What to do with my 24 new 12-v batterys ?

[RVDSR]

Would like to know what kind or type of battery system I could make with these (24) 12-volt new battery's, I picked up at a auction ..? LIKE SIZE OF VERTER.........
HERE ARE THE SPECS. ON THE BATTERY ;12 Volt/204 Watts per Cell ..,Valve Regulated ,Lead Acid Battery .
DataSafe HX battery containers and covers are hermetically sealed to provide leak resistance over the life of the product.
Positive and negative plate grids made of lead-calcium-tin alloy for long life and efficient recharging . AGM separators - The electrolyte is completely absorbed into the separator .
Dimensions: 8.90"L x 5.50"W x 8.10"H
Weight: 43 Pound(s)
THANKS,RVDSR

[inetdog]

Would like to know what kind or type of battery system I could make with these (24) 12-volt new battery's, I picked up at a auction ..? LIKE SIZE OF VERTER.........
HERE ARE THE SPECS. ON THE BATTERY ;12 Volt/204 Watts per Cell ..,Valve Regulated ,Lead Acid Battery .
DataSafe HX battery containers and covers are hermetically sealed to provide leak resistance over the life of the product.
Positive and negative plate grids made of lead-calcium-tin alloy for long life and efficient recharging . AGM separators - The electrolyte is completely absorbed into the separator .
Dimensions: 8.90"L x 5.50"W x 8.10"H
Weight: 43 Pound(s)
THANKS,RVDSR

Before you do anything else, check the voltage on the batteries and put charger(s) on them if the voltages are low. They should have fairly low self-discharge with the calcium alloy, but if they were sold at auction they may not have been properly cared for. Sitting around at low charge level can destroy the batteries.

[RVDSR]

Working on it.

Before you do anything else, check the voltage on the batteries and put charger(s) on them if the voltages are low. They should have fairly low self-discharge with the calcium alloy, but if they were sold at auction they may not have been properly cared for. Sitting around at low charge level can destroy the batteries.

THE batterys were never used all cables are in box. They came inside a METAL UPS SYSTEM CABINET with rail racks & load breaker..They do have a charge but I got to find my electronic volt meter to tell the current readings...NEED TO FIND OUT WHAT SIZE SOLAR SYSTEM I CAN BUILD IF ANY !
RVDSR.

[inetdog]

THE batterys were never used all cables are in box. They came inside a METAL UPS SYSTEM CABINET with rail racks & load breaker..They do have a charge but I got to find my electronic volt meter to tell the current readings...NEED TO FIND OUT WHAT SIZE SOLAR SYSTEM I CAN BUILD IF ANY !
RVDSR.

Batteries designed for use with a UPS system are optimized for a very low internal resistance and therefore high current delivery, but are expected to spend most of their life on float charge rather than being cycled.
UPS batteries are not the best choice for an off-grid solar PV system which will be used daily. But since they were free, you may just want to use them up and replace them.
The fact that they are new in their boxes does not tell you whether they have been sitting around a long time since manufacture. Definitely check the voltages. Lower than 2 volts per cell (12 volts per battery) indicates that they are in dire need of charging.

Now, before you go off and start designing a solar system, please tell us some more about your situation. Will this be off-grid (because mobile or no utility power available)? Will it be used only for backup when utility power fails, and you want solar to allow for extended outages?
What sort of loads would you be powering?

204 watt-hours (not watts) per 12 volt battery is roughly equivalent to 17 amp-hours. That is very small for any practical PV system and trying to put more than three batteries in parallel will be asking for problems.
If you wire them in sets of 4 in series to get 48 volts, then put those six strings in parallel, you might have a useful system. But it might well not be worth designing the rest of the system around those batteries.

[RVDSR]

batterys

Batteries designed for use with a UPS system are optimized for a very low internal resistance and therefore high current delivery, but are expected to spend most of their life on float charge rather than being cycled.
UPS batteries are not the best choice for an off-grid solar PV system which will be used daily. But since they were free, you may just want to use them up and replace them.
The fact that they are new in their boxes does not tell you whether they have been sitting around a long time since manufacture. Definitely check the voltages. Lower than 2 volts per cell (12 volts per battery) indicates that they are in dire need of charging.

Now, before you go off and start designing a solar system, please tell us some more about your situation. Will this be off-grid (because mobile or no utility power available)? Will it be used only for backup when utility power fails, and you want solar to allow for extended outages?
What sort of loads would you be powering?

204 watt-hours (not watts) per 12 volt battery is roughly equivalent to 17 amp-hours. That is very small for any practical PV system and trying to put more than three batteries in parallel will be asking for problems.
If you wire them in sets of 4 in series to get 48 volts, then put those six strings in parallel, you might have a useful system. But it might well not be worth designing the rest of the system around those batteries.

WELL at least I know that by the date stamp the cabinet was made 1/20/2013...IT was to be set up for 288 volts...WHAT I don't get is it says 204w/cell.wouldn't that be X6 cells in a battery =1224 w..? ANYWAY IM going to use for a back up for my generator .If I run out of gas & propane. and the electric stay out....

[inetdog]

WELL at least I know that by the date stamp the cabinet was made 1/20/2013...IT was to be set up for 288 volts...WHAT I don't get is it says 204w/cell.wouldn't that be X6 cells in a battery =1224 w..? ANYWAY IM going to use for a back up for my generator .If I run out of gas & propane. and the electric stay out....

The UPS can convert low voltage DC (e.g. 12 volt) to higher voltage AC (e.g. 120 volt). There is no need for the total battery DC voltage to match the AC voltage in any way.

