Inverter Battery Opinions

[donP]

Salesman's Chatter

Mr. AE asked him which he would buy if it was for HIS house. No hesitation, he pointed to the Interstate batteries.

Hmm, the decisive question is whether he HAS a house and/or inverters with a battery bank...

donP

 

[MikeFisher]

Hmm, the decisive question is whether he HAS a house and/or inverters with a battery bank...

donP

exactly also my thought when i read it, lol.
i would have taken the exact opposite of his recommendation, just to stay on the save side.

Mike

 

[dv8]

he may have 1kw inversor with 2 batteries nicked from carros publicos.

 

[AlterEgo]

Interstate also makes good batteries. I use their batteries for cars. I suspect their deep cycle batteries are also good. What is the model of Interstate battery you have?

Not sure what the model # is, these are on the battery: GC2-HD-UT and RS115AH225

 

[FOURFAN]

if you have a good forklift mechanic (electric) he can show you proper maintenance and charging methods. my forklift batteries are 5,000 usd each but I pay someone to maintain. Batteries should last years not months. I admit should listen to him as I forget most everything he told me.
but never let your batteries get below the plates and keep full of water is what I can remember. charging batteries is a slow methodical process to keep them working correct.

 

[donP]

Take good care of your batteries!

if you have a good forklift mechanic (electric) he can show you proper maintenance and charging methods.

You mean a good Dominican forklift mechanic?
Ah, e' facil.... :bunny:

my forklift batteries are 5,000 usd each but I pay someone to maintain.

That's good.
Could it be that forklift batteries are better than my Trojan T-105's......?? :ermm:
{Last time I checked, La Sirena had just run out of forklift batteries... }

but never let your batteries get below the plates and keep full of water is what I can remember.

Yes, always full of water, or something like that...
Batteries below the plates.... Yes, bad.

donP

 

[windeguy]

Not sure what the model # is, these are on the battery: GC2-HD-UT and RS115AH225

The first number works:

Interstate Batteries Golf Detail Page - Interstate GC2-HD-UT 6-Volt Golf Car Battery replacement battery

At 216 AH they are a bit lower in capacity than the Trojan T105 at 225 AH.

 

[AlterEgo]

The first number works:

Interstate Batteries Golf Detail Page - Interstate GC2-HD-UT 6-Volt Golf Car Battery replacement battery

At 216 AH they are a bit lower in capacity than the Trojan T105 at 225 AH.

Interesting that the webpage says 216AH, but if you look at the 2nd set of #'s I posted it says AH225. I didn't know what it meant until you posted.

 

[windeguy]

Mine are 5K plus as well. I've bought a few, and it hurts to buy those suckers.

I've always been told it's better to run the battery down to about 20% capacity before you recharge. Topping them off every night is not the ideal way to maintain them.


.

I have never been told that going down to 20% is good for a lead acid wet cell battery. Going down to 50% minimum is OK, below that, they become more stressed. They last longer the more charged they remain. (Keeping in mind if they need equalization.)

 

[windeguy]

Interesting that the webpage says 216AH, but if you look at the 2nd set of #'s I posted it says AH225. I didn't know what it meant until you posted.

It makes me wonder if that number, RS115AH225 , was added "locally".
Before I was familiar with these types batteries I bought some red "Energy Power" (Not the black ENERGY Model sold a lot here) batteries that were labelled at 250AH. They were actually 205 AH, which I found out after calling the manufacturer which turned out to be CROWN Battery in the US.

 

[FOURFAN]

You mean a good Dominican forklift mechanic?
Ah, e' facil.... :bunny:


That's good.
Could it be that forklift batteries are better than my Trojan T-105's......?? :ermm:
{Last time I checked, La Sirena had just run out of forklift batteries... }


Yes, always full of water, or something like that...
Batteries below the plates.... Yes, bad.

donP

just trying to be helpful sorry if it offended

 

[windeguy]

donP is just being a wise guy. He knows that the same deep cycle batteries used in forklifts are used for inverter/charger systems here. Hopefully the Interstate ones will work at least as well as the Trojans.

 

[Olly]

Windeguy
This is a quote ==
For longest life, batteries should stay in the green zone. Occasional dips into the yellow are not harmful, but continual discharges to those levels will shorten battery life considerably.

