Silicon Salt Battery

I have been reading about these batteries and they seem to be a good fit for solar energy storage. No acid, no maintenance, long life is claimed by manufacturer. Backwoods Solar are now carrying them. Do any of you guys have any opinion of these batteries?
Thanks in advance,
Andy R
Thanks in advance,
Andy R
Comments
|| Midnight Classic 200 | 10, Evergreen 200w in a 160VOC array ||
|| VEC1093 12V Charger | Maha C401 aa/aaa Charger | SureSine | Sunsaver MPPT 15A
solar: http://tinyurl.com/LMR-Solar
gen: http://tinyurl.com/LMR-Lister ,
http://www.solar-electric.com/batteries-meters-accessories/batteries/aquion-energy-aqueous-hybrid-ion-batteries.html
http://members.sti.net/offgridsolar/
E-mail [email protected]
Andy R
It would be nice if the store here would make it a little easier to understand.
Things like how many KWH /AH is useable in 24 hours and at what price/cycle life? It is hard to send them a customer!
http://www.solar-electric.com/batteries-meters-accessories/batteries/aquion-energy-aqueous-hybrid-ion-batteries.html
http://members.sti.net/offgridsolar/
E-mail [email protected]
http://www.backwoodssolar.com/learning-center/silicon-salt-batteries-new-technology
http://members.sti.net/offgridsolar/
E-mail [email protected]
"You are asking some good questions. I'll try and answer them as best I can. The Silicon Salt batteries do seem to hold a charge better than a traditional flooded lead acid battery. I would say you can certainly go 3-5 months with no major issues. I'm not sure I'm comfortable saying much longer than that. They are still a lead based battery, so they do behave somewhat the same as a Gel battery in some ways.
2.1 Kw Suntech 175 mono, Classic 200, Trace SW 4024 ( 15 years old but brand new out of sealed factory box Jan. 2015), Bogart Tri-metric, 700 ah @24 volt AGM battery bank. Plenty of Baja Sea of Cortez sunshine.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VRLA_battery
http://www.siliconebatteries.ca/
They really try hard to avoid talking about the details of these batteries.
And, this is a Chinese mfg. for Silicon Salt batteries:
http://www.guineng.com/HTM/Jwork_01.htm
A lot of the terms used in the above links sounds a lot like what is is described in this patent:
https://www.google.com/patents/US20040175623
And the above is still a "GEL" Lead Acid battery (using sulfuric acid?). Perhaps they are using something else besides sulfuric acid in these other batteries...
This Mfg. link is easier to read the tables--And it looks a lot like Lead Acid chemistry (similar voltages, temperature compensation, etc.).
http://www.nuglobalnrg.com/sibattery.html
And sulfur can be used as fertilizer (recycling comments for these batteries):
http://passel.unl.edu/pages/informationmodule.php?idinformationmodule=1130447045&topicorder=6&maxto=7
Don't know anything for sure--But hard to see it not being, more or less, an AGM type lead acid battery--Perhaps with a different electrolyte chemistry (and silica for GEL type electrolyte).
-Bill
http://members.sti.net/offgridsolar/
E-mail [email protected]
-Bill
http://aquionenergy.com/
As you guys know, one claim is that the silicon salt batts are almost impervious to low temperatures. I have been in to the cabin once since install and so far so good. They were 27* F on arrival and performed very well. Further, they readily took a charge from my Vector charger. Once topped off by the charger, they ran my LED lights and another low voltage appliance all night. No heater pads and no Honda except to charge them before I went to bed. Nine hours later, I still had 13V on the Morningstar controller when I made coffee.My AGM's, once warmed up, usually had about 12.3 V in the morning and I had to be careful how many lights I lit. Not with the Silicon Salt batts. The battery temperature in the morning was about 50* F and climbing. When the sun was up, I still had 12.8V.
Finally, I paid about $10 more for each than new AGM's. I am quite impressed so far. I'll give more reports as time goes on.
