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  • #61
    UPDATE: That week took longer than I thought! Got my hydrometer a month ago and tested the cells. All were within the "Good" range, i.e., 1230 or higher, and some near 1270. Couldn't believe that, and figured I didn't know what I was doing, so I let it go and had my solar guy test them today. Same results. I EQd the batteries today and then re-tested the cells once I was in Float stage. All cells were within 5-10 points of each other and right around 1260-1265. He had reconnected the string of panels that wasn't working (bad connector and not the right size wire) and they worked great -- it was good to see 1800 watts again on a sunny day!

    I added water to all the cells after I tested them this afternoon thinking that maybe the readings were high because the water levels were a tad low(no exposed plates, though) thus artificially increasing the SG level since it wasn't diluted enough. Not even sure if that's a thing. Anyway, I'll test the cells again tomorrow evening after it's through cycling tomorrow. Here's hoping for similar results as today.

    Dan

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    • #62
      Dan, Sunking and others...
      I'm in a very similar situation as Dan here. We bought an off-grid house 4 months ago having never heard of deep cycle batteries, inverters, charge controllers etc
      The previous owner told us we had to use a hydrometer, but of course we never did.

      So having similar symptoms as Dan had with his batteries I read all the previous pages very carefully and they've already been a massive, massive help. It allows us to do some testing etc to try and find out what our current situation is and how damaged the batteries are.After I've done all my tests and noted down some benchmarks I will open up a new thread for this, explaining everything as detailed as possible. Before reading this thread I hardly didn't even notice we had a problem!

      I just wanted to say that this thread felt a bit like a good movie without a proper ending
      What would be the final conclusion/ guess with regards to the big difference in voltage between evenings and mornings Dan was having? I assume the absorb/ float stage wasn't reached due to lack of voltage as he was running on 50% of his solar panels? How is it possible that everything was immediately fine again after the issue with the panels got fixed?
      I sincerely hope someone can clear this up

      Woutah

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      • #63
        Originally posted by Woutah View Post
        Dan, Sunking and others...
        I'm in a very similar situation as Dan here. We bought an off-grid house 4 months ago having never heard of deep cycle batteries, inverters, charge controllers etc
        The previous owner told us we had to use a hydrometer, but of course we never did.

        So having similar symptoms as Dan had with his batteries I read all the previous pages very carefully and they've already been a massive, massive help. It allows us to do some testing etc to try and find out what our current situation is and how damaged the batteries are.After I've done all my tests and noted down some benchmarks I will open up a new thread for this, explaining everything as detailed as possible. Before reading this thread I hardly didn't even notice we had a problem!

        I just wanted to say that this thread felt a bit like a good movie without a proper ending
        What would be the final conclusion/ guess with regards to the big difference in voltage between evenings and mornings Dan was having? I assume the absorb/ float stage wasn't reached due to lack of voltage as he was running on 50% of his solar panels? How is it possible that everything was immediately fine again after the issue with the panels got fixed?
        I sincerely hope someone can clear this up

        Woutah
        Dan has not posted or even logged in here since June of 2015. I would not spend a lot more time waiting for a reply.
        SunnyBoy 3000 US, 18 BP Solar 175B panels.

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        • #64
          Hi Woutah,

          Inetdog is right, I haven't posted anything since I had my problems. If there is an ending to my issue, and a moral, make sure you size your batteries properly to begin with so that you aren't discharging so much every day, and make sure you equalize your batteries monthly. There are a lot smarter people on this forum than me and they can help you about sizing, etc. much better than I can. I have been able to use the same battery bank since I first posted back in April 2015, and if it's even a partly cloudy day I can get to the Float stage, but if there are two consecutive days of heavy clouds, snow, etc. I will have to turn on my generator to charge the batteries enough to get us through the night. If/when the sun comes up good and strong like it usually does in Colorado, we're good to go all day and overnight. Not sure how much longer that will last for me and I realize I will need new batteries pretty soon -- an expensive lesson for sure! You are absolutely in the right place, though, to get your questions answered. Even with my expensive lesson, solar sure as hell beats paying the utility company anything!

          Dan

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          • #65
            Long time no talk to! 6 years later from my last post, I still have that same battery bank and have been able to use it to power our needs enough to get us through the day and night, but not much more. We no longer live there full-time, but are there every two weeks or so. Finally, we are done with the batteries. Can't even make it through the night with only ghost energy and a heat tape -- maybe 40 watts. So, new batteries for us. Has battery technology improved yet? Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

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            • #66
              If you are able to keep Li batteries above freezing, they should be considered, but lots of care in their choice.
              Powerfab top of pole PV mount (2) | Listeroid 6/1 w/st5 gen head | XW6048 inverter/chgr | Iota 48V/15A charger | Morningstar 60A MPPT | 48V, 800A NiFe Battery (in series)| 15, Evergreen 205w "12V" PV array on pole | Midnight ePanel | Grundfos 10 SO5-9 with 3 wire Franklin Electric motor (1/2hp 240V 1ph ) on a timer for 3 hr noontime run - Runs off PV ||
              || Midnight Classic 200 | 10, Evergreen 200w in a 160VOC array ||
              || VEC1093 12V Charger | Maha C401 aa/aaa Charger | SureSine | Sunsaver MPPT 15A

              solar: http://tinyurl.com/LMR-Solar
              gen: http://tinyurl.com/LMR-Lister

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              • #67
                Originally posted by dalyxxdj View Post
                ......... Has battery technology improved yet? Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!
                I have been using LFP batteries for over ten years and the improvements have been some increase in energy density by weight and an increase in density by volume mostly from changing to a thinner cell wall (aluminum versus ribbed plastic. Prices have come down and I was able to find some reputable vendors in China.and purchased 42 kWhs of LFP cells for about $150 per kWh. Most of the LFP cells are coming out of China and local sources are available in the USA for slightly higher prices.
                The current port delays have made getting cells direct from China a longer process. In addition there are some preassembled packs with BMSs and overload protection from USA distributors. Those are selling for about $300 per kWh. As mentioned, if you expect temperatures around freezing you may want to consider various ways to mitigate that risk. There are many examples on the Internet.

                9 kW solar, 42kWh LFP storage. EV owner since 2012

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                • #68
                  Thanks, Ampster and Mike90250 -- let me do some research on some of these things and I likely will have some follow-up questions for you. It would be very hard for us to keep it from getting below freezing in the winter as we don't live there full time now, but I'll so some research. If we had good batteries, I suppose I would be able run something (heat tape?) while we aren't there to keep the batteries from freezing. Thanks again, and stay tuned.....

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