Help finding battery Information on Alcatel-Lucent 12AVR145ET for midnite classic setup

KozmoK

Let me first by saying thanks to everyone here your fantastic for helping us rookies out. Yes I am a rookie, and I am learning more and more everyday thanks to you! I would post this on the midnite forum but they have not approved my username yet.

I was able to pick up 4 of these Alcatel-Lucent 12AVR145ET used rather cheap - They look to be in great condition like new - all charged up they were said to be only a year old.
They bare a remarkable resemblance of http://www.dekabatteries.com/assets/base/1398.pdf - same specs, same battery just different label. Perhaps they are making the batterys for Alcatel. Does anyone know how to determine the manufactures date on the SN #?

I currently have them in a 12 V configuration running parallel so 580AH total.

I ran them down with a large load for 4 hours and set the magnasine ms2812 to recharge them (SET on AGM2 setting) - Everythings good to go.

I am trying to setup my midnite classic 150 lite to recharge them now off two 327w SunPower Panels 650w total (ordering 2 more same panels, going to run 2 in series and 2 parallel)
I am currently using the defaults, so I am not sure if its at its optimal potential as there are so many custom settings using the local app.

I have set:

Absorb to 14.4 Time 2:00 (Default - not sure what to use)
Equalize 15.1 (Do I need this with AGM?) (Default)
Float Volts: 13.5 (changed to match whats on the battery label)

Not sure what to put for:
Ending Amps: 0 (default)
rebulk volts: 8

I should have my whizbang jr in the next 2 days, so I'd like to hear from you folks as to any insight.

Thanks in advance!

zoneblue

Re: Help finding battery Information on Alcatel-Lucent 12AVR145ET for midnite classic se

KozmoK wrote: »

I currently have them in a 12 V configuration running parallel so 580AH total.
...
I am trying to setup my midnite classic 150 lite to recharge them now off two 327w SunPower Panels 650w total (ordering 2 more same panels, going to run 2 in series and 2 parallel)

Have you done the math on panel to bank ratio?

Absorb to 14.4 Time 2:00 (Default - not sure what to use)
Equalize 15.1 (Do I need this with AGM?) (Default)
Float Volts: 13.5 (changed to match)

Not sure what to put for:
Ending Amps: 0 (default)
rebulk volts: 8

For the absorb and float voltage i suggest you look up the specs on those deccas. For EQ i suggest you turn off auto EQ, AGMs have much less need and most can be damaged by it. Only do it manually and only if the battery manual says to.

For absorb termination, first a quick look at what happens. During absorb the voltage is held fixed, and the current into the battery declines over time. This is called charge acceptance, and once this value reduces to a very small value, and flattens out that is when the batterys are truly charged. For AGM banks this value can be very low, more for FLA.

With the classic, absorb time is the max time (assuming its a newer classic/firmware). The best way to set this is to, from a typical DOD, (temprorarily) set it to say 4 hours, then write down the charge current every 15 minutes. This allows you to understand the charge acceptance picture of your battery. When the current drops to 0.5% (1-2% for FLA) of the batterys (20 hour rate) capacity, then how long that took is your typ. "absorb time". Hit the force float button, and reset your absorb time to your observed value.

With the WBJr, set the time to your abosrb time plus say 1 hour, and set EA to 0.5% of bank Ah, and tick use WbJr for EA.

Edit; PS, note that to accurately measure the battery charge current, you will either need to turn off your loads, or use the WbJr, or a clamp meter. you dont want to be reading the CC output, because that includes loads.

westbranch

Re: Help finding battery Information on Alcatel-Lucent 12AVR145ET for midnite classic se

here is some background on the company, see global growth

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saft_Groupe_S.A.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcatel-Lucent

H2SO4_guy

Re: Help finding battery Information on Alcatel-Lucent 12AVR145ET for midnite classic se

I use 14.2 volts for Absorb on my VRLA settings on the Midnite Classic 150. For float I use 13.6. The EQ is set to 14.2 so if I am doing stuff and using power while it is in float, I can do an EQ cycle for an hour and it is like an additional hour of absorb. I've had used VRLA's (Panasonic 2 volt cells 1040 AH @ 8 hr rate) for 9 months and they rock!

