Battery reconditioning or saving

[Ridiq]

Morning all

Need some help from the Masters please. I am experiencing a lot of trouble with my batteries. I have a set of 4 x 200AHr Vision 6FM200P and an Axpert 5Kva Inverter, 3 x 305 Renesola Panels. The batteries were installed in April 2016. Everything worked 100% until mid summer November/ December 2016. The angle on the solar panels were not correct so the batteries did not charge fully during the day. The Inverter were suppose to charge the batteries. Late in December I realized that the cycles after batteries were charged by inverter until next charge where only about an hour. Use to get through the night on a single charge in the past.

Inverter were set up as follows:

Charging: Solar First,

Source: SBU (Solar, Battery, Utility), Battery Type: User or Other

Bulk charging Voltage: 56.4, Float Charging: 54, Back to Utility/ Solar: 47V, I have since set it up to 48V.

Problem description: Batteries does not have any capacity. Charges and Discharges quickly.

Corrective actions taken/ tried:

I reconditioned all batteries with an C-Tek charger, Left the batteries disconnected and voltages fell to 12.8V on all individually.

Left batteries on Utility charge as well, same result, reaches max voltage drawing less current and go back to floating voltage. Still no capacity.

QUESTION: Is there any way to recondition or save my batteries.

Attached is the battery spec sheet.

Please assist as those batteries are way to heavy and expensive to use as door stops.

6fm200p-x.pdf

[ibiza]

12.8V is not bad at all. According to my battery's specs they are dead when voltage drops to 10volts something.

Masters will tell you more about recharging them in order to cure your batts.

[Guest]

From what you describe, they where charged with a C-Tec charger and still not able to hold the load, have them tested with a load tester.

Get them fully charged and using a borrowed Hawkins load tester, or take them to a shop that has one, to see if they can keep on producing current under load.

I have had charged volt perfect batteries that under load destroyed a UPS and then burn the s_t out of my finger when I touched the pos pole.

Volts are only one 1/2 of the story the batteries tell us.

[Chris Hobson]

Ibiza is right 12.8V is not bad at all. I suspect with chronic under charge you batteries have sulphated. Lead sulphate collects on the cathode and crystalises. These crystals grow. if the crystals are still small then a long charge and helps dissipate them. If the crystals are large then they are permanent and reduce the capacity of the battery in two ways

1. Reducing the available electrolyte
2. Covering the active material and prevent electrolysis.

Sulphation starts below 12.4 V so shallow discharges prevent it. If you do have a deep discharge a follow-up restorative charge is recommended.

There are many "solutions" to sulphation on the internet.

First take your batteries to your supplier and have him give them the once over (load test as suggested by TTT). If they say they are finished then try an restore them with what ever method makes sense to you. I afraid most methods look like snake-oil to me. 

[___]

31 minutes ago, The Terrible Triplett said:

Volts are only one 1/2 of the story the batteries tell us.

I have several sealed lead acid batteries from my alarm system that sits there with a healthy 12.5V on them but can't deliver current for sh*t... just saying :-)

Edit: Perhaps need to expand a bit. The whole voltage/SoC thing only really works with a battery that is 1) at rest for several minutes, preferably hours, and 2) the battery itself must at least be in a semi-healthy working state. Once the battery starts to go bad, the voltage means nothing. Even the specific gravity of the electrolyte (on a flooded cell) means nothing when it really starts to go downhill. I had a Trojan battery with a healthy SG above 1.2 and a healthy voltage that still couldn't hold much current... ask TTT he tested it with his Hawkins.

[SilverNodashi]

It does sound like your batteries are shot. I would suggesting taking it to a battery test center (pretty much any shop that sells car batteries) for a good testing.On an AGM battery, 12.8V is pretty much 100% SOC. You can probably try and do some sulfation and see if it helps but with a sealed battery you'll get limited results. 

[chloe bravo]

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