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Cyn
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# Posted: 24 Mar 2017 12:25am
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So glad I found this board. We had a small cabin built on an island in Georgian Bay. This is off grid and we pump water with an on-demand submersible pump powered by a marine battery kept charged by a solar panel. We often have trouble with discharge during a string of dark days or an inadvertent "leak" which causes the remote pump to run the battery down. I am looking for more reliable options. Perhaps a larger battery "pack" or panel or both, but I am not necessarily solar savvy. This will be a great resource for me.
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groingo
Member
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# Posted: 24 Mar 2017 11:12am
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The first thing I would do is make sure the battery is not touching dirt or a concrete floor, you want it off the floor preferably on wood.
Second, install a simple kill switch for when you are not using it.
Are you actually getting a good charge on the battery between uses?
If it persists then get out the volt meter and find out where the juice is coming from and going too, could be the pump is like so many electronic things these days and may have an instant on feature which keeps a small current flowing all the time.
Start with these and check back.
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FishHog
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# Posted: 24 Mar 2017 11:22am
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Quoting: groingo dirt or a concrete floor
this is no longer valid. Old batteries this mattered, but no longer. Won't matter.
Larger batteries or more solar panels will help with the long stretches of dark days. Nothing will help with the leaks other than fixing the leak. True deep cycle batteries will be better than marine batteries, but you need to make sure they are in good condition, getting fully charged and your not using more than your panels are putting back in.
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Cyn
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# Posted: 24 Mar 2017 01:31pm
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We use the cottage for a couple months out of the year. The battery is charged and stored during the off season. The battery is in a wood box near the shoreline where the pump is submerged. We are ever vigilant listening for the pump coming on when there is no demand as leaks are always possible in the system that seems to be used everywhere on these islands. We have had some failure due to leaks on occasion, but mostly it seems to be demand is greater than the battery and panel can handle. I think we DO have a deep cycle battery. (I can't check till summer) and we have a spare so we can still have water while we charge one on a generator. I realize (or have been told) that total discharge of the battery means it will never function at peak again and enough times and it won't hold a charge at all. We have purchased a lot of batteries but that is not as frustrating as not having water just when you need it. So I will peruse these files to see if I can find how to build a "bigger" system that might be more dependable for those sunless stretches. I figure there must be a way to link a couple of batteries (does this actually double the storage?) but need to be know the relationship of # of batteries with size of panel. I can't recall the size of our panel but it is not very big. It's a very rudimentary system and powers our water pump only. Thanks for your info FishHog and goingo.
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FishHog
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# Posted: 24 Mar 2017 02:21pm
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absolutely can connect batteries. Just make sure you do it right. http://www.smartgauge.co.uk/batt_con.html
Marine batteries are called deep cycle, but they are really a mid grade deep cycle. 2x6volt golf cart batteries connected in series will give you 12v that will perform much better.
yes you really shouldn't discharge past 50% if you expect any kind of reasonable life out of a battery. Sounds maybe more like you need more panels. you can link multiple panels into a charge controller. It won't overcharge, but will help you keep charged.
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Cyn
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# Posted: 24 Mar 2017 03:31pm
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we have a charge controller I believe on the system we have. Thanks for all this info. I think I will buy a larger or additional panel and look into the battery. So do golf carts use deep cell batteries and if so are all true deep cell batteries the size of golf cart batteries? I may be misunderstanding (probably) The problem is *I* did not install this system but don't trust the knowledge of the person who did.
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