Grumble.
I just had to turn down the deal of a lifetime on a couple of storage batteries more than twice the size of the ones I’m using now – because they’re twice the size of the ones I’m using now, and I don’t have means to charge them.
(moan)$150 each, for 3-month-old 382-amp/hour six volt batteries. Payable over time in labor. A deal that simply can’t be beaten, and probably won’t be matched in my lifetime. (wail)
If they were two hundred and something amp/hour batteries, I’d be all over it. But the good news is that the ones I’ve got are still in pretty good condition, as demonstrated by the fact that their deteriorating state of charge responded nicely to this week’s equalization charge. I’ve just got to be more zealous about equalizing them.
Offer of a lifetime?
but you just had an offer of a hug from Tam
:^)
Joel,
If your batteries currently reach “float” in the early/mid afternoon, then you have surplus sun.
Sure, you won’t be able to fully charge them in a single day, but over the course of a week or so they will get topped off.
Once topped off, they should stay that way. Unless you go hog wild with your usage on a regular basis…
What you’re really buying is a longer period of normal usage during extended cloudy conditions.
GO FOR IT! Just adjust your expectations accordingly…
And I’d hug you every day, if you’d allow it. Just can’t figure out how to get my arms in the little wire… 🙂
I do have surplus sun, but I don’t agree I have that much surplus. These batteries have more than twice the capacity of my current ones, and are newer. I’m fairly confident I could charge batteries half again as big as the current ones, well and often enough not to get cumulative damage. But not this big.
What would it take in increased PV capacity to make those larger batteries useful?
Sounds like a heck of a deal for sure, especially with those payment terms. But if you are doing fine without them and are not even sure they would fit your system then they are not really a good deal at any price.
Alien:
I have two 170-watt panels. To more than double the size of my battery bank, I’d need to add two 170-watt panels. That’s about $400 dollars in panels to make possible a great $300 battery purchase. Not so economical.
Please pardon my ignorance about PV systems, but could the existing PV panel output be directed to a particular battery bank, charging them one bank at a time? Charge one bank M-W-F, the other T-TH-S, or whatever combination of days works. I realize sun and clouds won’t cooperate with your schedule, you have to work with theirs, but it seems there should be some way to achieve more capacity without going bankrupt.
You could do that, but it’s a bad idea. The way to maintain battery health as long as possible is to keep from deep-discharging them as much as possible. Any imbalance between the panels and the batteries should always be in favor of the panels. Having more panels than are needed for the size of your battery bank is a waste of money but doesn’t really hurt anything, but having more batteries than the panels can keep charged is always destructive in the long run.