Vanadium redox battery for Solar

drraptor

BBC published a article recently on Vanadium redox battery. It seems to have some potential for Off-grid use. The only issue I see so far, is limited Operating temperature. Which I think can be controlled with active cooling (add a few extra panels and fans etc , after all the smallest installation is 5KWh battery)

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-27829874

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanadium_redox_battery

PNjunction

Re: Vanadium redox battery for Solar

Yet another battery intended for power companies, not us. It has a lot of competition from other batteries that we'll never see come our way because we aren't the target sales demographic.

Having to keep electrolyte around to be poured into the batteries manually or automatically reminds me of NiFe. Yeah, if I want that, I'll go Nife or just stick to FLA for that kind of maintenance fun.

The real target here may be to foster the seeds of FUD concerning li-ion, which may only be recharged 2000 cycles. Um yeah, if you take them down to 80% or more each and every cycle. Nowhere do they mention that if you take them down to 70% DOD, you'll get 5000 cycles. We're talking Lifepo4, the kind I can get with a 5 minute phone call or click of the mouse TODAY.

An interesting phenomena that we may be seeing is how batteries that once were primarily marketed to convince lead users to switch, are now putting li-ion, specifically Lifepo4, in their sights. Scared perhaps?

drraptor

Re: Vanadium redox battery for Solar

PNjunction wrote: »

Yet another battery intended for power companies, not us. It has a lot of competition from other batteries that we'll never see come our way because we aren't the target sales demographic.

Having to keep electrolyte around to be poured into the batteries manually or automatically reminds me of NiFe. Yeah, if I want that, I'll go Nife or just stick to FLA for that kind of maintenance fun.

The real target here may be to foster the seeds of FUD concerning li-ion, which may only be recharged 2000 cycles. Um yeah, if you take them down to 80% or more each and every cycle. Nowhere do they mention that if you take them down to 70% DOD, you'll get 5000 cycles. We're talking Lifepo4, the kind I can get with a 5 minute phone call or click of the mouse TODAY.

An interesting phenomena that we may be seeing is how batteries that once were primarily marketed to convince lead users to switch, are now putting li-ion, specifically Lifepo4, in their sights. Scared perhaps?

LiFe require electrolyte replacement after certain period of time which isn't the case with Vanadium redox battery (Ok it does require after 10 years) instead you can use the electrolytes when no power source is available for charging :-)

it can be recharged simply by replacing the electrolyte if no power source is available to charge it, and if the electrolytes are accidentally mixed the battery suffers no permanent damage.

which other battery can do that ? I don't know of any.