2 months lead acid battery - today noticed sulfation and just a bit swollen

[Rider]

My own 120ah AGMs get a good work out daily running 24VDC around my yard etc. DoD would be approx 25% overnight. Batteries are pulled up to full charge daily by a 1kW array and overall capacity remaining is nicely on the curve I'd expect them to follow, and yes I have checked because I'm that sort of person.

Could it be that Tesla is using lithium because of its superior power / weight / volume ratio? Yes, I think that might just be it.

i was going to reply to your "I been running solar everyday since 2011. " post but I no longer see it. Weird. But that wasn't my question. My question was have you used lead acids in anything other than your car, and I guess that's a no. Myself and millions like me have been using them for storage banks for decades. Your doomsday theories are uninformed.

Oh. So you guys have magic batteries too??

 

[Ped]

i was going to reply to your "I been running solar everyday since 2011. " post but I no longer see it. Weird. But that wasn't my question. My question was have you used lead acids in anything other than your car, and I guess that's a no. Myself and millions like me have been using them for storage banks for decades. Your doomsday theories are uninformed.

Please tell the world how you charge FLA's in 4 hours everyday. The guy who thinks equalization is apparently nonsense or something...

 

[Ped]

Oh. So you guys have magic batteries too??

He has 1kw array on 120ah of AGM...not 12amps for 225ah of FLA. did that escape you?

 

[gnubie]

Doesn't that counter your statement that it's not physically possible to charge on solar alone though? What about people that get more than your just stated 4 hours / day (presumably of usable sunlight even in winter)?

 

[Ped]

Doesn't that counter your statement that it's not physically possible to charge on solar alone though? What about people that get more than your just stated 4 hours / day (presumably of usable sunlight even in winter)?

He has AGM not FLA and .4c charge source. Again 1kw for 125ah for batteries with way better coulombic efficiency.

How Fast Can an AGM Battery be Charged? - Marine How To

TEST EQUIPMENT USED IN THIS ARTICLE BUY MHT RECOMMENDED TEST EQUIPMENT - AMAZON Baseline Discharge 49.3% SOC PREFACE: This article looks at the *charging times & achieved state of charge of an AGM battery

marinehowto.com

 

[gnubie]

That's fine. You can argue an edge case, and you may well be correct in that argument, but that's not what you said here

 

[Ped]

That's fine. You can argue an edge case, and you may well be correct in that argument, but that's not what you said here

Nice try but it IS indeed what I said. Youre confusing 2 different types of batteries here.

 

[gnubie]

Step back, take a deep breath. Have a cup of coffee. Maybe go for a walk.

Sulphation doesnt shorten their life. It doesnt have any affect on cell shorting. It coats the lead blocking electron flow and makes them progressively useless.

They are highly temperamental. They DO NOT take the slightest bit of misuse AT ALL. you over charge you cause grid corrosion. You over-discharge you cause extreme lead degridation. You under charge you cause sulphation. They are physcally impossible to recharge by solar alone at least 1/3 of the year. They are extremely inefficient taking way more input than they output.

They are more expensive than lifepo4 any way you look at it.

 

[Ped]

Step back, take a deep breath. Have a cup of coffee. Maybe go for a walk.

Again, re-read it carefully. We were discussing FLA not AGM. Do you not know AGM has a much lower internal resistance? (But still crap compared to lifepo4)

You can go here for AGM min charge reference

2 months lead acid battery - today noticed sulfation and just a bit swollen

ok, I'll try to send the pictures tomorrow with more light. I was only kidding, it's probably normal. It takes a lot of overcharging to swell a 6v golf cart battery...no way in hell you are producing that kind of power with your setup. No way you are overcharging them. Those are great...

www.diysolarforum.com

And here

How Fast Can an AGM Battery be Charged? - Marine How To

TEST EQUIPMENT USED IN THIS ARTICLE BUY MHT RECOMMENDED TEST EQUIPMENT - AMAZON Baseline Discharge 49.3% SOC PREFACE: This article looks at the *charging times & achieved state of charge of an AGM battery

marinehowto.com

now if you want to actually "gotchya" me go ahead and prove an FLA reaches full soc from the typical 50% dod in winter sun hours. Use any charge rate you want. Hell show me an AGM doing so. Especially a 10A charger on a 200ah+ bank on a battery cycling at this rate everyday for 2 years.

 

[Ped]

Could it be that Tesla is using lithium because of its superior power / weight / volume ratio? Yes, I think that might just be it.

That and probably that they can recharge at extremely high rates of current and do not destroy themselves if not charged 100% everyday.

Them lasting many times longer is probably just a bonus.

 

[Rider]

He has 1kw array on 120ah of AGM...not 12amps for 225ah of FLA. did that escape you?

No, what he said was:

gnubie said: My own 120ah AGMs get a good work...

AGMs. Plural. Not one. He didn't say how many there were in total. Did that escape you?

 

[Ped]

Did the 24v part escape you?

 

[gnubie]

I could have 4 AGMs, or I could have 6, or I could have 2. I said I had 120ah AGMs feeding my 24VDC system. Nothing more.

 

[Ped]

Then you wouldnt have 120ah. Or youd be the only person in the world to describe a series-parallel bank by individual battery size in the context of charge times.

 

[gnubie]

I didn't claim to my friend. I said my 120ah AGMs, ie, an unstated number of 120ah AGM batteries.

 

[Ped]

Sorry I assumed you spoke with some kind of normal, coherent phrasing to the subject. Still not sure why youd tell us individual battery capacities in your bank otherwise as it makes absolutely no sense. But I digress.

Please let us know how many you have maybe we can prove the actual tests and engineers all wrong.

 

[gnubie]

Currently 4. They have the expected capacity. They complete absorption charging based on observed charge current. In all observable respects they appear to be functioning perfectly correctly, despite you saying that it is impossible.

 

[April]

For the OP -first Ive heard of overcharging or undercharging leaving corrosion on one or the other terminal. Sounds like rubbish. Corrosion is more from the oxygen and hydrogen being produced by your cells as they charge and discharge in the heat of your environment. Try some normal grease on the terminals and all round the connections . Some copper based conductive grease would be better . So called dialectric grease too and one I think is a con is carbon conductive grease. It looks like vaseline with some carbon powder in it and it does not pass current until the multimeter probes immersed in it actually touch. Clean up the terminals and connections with boiling water first.

 

[Rider]

Clean up the terminals and connections with boiling water first.

I use a little bit of wet baking soda and a wire brush. Cuts any acid that might be present around the terminals.

 

[terry98]

For the OP -first Ive heard of overcharging or undercharging leaving corrosion on one or the other terminal. Sounds like rubbish. Corrosion is more from the oxygen and hydrogen being produced by your cells as they charge and discharge in the heat of your environment. Try some normal grease on the terminals and all round the connections . Some copper based conductive grease would be better . So called dialectric grease too and one I think is a con is carbon conductive grease. It looks like vaseline with some carbon powder in it and it does not pass current until the multimeter probes immersed in it actually touch. Clean up the terminals and connections with boiling water first.

Oks! I'll try that or the baking soda as well thanks for both recommendations.