Opinion on Surrette Rolls S-605 flooded battery?

Susido

I plan on getting a new L16 battery bank this spring (8 batteries in a single string for a 48v system). For various reasons (a big one is the value of the Canadian dollar and a Canadian battery manufacturer), those batteries are almost certainly going to be Surrette Rolls flooded lead acid.

Now the Surrette S-550 is the most popular battery for my kind of application, always in stock and proven in the field. But I'd like/need a bit more amp-hours and the S-605 seems to offer that: 468 vs. 428 amp hour capacity @ 20 hr. discharge rate. But there's very little information out there on the S-605, it's not commonly stocked and a dealer I talked to last year really tried to discourage me on buying them. I wish I had paid more attention to what he said; something about it not being a very robust battery compared to the S-550 since in order to pack that many more amp/hrs into the same size and (almost) weight case, the plates are relatively thin and prone to early failure. 

I don't expect to need off-grid power for more than the next 5 years so batteries that last that long are good enough I guess. But I sure don't want to spend $3.5K and have problematic batteries that require a very long trip to exchange. Thanks for your advice.

Vic

Hi Susido,

IMO,  the higher Capacity batteries,  in general,  do NOT have thinner plates,  just more plates,  and perhaps a bit less space below the plates and the bottom of the case.   The S-605s are probably  four or five pounds heavier than the S-550.

Will look at the specs for the S-605  verses S-550s.

More Later,   Vic

Vic

Susido,

Looking at the Specs on the S605 verses the S-550;

The plates,  separators,  envelopes,  and electrolyte reserve dimensions are all the same.

In the S-605,  there are 18 Plates per cell,  verses 17 plates for the 550.

The dry weight for the 605 is five pounds greater than is the 550  --  more lead.

So,  it looks to me,  that there is just more lead,  from the additional plate,  and the plates are NOT thinner in the S-605.

There might be slightly less ability for the electrolyte to move freely in the 605 than in the 550,  but that is a guess.

IF you need the added Capacity of the 605,  then seems that it might be the way to go,  but if you do not really need the C,  then why bother with the 605s.    More is not always better,   IMO.

Perhaps the Dealer does not want to order something that is not as main-stream as are the 550,  perhaps due to possible Production delays,  or perhaps in case of a Warranty replacement might be needed,  and perhaps that dealer might be concerned about a delay in getting a replacement battery,  that is not normally stocked by them ...  guessing.

Dunno,  but,  have had very good luck with Surrette batteries in terms of service-life,  and Service from Surrette ...  would buy Surrettes again.   FWIW,  Good Luck,     Vic

Susido

Thanks Vic, no doubt the dealer has his own agenda too. I do recall now the dealer saying something about how difficult it was to keep the electrolyte at an acceptable level in the S-605. According to rollsbattery.com specs, the weight is only 2 lbs more for the 605 (125 to 123 wet) so wonder how they manage 40 more Amp/hr.

While I have a nominal 440 Amp/hr now and it's not quite enough for the air conditioning needs of summer, I expect even the smaller L16 battery will have a lot more available power than my collection of 16 GC batteries which vary in manufacture and age. Well I have a few more weeks before buying.

Vic

Susido said:

Thanks Vic, no doubt the dealer has his own agenda too. I do recall now the dealer saying something about how difficult it was to keep the electrolyte at an acceptable level in the S-605. According to rollsbattery.com specs, the weight is only 2 lbs more for the 605 (125 to 123 wet) so wonder how they manage 40 more Amp/hr.

While I have a nominal 440 Amp/hr now and it's not quite enough for the air conditioning needs of summer, I expect even the smaller L16 battery will have a lot more available power than my collection of 16 GC batteries which vary in manufacture and age. Well I have a few more weeks before buying.

Hi Susido,

Well,  first,  it is the Dry weight that really matters,  as much of that weight is Lead,  especially when looking at the DW of two different batteries  --  the incremental weight added for the S-605 would be almost ALL Lead.   And the DW difference is five pounds.

IMO,  essentially all of the added Capacity comes from that extra Plate that is present in the 605  --  18 plates in the 605,  verses 17 in the 550.  Each plate represents about 5.5 pounds of Lead,  when looking at DW.

The reason that the Wet Weight is a smaller difference than is the DW between these two batteries,  is that that added plate displaces some of the volume that could be filled by electrolyte,  so,  there IS less electrolyte present in the S-605.   So,  this is one slight disadvantage of the S-605,  as the electrolyte levels would need to be a bit more carefully monitored.

And,  the difference in Capacity is about in scale with the number of plates for each battery.

All,  IMO,   FWIW,   Vic