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shadiya

rechargeable battery suggestions

Has anybody any recommendations for good quality batteries that hold their charge well? I read an article somewhere claiming there were some new super duper ones but now of course, I can't remember where.... I now have a rather random selection of mixed batteries that apparently can't be charged together as they all hold different amounts of charge..... who'd have thought that batteries were like socks? Confused
vegplot

When re-charging DON'T:

Mix brands
Mix types
Mix capacities
Mix technologies
resistance is fertile

For smaller jobs, Rolls are great, expensive but great.

We have a Forklift set up from Germany that has a huge capacity and another set of 2v Gel cells by Tudor, I think, which seems great so far.
vegplot

resistance is fertile wrote:
For smaller jobs, Rolls are great, expensive but great.

We have a Forklift set up from Germany that has a huge capacity and another set of 2v Gel cells by Tudor, I think, which seems great so far.


That's got me thinking. I assumed the poster was talking about consumer batteries (cells) rather than deep discharge types Smile
resistance is fertile

maybe its my mistake!! Ive got deep cycle batterys on the brain these days Very Happy
shadiya

well, I was.... but, a quick deviation into deep cycle batteries is good too as I need some of those too! I was thinking of Elecsol, which have been recommended. Any thoughts and experiences?
RichardW

Stick with lead acid non sealed 2v cells. Any thing else is just toys.


Richard

PS solar hit 1.3kwh today Very Happy Very Happy which completely recharged the batts from the previous night.
vegplot

shadiya wrote:
well, I was.... but, a quick deviation into deep cycle batteries is good too as I need some of those too! I was thinking of Elecsol, which have been recommended. Any thoughts and experiences?


I've only tried one Elecsol battery and it doesn't retain its charge for very long. Self discharges in about a week. It could be a faulty battery but it didn't give me confidence.
jag_clarke

when you wire the batteryies in parrel make sure the leads connecting them are the same size or some will get charged and discharged more than others. this is why mixing battery sizes is not good as the small battery will get as much load as the big battery. if u were to mix battery sizes which as said is not recomended. the best way to use it would be on a thin wire (higher resistance) connection to the terminals as then it would increase the total capacity but wouldnt get over discharged or overcharged in use.
RichardW

I would not follow the advice above. Using cable to limit load is a bad idea.

Cables should be rated for the largest load they will carry with the smallest volt drop that is achievable for a sensible cost. My inverter/charger to battery cables are 125mm2, solar controller to battery 50mm2, wind to battery 40mm2 & solar panels to controller 6mm2 (but thats at 140v dc so much lower amp load). Battery interconects should be as large as possible & identical length. In your set up there is only one way to wire it up but if you get to having 3 strings of 6 cells then I suggest you read this site http://www.smartgauge.co.uk/index.html in fact read it anyway cos its full of realy good info about batteries & charging. Wiring the batts up in parrelle & taking the power of from one end is terrible for power load & charge sharing. That site has diff ways of doing to to share the load over all the batteries. It also explains about using bats of diff sizes in the same set up (I think it might have been mentioned in thread posts on a diff forum by the owner of that site).


Richard
shadiya

As usual, you are a mine of very technical information Richard, most of which is sadly beyond me! I must admit, I have had an elecsol and wasn't that impressed but I assumed it was me that had killed it.... like all the others.... Embarassed apparently simply attaching the wires from a solar panel to a battery isn't a good idea.... though it does work..... Very Happy
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