new with batteries

graffixx

Hello all I am a newbie here and to all this solar stuff I just picked up a pile of forklift batteries its a combination of forklift packs 5 48 and a 3 36 volt packsI am pretty sure they are all 875ah packs. My intention is to start out building a back up power system for my house I would like to be able to go off grid and charge with a generator if needed .I have looked into the midnight CC and 1 aims pwri500024s 5000 watt inverter to start ...
I am designing and planning to build a house next year and may try to put an array of solar up and some hot water panels and not even connect to the grid for a while I am also working on a homemade multiuse furnace/boiler for the hot water heat in the new house. so any info from here would be great Graffixx

Photowhit

Re: new with batteries

While a battery is a major componet of an off grid system, the rest of the pieces would cost much more than connecting to the grid. Unless you have other reasons for being off grid, I would forget the idea.

So if you are just dieing to spend a more per kilawatt hour for electric to be your own electric company, I'd first find out if you have anything of value. Find out if someone in your area rebuilds forklift batteries and ask them to come out and see what you have. You won't want to keep/use all of them, likely want a single 48 volt battery. He may tall you if he feels any of your batteries are candidates for rebuilding. He might tell you you have 7,000lbs of lead.

With a proper generator you'll want an inverter/charger something like a magnum MS4448PAE this will allow you to charge the batteries and use the stored energy.

icarus

Re: new with batteries

Welcome to the forum, may I suggest your read these first,, before you buy anything. The biggest single (most expensive) mistake is "ready, fire, aim". Don't buy anything until you do a real design, based in the expected loads. All hardware choices come from the loads. The loads determine the charge regimen and go the hardware to do it ANY oer way risks very expensive square pegs in round holes.

http://www.batteryfaq.org/

http://www.windsun.com/Batteries/Battery_FAQ.htm#Lifespan%20of%20Batteries


As Photo suggested, off grid power comes at twice the price per watt as grid tie PV, WH th 1/2 the efficincy leading to power that is about 4 times the price per kwh, power that in the net that is already more expensive than pure grid power. If you re just looking for emergency security, consider a good genny. In the real world, the grid is pretty robust (with notable exceptions) and a genny for emergencies of hours to a couple of weeks is going to be MUCH cheaper in both the short, and long run.

Remember, batteries are (comparatively) very expensive, and have a finite life span, especially when they re mistreated by folks who are on a learning curve with battery use. Good luck and keep in touch,

Tony

graffixx

Re: new with batteries

yes I understand the cost and consequences of off grid and i dont plan on staying off grid but to be truthful i dont trust big brother to leave the grid as accessible as people have come a custom to along with the inflation in cost and in the event i would like to be ready even if it requires some shortcuts in my electric habits I have a handful of gennys around starting at a genset 100 k down to 400 watt 2 stroker the 100 k runs the whole farm and the rest i use for work stuff but if fuel is unavailable they dont help at all As for the back up and solar I want to use just for the house itself.
The batteries i have arent all in great shape but several of the packs are from this year several from last year I know the shop that they came from they also have self watering systems on them and i know they had very little use so i am pretty confident i have plenty of good storage

Photowhit

Re: new with batteries

Well your starting from scratch, so first build a home that will be easy to on your energy budget, thick well insulated walls, consider a berm or earth contact home. Then you need to establish what kind of energy budget you'll need. Will you try to air condition this space? heat with wood or gas, cook with gas?

If you want to use these batteries you'll need to figure out what condition they are in and start to do a maintanance charge on them regularly NOW. Batteries at rest are just dieing...

For a good size home, with some standard demands systems will go from around $10,000 up (and up and up)

It's rare to use more than a single traction(forklift) battery for a single system and more difficult for aged batteries are a battery bank should age together.

So if you can figure out your needs, momentary like starting a 220 well pump and overall like a fridge, 2 chest freezers and no a/c, we should be able to point towards inverters and array sizes to handle them. If your paying over $100 a month currently in electric bills and want the same level of service with out compromise you may be in for a shock.

graffixx

Re: new with batteries

unfortunately i am an energy hog now but that will cgange in the new houe I have intentions to build a house on an energy budget as afar as ac a small dc heat pump style would be about it and not turned on unless there is surpluss energy to burn ( i am working on a few designes to harness that ....as far as heat i am building a multi fuel furnace that should burn corn or wood pellets fire wood oil coal and even gas if things work out i want to do heated floors and use hot water solar with an undergriound storage tank ...i know this is a lot of work that is why i am starting now
as far as batteries my forklift guy says he will build the pack however i want he leads in the bars and everything to build them maybe i am not ready to buy backup equipment yet until i get further on the new house but there will not be a budget for it then

H2SO4_guy

Re: new with batteries

WOW WOW,

You have 174 2 volt cells @ 875 AH? That's 304,500 Watts!!! Holy Cow, how are you going to charge all of those batteries? That's about 17,000 pounds of batteries! These may self-discharge at about 1% per day, so just leaving them sitting around will KILL them. If they are outside and not charged enough they could freeze, (And Kill them) that would be terrible. I would consider having your battery buddy take the best 24 cells and make a good 48 volt pack then deal with that.

Midnight charger? I have one and it is great! (Got it from NAWS)
Aims inverter? Not-so-great, do some research and you may wish to rethink that one.

Good luck and let us know how it turns out. What part of the country are you in?

Skip

Ralph Day

Re: new with batteries

I think the OP was planning on consolidating the salvagable 2v cells to make a decent 48v bank. A local fork lift truck centre did this (as told to me) and it took 2 x 48 and 1 x 36 bank to construct/salvage 1 x 48v bank. That's a lot of scrap. There's obviously a reason lift truck battery sets are scrapped, not all the cells are bad, but enough to mess up the total bank. That's also a lot of 2v cell lifting/wiring etc.

Ralph