Used Batteries - Indiana

mrfusion70

Hey all....good to be learning from you all.
I have two sets of telcom batteries and am thinking I should sell one set off. By set I mean 24 x 2v batteries in the original rack with original bus bars. Would be nice to keep both sets but I think in order to move forward and have the money to invest in getting one set on solar and start using them I need to sell the other set off. So what I have here are C&D Technologies vlra sealed batteries. They are 2 volt each (2.20 on the meter) and are rated 990AH@10HRS @ 1.80V each. Seems like a darn good sized battery for using in off grid backup or total off grid. They are from 4/2003 and have been inside a controlled environment their whole life. They have been cycled very little and probably never been deep cycled yet. Telephone companies only keep batteries for so long before they replace them (seems like a waste of money to me), these are rated for 20 years of service but I have a friend who has a set of 20 year telco batteries and they are over 30 years old now and still hold charge just fine so who knows how long they will actually last if you don't over charge them. I guess these types of batteries are sensitive to overcharging. These batteries are very heavy (130lbs each) but the good thing is I have the original racks they came in along with the original connector bars. So by the time you add all them up along with the rack and bars your near 3500lbs to transport them. Now what I have done was took the best ones and put in one rack and this is the rack I am selling. By best I mean I took the ones with the highest volts and cases with no swelling to them. All the batteries in both racks are good, I have no bad ones but some have a little swelling to them and they are in the other rack. They all test withing 2.20 - 2.15 of each other and this is without have a charge in them for several months. I have finally started to put a trickle charger on them once in awhile to keep them topped off but what I notice is they just don't need it because they are holding fine. They current config in the rack allows me to have 4 sets of 12, if I add the small bar between sets I can get 24v, 36v or the full 48v so having the rack and bars makes it real nice.
You do the math and see if they will fit your setup needs!
I do know these costs $625 each new and the rack was $2000...not sure about the bars.
I am only asking $4500 for the best set of 24 including the rack and bars! This should be enough to get me starting in using the other set. Let me know if there is any interest in these, I am located 30 miles north of Lafayette Indiana.
Like I said this is for the set with no swollen cases but if your interested in going cheaper I can sell the other set, there is nothing wrong with them just the swollen cases. Let me know what you think!

westbranch

Re: Used Batteries - Indiana

fyi, swollen case on a VRLA battery is most likely caused by positive plate ''growth" which means that the cells are failing, albeit slowly...

cheers

System2

Re: Used Batteries - Indiana

The reason telcos replace batteries every few years is because the batteries can no longer maintain the design reserve capacity. It's not because telcos are wasteful, believe me. These batteries are tested regularly and once the bank fails the test (or power fails and the bank dies prematurely), they are replaced. What you have is the makings of one good bank with maybe a few leftover cells for spares. I'm using telco batteries (12v Unigy) now and they fit my requirements, so they can definitely be a good power supply. But that was after I properly disposed of the 3 failing batteries in the 8 battery bank.

I'm not in the market (and nowhere near where you are) but if you plan on selling them as "good" and/or keeping the second set for your own use, you really need to have them load tested.

Good luck.

mrfusion70

Re: Used Batteries - Indiana

The reason why a few of these batteries swelled is because the valve is not working right, I vented one of the swollen batteries and after the pressure was releived the case was not swollen anymore. I work for the telco company that these came from, they did not need to replace these but they were talked into a newer set and only need one bank so they gained room in the co and upgraded all the technology involved. These batteries were load tested and all are good!

System2

Re: Used Batteries - Indiana

ajbelcher wrote: »

Telecom companies don't normally replace batteries every few years. They buy 20 year batteries for a reason. they do usually add 20% more batteries to a bank at about the 7 year mark with the average life of a switch room at about 10-12 years before the equipment is deemed end of life usually because of technological advances.
AJ

I certainly don't know what every telco does, so some may actually do what you say, but the one i work for will replace the entire bank when they start to fail. New batteries are not added to an existing bank that is 7 years old or at all in my experience.

The planned life of the bank may be 20 years, but that is seldom achieved. I will allow that my use of the word "few" years is inaccurate (at least imprecise). It could be 8 - 12 years, possibly longer depending on how the batteries were treated, but in some extreme cases less. A diesel cycle charge site (no utility power) or a cabinet based remote which may see several power failures over the life of the bank, would probably go early.

My point is, the batteries are never replaced just to replace them. They came out for a reason, and generally it's because they are not performing to spec. The OP may still have quite a good bank for his use.

mrfusion70

Re: Used Batteries - Indiana

These are still for sale, will consider offers, really would like to have the extra cash to get the other set up and going!
Send me an email with any questions - mrfusion70@yahoo.com
JJ