Change the EQ setting ASAP, you run the risk of gassing the batteries and you are not able to add more liquid as they are sealed. If they lose too much liquid they will experience a much shorter life.

Good luck and let us know how it turns out!

Skip

P.S. I traded in some 12 year old Lucent batteries (624 pounds worth) that were still working just fine in order to get this pack I have now. I needed the trade-in weight. They worked fine, but I just didn't want to have yet another battery system to deal with. They ran all of my lighting for quite awhile while I was building my place and that was after I abused them and didn't put any charge into them for over 3 years! Not the suggested battery care program. (I was a bad battery owner) :-(

KozmoK

Re: Help finding battery Information on Alcatel-Lucent 12AVR145ET for midnite classic se

zoneblue:

Thanks there is not much info on the dekka batterys either. Just the Float Voltage and temperature adjust value.
I don't have any load on the system yet. I am going to attempt to run a variable speed pool pump that has a low surge, and programmable
RPM's (separate priming configs too) - If I can get it to run 3-4 hours at 700w a night I'd be happy!
If it doesn't run it no big deal - I will just power Desktop, 2 monitors, and a laptop -maybe a LCD tv.

Thanks H2S04_Guy!

These have a MFR Date of 1/2013 - so they are like new still I just hooked up the Classic to them last night, and unhooked it, it never went into EQ mode.

EQ seems to auto set its lowest value to whatever your absorb value is.

I hooked it up a few hours ago, and it went to MPPT BULK, then after some time ABSORB mode - which is now set to 14.2
Waiting for my shunt to arrive and WBJr to further config it.

H2SO4_guy wrote: »

I use 14.2 volts for Absorb on my VRLA settings on the Midnite Classic 150. For float I use 13.6. The EQ is set to 14.2 so if I am doing stuff and using power while it is in float, I can do an EQ cycle for an hour and it is like an additional hour of absorb. I've had used VRLA's (Panasonic 2 volt cells 1040 AH @ 8 hr rate) for 9 months and they rock!

Change the EQ setting ASAP, you run the risk of gassing the batteries and you are not able to add more liquid as they are sealed. If they lose too much liquid they will experience a much shorter life.

Good luck and let us know how it turns out!

Skip

P.S. I traded in some 12 year old Lucent batteries (624 pounds worth) that were still working just fine in order to get this pack I have now. I needed the trade-in weight. They worked fine, but I just didn't want to have yet another battery system to deal with. They ran all of my lighting for quite awhile while I was building my place and that was after I abused them and didn't put any charge into them for over 3 years! Not the suggested battery care program. (I was a bad battery owner) :-(

zoneblue

Re: Help finding battery Information on Alcatel-Lucent 12AVR145ET for midnite classic se

If theres no documentation at all, then that makes it harder. Mine dont have good documentation either it simply says on the side of the cell:

cycle: 2.30-2.35V
standby: 2.22-2.26V

Note that these a quite a bit lower than midnites AGM defaults.

1main.power

Re: Help finding battery Information on Alcatel-Lucent 12AVR145ET for midnite classic se

KozmoK wrote: »

I was able to pick up 4 of these Alcatel-Lucent 12AVR145ET used rather cheap - They look to be in great condition like new - all charged up they were said to be only a year old.
They bare a remarkable resemblance of http://www.dekabatteries.com/assets/base/1398.pdf - same specs, same battery just different label. Perhaps they are making the batterys for Alcatel. Does anyone know how to determine the manufactures date on the SN #?

The 12AVR145ET Backup Battery Mfg in USA with Date Codes of F3 (June 2013). So there should be an alphanumeric code on it that determines the date it was manufactured. The serial number won't tell you when it was manufactured.