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Reply to: Off-grid power 101 Posted April 25, 2020

Big lesson learned. I could not find any tips on this subject, but this will increase the life of your battery bank! Experience on two banks has shown me what to do to make your battery bank last much longer. Took two banks replaced to figure this one out. Ever notice fluid escaping from a cap? This is your electrolytes being spilled out and gone forever. Just topping the cell off only replaces the water, not the acid. Eventually that cell that is losing fluid goes bad first! Why, because the balance on acid and water becomes displaced. The first clue as to what was happening was pressure being released upon opening the cell. The solution in a second. What I found is the vent on the cap was clogged. Which forced out the valuable contents and deteriorated the cell. Which equals dead cell and weaker bank. The solution, I found removing all caps, and first neutralized the acid on the Caps using baking soda and water. Then washing them with soapy water allowed me to blow through the cap and found clogged vents. These clogged caps were the same cells going bad first, and taking a tole on the bank. Next after neutralizing the acid and cleaning the caps I could blow to verify that the cap was indeed clogged. And lo and behold they were the same caps the created the bad cells. So I found using a tiny screwdriver and forcing a path to the vent solved the problem. There were no more spills coming from that cell! And the bank has lasted much, much longer. Again, I could find no topic on this subject, so here you go, extend the life of your bank……

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Reply to: Off-grid power 101 Posted April 25, 2020

Big lesson learned. I could not find any tips on this subject, but this will increase the life of your battery bank! Experience on two banks has shown me what to do to make your battery bank last much longer. Took two banks replaced to figure this one out. Ever notice fluid escaping from a cap? This is your electrolytes being spilled out and gone forever. Just topping the cell off only replaces the water, not the acid. Eventually that cell that is losing fluid goes bad first! Why, because the balance on acid and water becomes displaced. The first clue as to what was happening was pressure being released upon opening the cell. The solution in a second. What I found is the vent on the cap was clogged. Which forced out the valuable contents and deteriorated the cell. Which equals dead cell and weaker bank. The solution, I found removing all caps, and first neutralized the acid on the Caps using baking soda and water. Then washing them with soapy water allowed me to blow through the cap and found clogged vents. These clogged caps were the same cells going bad first, and taking a tole on the bank. Next after neutralizing the acid and cleaning the caps I could blow to verify that the cap was indeed clogged. And lo and behold they were the same caps the created the bad cells. So I found using a tiny screwdriver and forcing a path to the vent solved the problem. There were no more spills coming from that cell! And the bank has lasted much, much longer. Again, I could find no topic on this subject, so here you go, extend the life of your bank……