State of Charge 12 Volt battery 24 Volt Battery Volts per Cell
100% 12.7 25.44 2.12
90% 12.5 24.96 2.08
80% 12.42 24.84 2.07
70% 12.32 24.6 2.05
60% 12.20 24.36 2.03
50% 12.06 24.12 2.01
40% 11.9 23.76 1.98
30% 11.75 23.52 1.96
20% 11.58 23.16 1.93
10% 11.31 22.68 1.89
0 10.5 21.0 1.75

Hope that helps

Olly and the Team

 

[windeguy]

Close enough to what I have seen (and been told verbally when I called the manufacturers) before at 50% with the 40% you have shown.

 

[jstarebel]

Mine are 5K plus as well. I've bought a few, and it hurts to buy those suckers.

I've always been told it's better to run the battery down to about 20% capacity before you recharge. Topping them off every night is not the ideal way to maintain them.

You also do not add water before you charge. Once it's fully charged, then you top off each cell as needed to the bottom lip of the fill hole(no more, overfilling is not good)

Chargers are meant to take around 8 hours to fully charge the battery.

The ideal cycle for a forklift battery is 8 hours of use(80% discharge) 8 hours of charging, and 8 hours of "rest" then repeat.

I always understood to never run your battery banks below 11.4 volts. Also, my charge controller as does my wind generator automatically regulates the output of volts and amps during float periods and rarely do I see my batteries below 12v.

 

[windeguy]

I always understood to never run your battery banks below 11.4 volts. Also, my charge controller as does my wind generator automatically regulates the output of volts and amps during float periods and rarely do I see my batteries below 12v.

12 volts would be about 40% on the chart I have, which is taken from the Xantrex documentation. 11.4 would be very low.

Most of the time the battery here banks have four 6 volt batteries so that would translate to 22.8 volts which would be damagingly low.

 

[jstarebel]

12 volts would be about 40% on the chart I have, which is taken from the Xantrex documentation. 11.4 would be very low.

Most of the time the battery here banks have four 6 volt batteries so that would translate to 22.8 volts which would be damagingly low.

Disagree with 22volts. 14.6 volts.. my controller shuts down and goes into float. I believe that 22 volts would fry my batteries and my 12v stuff on my boat. Going into the controller is another matter.

 

[windeguy]

Disagree with 22volts. 14.6 volts.. my controller shuts down and goes into float. I believe that 22 volts would fry my batteries and my 12v stuff on my boat. Going into the controller is another matter.

What exact batteries are you using and what ? I am talking about flooded lead acid batteries like most people use for battery inverter systems here. At 22 volts a chain of four 6 volt sealed lead acid batteries are below "empty".

This is the table from the old Trace DR series (DR stands for Dominican Republic - the Viet Nam of charger/inverters) of inverter chargers found at page 107 of this manual:
http://pdf.wholesalesolar.com/inverter pdf folder/XantrexDROwnersManual.pdf

Please note that first entry in each line in for a 12 volt system, then a 24 volt system, then a 48 volt system followed by the individual cell voltages . The editor for posting on DR1 is anything by WYSIWYG:


Table B-6
Battery State-of-Charge
System Voltage ------------
% 12 24 48 Individual Cell
100% 12.7 25.4 50.8 2.12
90% 12.6 25.2 50.4 2.10
80% 12.5 25.0 50.0 2.08
70% 12.3 24.6 49.2 2.05
60% 12.2 24.4 48.8 2.03
50% 12.1 24.2 48.4 2.02
40% 12.0 24.0 48.0 2.00
30% 11.8 23.6 47.2 1.97
20% 11.7 23.4 46.8 1.95
10% 11.6 23.2 46.4 1.93
0% <11.6 <23.2 <46.4 <1.93

 

[donP]

Misunderstanding?

14.6 is the charge rate.

Volts, Amperes?
Of what? 6 Volt batteries?

14.6 x 2 = 29.2 ?
29.2 V is the Bulk Voltage (= max. normal charging voltage for a typical charger setting (on TRACE inverts) for a 24-V Deep Cycle Lead/Acid battery cell (of 4).

22 volts is the total voltage for the 4 batteries.

If that is measured on 4 batteries @ 6 Volts, then they are (very) dead. :dead:

It's not charging at 22V.

True.

Four fully charged batteries should have a little over 24V.

Make that 25.4 Volts....

24V = about 40% charge left


donP

 

[windeguy]

14.6 is the charge rate. 22 volts is the total voltage for the 4 batteries. It's not charging at 22V.

Four fully charged batteries should have a little over 24V.

Four fully charged batteries will read 25.4 volts. It is all in the link I posted.