battery information

[Gord Taylor]

Hello, I am new to this site , and still feeling my way around.
Not sure if this is the correct spot to put this question regarding batteries, i have tried to educate myself on them but information is hard to come by. My estimate total usage is 667 AH, this includes a 50% drain, daily will be 330ah.
At this time I will be using a generator to charge the batteries, and have read about charging batteries this way was slow and depeding upon the type of charger. Is there a proper charger for this type of application
I do plan to get panels, but need to spearate due to money that can be spent -- yes I am off grid no hydro lines for 1km. Lived on geerator for the past 10 years,

[Rob Beckers]

Gord, welcome to Green Power Talk!

There are battery chargers for generators: Iota (http://www.iotaengineering.com/) has a very good reputation in this area. There are several off-grid people on this forum, hopefully one of them will chime in with other recommendations.

More in general, if this is your primary residence I would try to go for a 48 Volt system. This will give you more upgrade options in the future. If daily use doesn't warrant that (I don't know what voltage that 330Ah is at, so I can't tell what your energy use is) then 24 Volt. The older 12 Volt is pretty much dead for off-grid and relegated to legacy only.

-RoB-

[Gord Taylor]

My calculation is based on the 12 volt, I am abit behind in the newer processes, I have been reading and asking 15 years ago, but sort of been out of it, now that I have the infrared internet access, I can again get on the net.
Seems that the inverters have also improved since then, and power banks was just gettign started when I last looked. And yes I am rusty on this - I am amazed that fridges now are considered ava for solar -- I had so many retailers tell me it was a nono --
Also trying to find a source for DC jet pumps - I have found the site in California but no reply -- sorry for the long note -- Just spent $100 in gas ,,,,,, for the geny

[Rob Beckers]

Evening Gord!
Yeah, fridges have come a long way. There are regular 120V models now that are very efficient an considered OK for off-grid (just regular Sears models). There also still are the super-efficient DC fridges, such as Sundanzer (I sell those, and customers tell me they live up to the numbers, FWIW). Inverters are pretty efficient nowadays, so running on 120V (or even 240V, as a Xantrex XW makes natively) is no longer much of a problem.

For DC pumps, take a look at Sun Pumps (http://www.sunpumps.com/) and SunRay (http://www.sunrayus.com/). Both make jet pumps with DC pump controllers. No experience here with either brand, just some that I came across at my suppliers.

So your 330Ah works out to just about 4kWh per day in energy use. That's 121 kWh per month; pretty frugal for off-grid! Producing that much with solar and possibly a little wind energy could be cost competitive vs. running a genset day-and-night.

-Rob-

[Ralph Day]

Rob,
I just ran a Kill a Watt meter test on my Woods 18cuft all fridge. It used .52kwhrs in 24 hours of normal open and close use (with an incandescent appliance bulb in it). That's pretty much what it used when I bought it 2 years ago. My Wood's 10cuft freezer used .82kwhrs for 24 hours, again, the same as when bought 7 years ago. The energuide rating for the freezer is 298kwhr/year or .816kwhr/day, I can't find the energuide rating for the fridge, but I remember it being greater than what I'm measuring.

Both off the shelf 120vac appliances. What are the consumption ratings of Sundanzer's like?

Ralph

[Rob Beckers]

It's tough to compare: The largest Sundanzer is just 8 cu. ft. As a fridge it uses around 35 kWh per year (@ 21C ambient), as a freezer it uses around 140 kWh per year.

-RoB-

[Gord Taylor]

More great info Rob,
yes it is very low usage, but then We have lived this now for 5 years full time , and 15 years part time, so electirc usage is low, and only run the geny when we need it, and do have propane appaliances, but these new propane firdges are not very well liked due to the staining of the walls and ceilings.
So my usage does not include a fridge, so I will add another 1kw to the usage amount, as well as switching to a dc jet pump will further help with the kw usage.
But for now I want to get a battery bank, I do perfer the gel or agm, again my memory escapes which one of these is perferred.
Is the power bank the best/easiest way to go , rather then indivdual components

[Ralph Day]

2 Sundanzers side by side would equal my fridge (almost) but at less than 1/2 the consumption in total! Wow!

[Rob Beckers]

Is the power bank the best/easiest way to go , rather then indivdual components

What do you mean by "power bank" Gord?

-RoB-

[Sheryl Tips]

Hi everyone, my name is Sheryl and I'm a newb. This appears to be a great forum with a lot of liveliness and information. I saw this thread about batteries and was wondering if anyone had any information on silicone batteries? I've heard they're the way to go, environmentally speaking, but am having a really hard time with my research.

Any tips you could offer would be greatly appreciated!

Sheryl :)

[Dave Turpin]

I did some research on silicate batteries during my undergrad. Basically you replace the sulphuric acid electrolyte with a combination of sulphuric acid and silicate salt.

This makes the electrolyte gel, and it decreases the internal resistance when the battery is depleted. (because a depleted battery, theoretically only has water in the cells, all the H2SO4 having converted to PbSO4)

The cold performance was excellent, although they had less total Ah as compared to a pure lead acid. That said, they are no better for the environment. For that everyone should switch to NiMH batteries. Pricey.