Forklift Batteries?

yo stone

We are putting together our first off grid system...Bassically we need to know if we should et 8 Rolls s-530s or an 800 Amp Hour Forklift battery...possibly refurbished....the 30% more DOD seems like a great factor...plus they can last 10-15 years we have heard....And I have heard some not so great things about Rolls....Please help...thank you

Cariboocoot

Re: Forklift Batteries?

Welcome to the forum.

Don't base your battery decision on brand or type. The primary focus should be capacity: how many Watt hours do you need?

For example the eight Surrette batteries you mention are 400 Amp hours each. If you are talking about 800 Amp hours capacity then that is a 24 Volt system: two parallel strings of four in series to make 800 Amp hours @ 24 Volts. That would be 4.8 Watt hours DC capacity at 25% DOD. Is that enough? And also the same power could be had with all batteries in series on a 48 Volt system. See this thread: http://forum.solar-electric.com/showthread.php?15989-Battery-System-Voltages-and-equivalent-power

You are correct that there have been problems with Surrette batteries. To some extent this is their fault, and to some extent the fault of the users. Because of both of these factors I would personally avoid them.

Forklift batteries have their own problems. Mainly that they are huge and heavy. A 780 Amp hour 24 Volt unit weighs 1260 lbs. Not the easiest thing in the world to move about. Once in place, it stays there.

It is also advantageous if for the first time out you buy the least expensive per Watt hour choice you can get, because it is so easy to wreck batteries before you get the system 'fine tuned'. No sense wrecking an expensive battery bank when you can squeeze a few years out of a cheap one while learning.

zoneblue

Re: Forklift Batteries?

If you want some advice, youre probably gona have lay your whole plan on the table, dirty washing and all. Its what we do best