And having had J&H’s batteries added to my responsibilities, since I’m now officially the caretaker there, I figured it’s best to just start a regular circuit of everybody’s powersheds and do it all on the same day.
So…today I have checked and corrected the electrolyte levels on every single cell of every single battery in J&H’s main battery bank…
Sorry, lousy phone camera…
And their backup battery bank…
And Landady’s battery bank…
And Ian’s battery bank…
And my free sample of a battery bank. 🙂
That’s 84 battery cells I’ve topped off today, in case you care. And now I’m quite finished thinking about batteries for a while, thank you.
For the record – and here’s some actual useful information about deep-cycle storage batteries, if you’re interested – they’re really quite chemically active in use. When charging they vent vapor like you wouldn’t believe. An eight-battery bank of those big Rolls-Surrette batteries will evaporate at least half a gallon a month if it’s being cycled, maybe quite a lot more. They have more reserve capacity than that and you won’t ruin them by going more than a month without service, but the dryer they get the more of a chore they are to refill – and the more likely you are to put it off further. I’ve found that once a month is a good balance between “needs service” and “it’ll take too long, I’ll do it mañana.” My neighbor D does his every two weeks, but that’s getting a little on the OCD side in my opinion. Thus ends Uncle Joel’s Off-Grid Service Tip for the day.
Do you have a purpose built battery filler? Seems like 84 cells is well beyond the point of relying on a steady hand with the gal. jug of distilled water.
Yes I do, and it was one of the best tool purchases I ever made. $8.50 at the local Car-Quest.
I will not miss that job one little bit when we get moved to town. Ours are a little bit inaccessible, so the job is crouching, reaching and blindly adding to the back ones. PITA. Although, after hearing you doing 84, I do feel like a bit of a wuss, complaining of only having to do 12.
Mis read..84 cells, not 84 batteries. So, our 12 batteries are 36 cells. Remind me again why I hate that job………………
Oh, absolutely, CH. The racking is everything when it comes to ease of servicing batteries. Landlady’s batteries are a bit of a PITA because her rack was designed for shorter batteries so some of them are hard to access. Ian’s are all in a box and the tops are easily accessible, plus the cables don’t interfere with the filler bottle, so the same number of the same type of batteries is a much easier job. And of course mine just sit on a table.
And along with using the filler, you also wear your eye/face/head protection, hand protection, and apron, right???? not because you are a wuss, but because you cherish your remaining body parts and find them useful to have intact.
I actually do use eyepro, yes. Because once I saw a battery explode all over a co-worker, and it did not go well for him. And I rather wish I had an apron because I’ve ruined more than one shirt. Other than that, acid burns sting enough to make me avoid them but do no serious damage.
Hydrocaps…
Also see this:
http://www.homepower.com/articles/solar-electricity/design-installation/battery-installation-and-maintenance/page/0/2?v=print
The Home Power folks are good people, if you are not familiar with them yet.