[RE-wrenches] Batt Cap AGM

[Mick Abraham]

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 
> To: RE-wrenches 
> 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
> 
> 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
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Re: [RE-wrenches] Batt Cap AGM

[jerrysgarage01]

Wrenches, DrakeYou may consider contacting "Batcap" and bank if they have a 
best practice for the battery configuration, this might be it but at least a 
starting point. I have had multi string batteries that seamed to like being 
rotated through the bank, sounds like alot of work and it is but this will swap 
higher resistance strings for lower ones. I'm sure you know this but each 
battery has internal resistance to charge and even discharge so rotating them 
reduces the effect and may in time help to improve the battery life. JerrySent 
from my Verizon, Samsung Galaxy smartphone
 Original message From: Drake 
 Date: 11/20/18  8:41 AM  (GMT-08:00) To: 
RE-wrenches  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

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/

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[RE-wrenches] Batt Cap AGM

[Drake]

Hello Wrenches,

An owner of an existing system has a bank of twenty, 100 AH, 12 V 
Deep cycle batteries of the 
Batcap 
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/
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