The particular UPS that the cabinet was made for may have used the batteries in series to get more power with less need for large wire or may have used some combination of series and parallel. The wiring inside the cabinet and the connecting wires that came with the batteries should let you determine that. But there is no need for you to wire them up in the same way.

And the 204 watts per cell almost certainly is 204 watt-hours. That is, crudely, 204 watts for one hour or 102 watts for two hours, or more likely for a short-term UPS, 408 watts for a little less than half an hour.
The watt-hour capacities of the batteries add up whether they are used in parallel or in series.

Since you do not have the actual UPS, just the batteries, you would have to figure out what kind of inverter would meet your needs.

(If you do have the UPS part too, then you need to find out what its specifications are. It probably lists various combinations of power and time depending on how many optional batteries you use.)

[Sunking]

Well what you have is Enersys 12HX205 12 volt 44 AH batteries made for UPS systems using a Float Charge Algorithm at 13.5 volts and can be charged as high as a 1 hour rate of 50 amps. They are not made for cycle service like used in RE systems. They are designed to be discharged as high as 15 minute rate (4C) or 44 AH / .25 h = 176 amps.

If you put them into cycle service and could actually recharge them fully each day will give you as little as 50 cycles if deeply discharged, or up to about 200 to 300 cycles if shallow discharged. Less than a year service.

I have no clue where you are picking up 204 watts, as it is meaningless with respect to this battery.

[RVDSR]

Well what you have is Enersys 12HX205 12 volt 44 AH batteries made for UPS systems using a Float Charge Algorithm at 13.5 volts and can be charged as high as a 1 hour rate of 50 amps. They are not made for cycle service like used in RE systems. They are designed to be discharged as high as 15 minute rate (4C) or 44 AH / .25 h = 176 amps.

If you put them into cycle service and could actually recharge them fully each day will give you as little as 50 cycles if deeply discharged, or up to about 200 to 300 cycles if shallow discharged. Less than a year service.

I have no clue where you are picking up 204 watts, as it is meaningless with respect to this battery.

EnerSys DataSafe 12HX205-FR - 12 Volt/204 Watts per Cell. 15 min.
Valve Regulated Lead Acid Battery with Recessed Threaded M6 Terminal...
FLOAT VOLTAGE -13.6 +- 0.1V AT 77`F

[russ]

Knock off the attempts at emphasis by using caps - it is annoying and of no use.

[inetdog]

EnerSys DataSafe 12HX205-FR - 12 Volt/204 Watts per Cell. 15 min.
Valve Regulated Lead Acid Battery with Recessed Threaded M6 Terminal...
FLOAT VOLTAGE -13.6 +- 0.1V AT 77`F

If you go to the manufacturer's site rather than a reseller's site, you get a different set of data.
Included there is the value of 205 watts for the column watts per cell at 15 minute rate to 1.67 volts per cell. That value for the battery would be 6 times that, or
1230 watts over 15 minutes, for a total of 307.5 watt-hours per battery at the 1/4 hour rate. That is completely consistent with an 8-hour-rate AH value of 44 (to 1.75 volts per cell), or very roughly (since the voltage will not be constant) 528 watt-hours at 8 hour rate.

Does not change in the least what the cells are good for as Dereck has described, just explains why the specifically UPS-related power over 15 minutes may have been written on the battery.

[RVDSR]

Knock off the attempts at emphasis by using caps - it is annoying and of no use.

YOU HAVE ENOUGHT PROBLEMS OVER THERE !!!! ThEn Worry AbouT hOw I Type........

[RVDSR]

If you go to the manufacturer's site rather than a reseller's site, you get a different set of data.
Included there is the value of 205 watts for the column watts per cell at 15 minute rate to 1.67 volts per cell. That value for the battery would be 6 times that, or
1230 watts over 15 minutes, for a total of 307.5 watt-hours per battery at the 1/4 hour rate. That is completely consistent with an 8-hour-rate AH value of 44 (to 1.75 volts per cell), or very roughly (since the voltage will not be constant) 528 watt-hours at 8 hour rate.

Does not change in the least what the cells are good for as Dereck has described, just explains why the specifically UPS-related power over 15 minutes may have been written on the battery.

The info was written on the SIDE of the battery !.. IM not into all the numbers, I 'M just wanting to know what inverter/converter Would work with then besides the ORIGINAL.,Thats not to Pricey ......

[russ]

YOU HAVE ENOUGHT PROBLEMS OVER THERE !!!! ThEn Worry AbouT hOw I Type........

Maybe he will be wiser after a week off. Next time will be permanent.

[Sunking]

The info was written on the SIDE of the battery !.. IM not into all the numbers, I 'M just wanting to know what inverter/converter Would work with then besides the ORIGINAL.,Thats not to Pricey ......

Any inverter you want from 12 volts to 288 volts. But none of them will be cheap. Heck even the wiring will be expensive. These batteries are not suitable for your use.

Sure you can go buy a 1000 watt 12 volt inverter up to a 50 KVA. But use it a year and the batteries are shot and with 24 of them in parallel very high chance of a fire. Just exactly how would you charge them? If by solar 2000 watts of panels configured as 24 volts with a 80 amp MPPT charge controller or $4000 worth to generate you 20-cents worth of electricity per day. In less than a year you will be buying real batteries at a replacement cost of $2500.

The batteries are made for Emergency Standby Float Service. They are not made for cycle service. These particular batteries are made to fit inside a medium size UPS. At 288 volts or 24 of them most likely a 3-phase 208/120 50 Kva UPS to run a Bank or small company Server Room.

[SunEagle]

Maybe he will be wiser after a week off. Next time will be permanent.

Ouch. Remind me not to piss you off.