toast now, and the client is moving to LFP (with more
solar per my demand).
Jason Szumlanski
Principal Solar Designer | Florida Solar Design Group
NABCEP Certified Solar Professional (PVIP)
Florida State Certified Solar Contractor CVC56956
Florida Certified Electrical Contractor EC13013208
On Fri, Dec 12, 2025 at 1:32 PM Michael Morningstar via RE-wrenches
<[email protected]> wrote:
Chronic undercharging, electrolyte dilution, lack of informed
equalization, and adding water without knowledge of the how’s,
whys, and when’s will kill those batteries in no time. I’ve
pulled out to many of those heavy bastards to count, most of
them at a fresh young age because the installer didn’t educate
the clients properly.
On Fri, Dec 12, 2025 at 10:21 AM David Coale via RE-wrenches
<[email protected]> wrote:
Hi Wrenchers,
I have a client with an old off-grid Trace system and he is
having trouble with the batteries. He has HUP Solar One FLA
batteries that are about 4 years old, so they should be in
good shape. The last set lasted almost 20 years with a fair
amount of abuse.
Here is he history and what I think is going on. 7/21 they
got new batteries after about 19 years of use.
7/22 I get a call saying the batteries are not charging up
all the way. When I check out the system, the batteries
needed cleaning, and I found three low cells, and the
charger settings were back to default, not set high enough
to charge the batteries all the way (it’s always multiple
problems). The client (now a new renter, new to the system)
said he was filing the batteries once a month and
experienced some overflowing when the batteries were charged up.
I cleaned things up, reset the charging parameters and set
up an equalizing charge to even out the cells. Hopefully
this will fix things.
11/25. The client calls and said the batteries don’t charge
up all the way and he is running the generator a lot and
worried about getting though the wintertime.
When I check things out, there are three bad cells and there
is soda on the batteries. It is hard to get a good voltage
readings because of the soda. Most of the cells are reading
2.1 volts under about a 40 amp load.
Yesterday I check things out, and all the cells are reading
between 1.93 to 1.98 under a 40 amp load in the morning, and
I don’t find any bad cells. The charging voltage is never
going over about 52 volts so the system is never getting
fully charged up. The charge setting look OK, so not sure
what is going on. This is acting like an old battery pack
but these batteries are relatively new.
My guess at this point is that maybe the batteries lost acid
with the overflowing event and lost capacity. Maybe adding
acid back in would bring them back up to working order. The
SG measured at 1.150 or less.
At this point the client (renter) has had enough of these
battery problems and is wondering every morning if the
batteries will last long enough to until the sun comes up.
The renter is pushing for a replacement LFP battery, but
there should be lots of life left in this battery pack.
Let me know what you all think.
Thanks,
David
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--
Michael Morningstar
Morningstar Electric Inc
PO Box 1494
Mount Shasta, CA 96067
530-921-0560
CSLB 1116835
[email protected]
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