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ten90
Member
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# Posted: 26 Jul 2019 07:30am
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Hi everyone, thanks for the warm welcomes from everyone since I have joined this forum.
I have an opportunity to purchase a used solar system from my wife's co-worker. She is recently widowed and decided to put her cottage on the grid when it was time to replace her batteries.
I do not have any specifics of the system yet, but will be going up in a week to it.
My biggest concern is that apparently, the batteries need replacing because they have bulged. From what I remember, this is normally due to overcharging. Would this mean that the charge controller is not functioning properly?
She is not technical in the least bit, so to gain a history of what happened would not be possible.
Anyways, I thought I would add a few pictures of the system. If anyone has some thoughts of the cause of bulging, as well as just some thoughts of the system as a whole, it would be appreciated! I think it's a 24v system.
I will update the post with the specs when I get up there and see it.
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creeky
Member
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# Posted: 26 Jul 2019 09:03am
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Pop the white caps. Do you see clean plates or fuzzy ones?
Looks pretty clean. Time to find you some lithium. smile.
MagnaSine. What's the age? But good equipment. If with slightly higher mtbf than some. (mean time between failure).
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NorthRick
Member
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# Posted: 26 Jul 2019 04:40pm - Edited by: NorthRick
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Are the batteries still taking a charge and providing power? Where are they stored at?
A discharged flooded lead-acid battery will freeze in below freezing temps (however, fully charged they are good to something like -80f). My coworker's batteries partially froze but he thawed them out and they are functioning just fine now. I'm sure that shortened their lives but it didn't end them.
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Steve_S
Member
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# Posted: 27 Jul 2019 03:18pm
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Once you get up there and get the stuff, write down / photograph Model numbers of the equipment you have, solar panels (back labels) and get the brand & Model PN of those batteries. I can find NO INFO on Power Surge Deep Cycle IF that's what they are...
LINK http://www.powrsurgebatteries.com/deep-cycle.html
Outback is First Tier product and good stuff overall.
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Brettny
Member
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# Posted: 28 Jul 2019 08:11am
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I would not worry much about a bit of bulge in the batterys if they function correctly. But if you cant get them cheap, about 25 percent of new i woulnt bother with those batterys. They look to be just golf cart batterys. If she dosnt know the history they prob where not properly taken care of so wont be much good.
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ten90
Member
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# Posted: 28 Jul 2019 03:48pm
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Seriously considering lithiums.
I am just concerned about wintertime. I am about 500 yards from the snowmobile trails and it would be nice to get up there once in a while to use them.
I am worried about keeping the lithiums warm when I am not there.
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ICC
Member
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# Posted: 28 Jul 2019 04:14pm - Edited by: ICC
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Lithium don't need to be kept warm when sitting there doing nothing. They only need to be warm when charging. Totally safe to leave them with a middling sort of charge level, say 60-70%, and leave the solar charging system (or any other charge system) OFF. When you get there you can discharge safely but they need to be warmed before charging. That can be as simple as having the batteries inside where they get warmed as you heat up the cabin. Lithium batteries self discharge at an extremely slow rate. I've had cells sit for over a year with minimal loss of voltage. FYI, they store better when partially charged than when fully charged.
Creeky asked whether or not the plates look clean or fuzzy when you look inside. That's a good clue to the condition. You might want to set things up and try them, or just switch to lithium and avoid the potential hassles of lead-acid batteries. Those lead-acid batteries should be recycled... look up a metal recycler near you.
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creeky
Member
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# Posted: 29 Jul 2019 08:18am
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Following up on ICC.
Typically we lower the voltage to 60-80% of full for storage. So if you leave at 80 you can actually use the batteries without recharging. Just down to 40-60%. So if you're popping in for a weekend of skidooing. You can at least have lights.
If you do warm the batteries up. Then you can recharge as well.
Lead gets a good $ at the recycler.
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ten90
Member
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# Posted: 2 Aug 2019 03:15pm - Edited by: ten90
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So I ended up settling on a price that worked for both of us for the system.
The system was installed in the fall of 2011 and this summer, the owner bit the bullet and had hydro run to her place. She no longer has any use for solar.
I ended up with:
Power Inverter:
MAGNUM 4000W 24V INVERTER/CHARGER
URL
and remote:
URL
Charge Controller:
OUTBACK 60A FM60 MPPT CHARGE CONTROLLER
URL
Solar Panels:
And the Solar Panels
2 of the panels are 185 watts - Kyocera and 2 of the panels are 235 watts - Sharp.
I am thinking of upgrading the 185-watt panels to 275 as well - thoughts?
The batteries were left uncharged last winter and several of them have bulged. If anything, they will be good for core and then I'll upgrade.
As well as all of this, all the breakers, wiring, etc is mine as well when I go and take them down come this September.
I think I did okay...
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Steve_S
Member
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# Posted: 3 Aug 2019 03:33pm
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Sounds like you scored a good deal on the equipment, sadly those FLA's are likely cooked beyond recovery... You "could" try & desulphated them for 4 hours but might not be a good plan IF they are bulged.
On the Panels, Replace the 185's ? Keep em and add 2 300+ Watt panels and your good to go.
Now comes the Battery Shopping, at this point in time LifePO4 is close to FLA pricing, recovered / upcycled Lithium from EV's = best bang for buck (for an offgridder), there is Carbon Lead too which is really good and NOT like FLA but TBH Lithium Variant is the way to go.
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ten90
Member
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# Posted: 5 Aug 2019 08:00am - Edited by: ten90
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That is a great idea to add an additional 2 panels to the existing 4. I am pretty sure the charge controller can handle it.
Does anyone know of a good source (Ontario) for batteries?
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Steve_S
Member
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# Posted: 5 Aug 2019 08:27am
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Ontario... LOL.... several of us are in Ontario...
Creeky is near Kemptville !
https://bobolinksolar.com/product-category/lithium-battery-packs/
FLEXMAX 60 SPECIFICATIONS
12 VDC systems 900 Watts / 24 VDC systems 1800 Watts / 48 VDC systems 3600 Watts / 60 VDC Systems 4500 Watts
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creeky
Member
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# Posted: 5 Aug 2019 09:15am
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I'm in Perth now. Smile. and thx for the tip o'the hat.
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Wilbour
Member
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# Posted: 5 Aug 2019 09:45pm
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Should be easy to find us off the grid solar junkies. Wait for the next county wide power outage and we will be sitting in our living rooms watching tv like nothing's happened.
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