new NiFe battery bank avaib, orignal buyer ???

[plataoplomo]

Thank you

[Mike90250]

no, I don't have that info. On good news, my bank still is going strong, but it's still drinking distilled water like a camel.

[plataoplomo]

commissioning was months light/no loads, and 40amps solar charge.

Hello,

I presume that you have a 40 cell bank of NiFe cells. Correct?

Do you happen to remember, roughly, what your NiFe cell voltage was at the end of your long commissioning cycle?

Thank you

[Sunking]

Good job. I made my own battery lugs out of copper pipe, I never thought of tinning them. I guess that is a good way to stave off corrosion. Lugs are damn expensive.

Corrosion should never be an issue if treated and terminated properly. You need to discover NO-OX-ID A Special and learn how to use it. There are 40 year old battery plants out there with absolutely no corrosion issues.

[inetdog]

Not the same chemistry, but in early development of cylindrical NiCd batteries the military did an overcharge test on some 2 AH D cells. After months of 1C charging (with cooling) they tested them and found they now had 10AH cells.

[Mike90250]

from what I recall,, it's slow with NiFe if you can't hith them hard, but it does not damage them. And I'm living on them, not able to flatten them to measure capacity, But last year when I increased absorb time, I saw a big increase in voltage hold overnight, and much better this winter

[plataoplomo]

commissioning was months light/no loads, and 40amps solar charge.

I remember reading somewhere that back in the day in L/A cells the "forming charge" was really critical.

I am wondering if a similar situation exists with Nickel cells?

Have you ever run your bank down and measured the capacity?

[Higher-Ground Farm]

Good job. I made my own battery lugs out of copper pipe, I never thought of tinning them. I guess that is a good way to stave off corrosion. Lugs are damn expensive.

[Mike90250]

Is that just a regular 3/4" copper pipe you are using? What are you tinning it with, just regular lead? Great Photos!

I forgot what size pipe it was, 3/4 or 1", I had to go up 1 size from my prototype, to not punch the hole through 95% of the meat, it was the thicker, underground rated rigid copper in 10 foot sticks, not coiled thinwall tubing. It was about 50/50 tin lead, used a couple rolls of electrical solder and a block of plumbers lead, lots of wire brush inside and out, and lots of flux. Then a good wash to get the acid based flux out, and flattened and tinned again, Still look like new now,
If it's worth doing, it's worth overdoing !

[Higher-Ground Farm]

Is that just a regular 3/4" copper pipe you are using? What are you tinning it with, just regular lead? Great Photos!

[plataoplomo]

The spec is nearly impossible to achieve with a modest setup

Thank you very much.

[Mike90250]

commissioning was months light/no loads, and 40amps solar charge. Now with the extra array and generator, I can hit 95A when the sun is good.
The spec is nearly impossible to achieve with a modest setup, and the charger in my inverter has a 100A limit, won't be easy to get more than that without going to 480V @ 3 phase.

[plataoplomo]

No, I did not have that much power either with the generator or solar combined, I had to do a long commissioning cycle

Thank you.

I understand. Especially about loading and seasonal tweaking. Just for my own curiosity, please describe the commissioning you did. What amperage for how long.?

[Mike90250]

.....
When you applied the first charge to the cells, do you remember the charging current and number of amp hours you put in?
....

No, I did not have that much power either with the generator or solar combined, I had to do a long commissioning cycle, and because of local conditions took over a year to get the summer and winter settings (they are both different) dialed in, Because every system and loading is different, every setup us very custom, unless it's overbuilt and then it's very expensive with wasted capacity.

[plataoplomo]

So far, doing ok. Oct 2011 install.

Thank you for the update.

I have a question.

If my memory serves me, The current manual recommends a commissioning charge at the C/8 rate for 160% of capacity.

When you applied the first charge to the cells, do you remember the charging current and number of amp hours you put in?

Thank you