Well after kicking the ‘what battery’ ball around for a year I ordered...

[alyaz]

They finally arrived today.  Hiab’d them onto the concrete so they can be slid to their final spots.  Look like they survived the journey.  Date of manufacture on them is Oct 27/2018.  So looks like someone forgot to place the order in a timely fashion.  Oh well... Saturday is hook up day :-)

[ClassicCrazy]

They finally arrived today.  Hiab’d them onto the concrete so they can be slid to their final spots.  Look like they survived the journey.  Date of manufacture on them is Oct 27/2018.  So looks like someone forgot to place the order in a timely fashion.  Oh well... Saturday is hook up day :-)

It isn't October 27 yet  ha ha - do you mean a different month ?
I looked back and see you ordered them on Aug 7
Glad you got them finally !

Larry

[alyaz]

Haha... meant sept.   

[Vic]

Congratulations on those new batteries.

Glad that you stuck with Surrette,   and your dealer.

Am sure that you have the Surrette Battery Manual.   Follow the new battery bank Commissioning guide in that manual.  This procedure  will give you a baseline for later reference,   and should allow you to refer back to your battery Logbook to see any trends that might be developing.   That new Logbook,   and a trusted Hydrometer/Refractometer  will probably add life to that bank.

Good luck,   and please do let us know how things are going.   Vic

[Matrix]

Glad it has worked out. Following for the connection update.

[alyaz]

Thanks gang. 

I have downloaded and printed out the manual, the install guide and a recent guide (short cheat sheet) that Steve at Rolls has put together.  Filled out the info sheet and recorded all the SG’s etc.  I have calculated all the set points for both solar charging and inverter charging and confirmed them with Steve. 

Then I called HES (the solar distributor where the local place ordered the batteries through) and asked them where my real Rolls Battery Manual was.  Got the run around and then after checking further they finally said, oh you are right, we are supposed to include one with new batteries.  Anyway, they are sending one out asap.  Just be nice to have the real battery manual.

* Have any of you found a better way to see the electrolyte level under the vent tube?  It’s supposed to be 1/2” below the vent tube, which it appears to be.  I used a small clean wooden dowel to measure how long the vent tube is (about 3 1/2”).  The length of the vent tube makes it kinda hard and a lot of glare when looking into the battery.  My last batteries had those little pop up fill caps, which made it pretty easy.  Just wondering if a headlamp / flashlight is the best way or if maybe a different coloured light etc works better? 

Vic, do you just record the ‘4v’ voltage readings or do you take the top covers off and record the ‘2v’ voltage readings too on your 4 volt Rolls?

Thanks.

[Vic]

Hi Al,

This Link should work for the latest Surrette LA Battery Manual:
http://www.rolls-battery.com/wp-content/uploads/manuals/Rolls_Battery_Manual.pdf

Personally,   use a small LED Flashlight to view the electrolyte,   works well here.

Surrette specifies that the Reserve Electrolyte  is 3.75 inches for these batteries,  IIRC.   This is probably to top of the vent tube.

If you are up for it,  you could remove the top battery covers to measure individual cell voltages.  At the same time,   you could check/re-torque the bolts/nuts that connect the two cells in each battery.   If the batteries are still made in the same manner,   removing the top covers would require using Silicone I to seal the terminal-to cover seal at each battery terminal.   Perhaps the terminals and seals are a bit different now.   Seems that it would be your choice on weather to do this or not.

Measuring and recording the SGs of each cell would probably be sufficient,   in lieu of removing the covers to measure each cell's voltage.

Just my opinions   ...  back to burning dinner,     Vic

[alyaz]

Thanks Vic!

[bee88man]

WARNING
A word on  flashlights or any other bare metal tools dangled over or above or anywhere around LIVE VOLTAGE TERMINALS...Any bare metal is a HUGE DANGER POTENTIAL!!!

Rubber Insulated items can prevent short-circuit,melting/burning and vaporizing them right before your eyes, face and hands.

[alyaz]

All done.  Had a sunny day today too so got some good absorb time in as a bonus.  Only scared the shyte out of myself once. 

Also put the Whizbang shunt on and the light on the shunt board is blinking correctly and the information is showing up on the controller it is hooked to but only when you toggle 3 screens in.  It’s not blinking on the main screen every five or so seconds... Hmmm.  Will post that over on the Whizbang board.  Otherwise all seems good so far.

Sorry for the crappy picture as the sun was shining in through the windows...

[alyaz]

Questions about reading the SG’s...

I have two hydro-volts.  Since we live off-grid full-time, with two electric fridges and a chest freezer etc., it is difficult to read the SG while in rest.  So I have been taking the readings after a couple hours in absorb.

I have a few cells that read up around 1.280, so have been dropping my absorb set points by .2 v and currently am at 29.2v on my charge controllers.  Steve at Rolls suggested keeping them at or below 1.275. 

The calculations that Steve / I did suggest that the solar absorb time would be about 6-7 hours for these batteries/bank.  So can’t see how I could or should reduce the absorb time when I have only been in absorb for a couple hours when reading the SG.  That’s the reason I have slowly been reducing the absorb set points by .2 v 

Any advice on what else I should be looking at, looking for, or missing here... etc?

Or is taking the SG readings while in absorb causing a higher than normal reading?  I understood that hydrometers didn’t get fooled by surface charges.

Thanks.

[ClassicCrazy]

usually the battery companies give a range to the absorb voltages. My thinking is you start at the bottom of the range for newer batteries an then can raise it as the batteries age or otherwise need raising.
Are you using end amps to stop absorb ?  If so instead of changing the absorb setpoint you can raise the ending amps if you need less charge or lower if  you need more .
6 or 7 hours in absorb seems like a very long time . It really depends on how far you are taking your batteries down. Take them down a lot and you don't get as long a life span out of them.
Probably better to have a cell or two  little higher than the others rather than having most of the cells too low an the high cells right on.

Larry

[alyaz]

Thanks ClassicCrazy.  I haven’t been taking the batteries down much in part because they are new and trying to do everything right this time... ha.  With not much sun this time of year, I run the gen for about an hour and a bit in the a.m. when getting up.  That usually takes them up to what I suspect is about 90%.  If I get any sun during the day that is bonus.  At night I often run the gen for another hour and a bit while watching some TV and doing some wash etc.

Not using end amps at this point.  I have been watching and logging the amps thru the WB on days there is sun to see where it is dropping off.  What I have noticed though is that I must not have nailed the set up parameters cause my WB % has dropped down to about 84% now, even though I suspect that my SG readings are telling me the batteries are fully charged.

So I haven’t taken the time yet to straighten that out.

[ClassicCrazy]

If your batteries are cold the SOC will show lower since it temperature compensates and takes some of the capacity off of the battery pack to reflect that  in the SOC calculations.

Larry

[alyaz]

Thanks.  My batteries are in the basement which stays pretty constant at about 59 degrees F. 

Can you point me to any info on how to try to reset the WB Jr.  Maybe I will try a lower efficiency rate.  Last time I put in 1105 a/hr (this is what the bank is rated at 20 hr) and I put in 90% efficiency.  Some of the stuff I had read from Steve Higgins suggested that no FLA bank is more than about 80% efficient. 

If the WB Jr % rate drops slowly over time - a few months ... contrary to one thinking the batteries are being charged fully, is that possibly because the efficiency rate was set too high?