Thanks for this forum. I have learned a lot and you guys have saved me lots of money and aggravation with your generous advice.
JB
Is there any problem with degradation from shipping / storage in a slight off-vertical orientation? I can't recall where I read it, or if this is even a factor at all with these batteries.
Believe me when I say Vancouver BC is not close to their Calgary AB location,..... like Seattle to Denver....
KID #51B 4s 140W to 24V 900Ah C&D AGM
CL#29032 FW 2126/ 2073/ 2133 175A E-Panel WBjr, 3 x 4s 140W to 24V 900Ah C&D AGM
Cotek ST1500W 24V Inverter,OmniCharge 3024,
2 x Cisco WRT54GL i/c DD-WRT Rtr & Bridge,
Eu3/2/1000i Gens, 1680W & E-Panel/WBjr to come, CL #647 asleep
West Chilcotin, BC, Canada
i don't know. I bought them from my rural solar-electrical guy. He said the install was very straightforward and I watched him and it took a few minutes to swap the new batteries for the old AGM's. They are JH Energy YN6-200, 6 volt. I am still trying to get some literature on them. Also, I can't find anything about them on the net. When I get that info, I'll report.
They look similar to the silicon salt batteries sold now by Backwoods. There is also an article about them on the site, but nothing about a charge/discharge profile. I seem to remember an article that said they are capable of fast charge and discharge without damage.
I am headed out to the cabin this week for the Presidents Day Weekend. I'll tell you how they perform.
Thanks very much as always.
JB
KID #51B 4s 140W to 24V 900Ah C&D AGM
CL#29032 FW 2126/ 2073/ 2133 175A E-Panel WBjr, 3 x 4s 140W to 24V 900Ah C&D AGM
Cotek ST1500W 24V Inverter,OmniCharge 3024,
2 x Cisco WRT54GL i/c DD-WRT Rtr & Bridge,
Eu3/2/1000i Gens, 1680W & E-Panel/WBjr to come, CL #647 asleep
West Chilcotin, BC, Canada
bbbuddy,
siliconebatteries.ca/ has an article which claims a 25 minute recharge and 8 second discharge with no damage. It sounds like you would know what this means as a practical matter. I'd be interested to hear you thoughts.
I also want to find out if "silicon" and "silicone" batteries are the same thing. Thanks.
westbranch,
I am emailing my solar system guy again today to get more info about my batteries. Thanks.
JB
KID #51B 4s 140W to 24V 900Ah C&D AGM
CL#29032 FW 2126/ 2073/ 2133 175A E-Panel WBjr, 3 x 4s 140W to 24V 900Ah C&D AGM
Cotek ST1500W 24V Inverter,OmniCharge 3024,
2 x Cisco WRT54GL i/c DD-WRT Rtr & Bridge,
Eu3/2/1000i Gens, 1680W & E-Panel/WBjr to come, CL #647 asleep
West Chilcotin, BC, Canada
Here is a link I found. nuglobalnrg.com/sibattery.html
On page 2 there is a spreadsheet and then on pps 3 & 4 there are performance graphs. Frankly, these batteries seem too good to be true. Time will tell. One consistent review item is low temperature performance.
JB
page 1 that quote again
For the convenience of our customers we include the shipping cost to the nearest destination sea port in the price of the battery, with minimum orders.
KID #51B 4s 140W to 24V 900Ah C&D AGM
CL#29032 FW 2126/ 2073/ 2133 175A E-Panel WBjr, 3 x 4s 140W to 24V 900Ah C&D AGM
Cotek ST1500W 24V Inverter,OmniCharge 3024,
2 x Cisco WRT54GL i/c DD-WRT Rtr & Bridge,
Eu3/2/1000i Gens, 1680W & E-Panel/WBjr to come, CL #647 asleep
West Chilcotin, BC, Canada
KID #51B 4s 140W to 24V 900Ah C&D AGM
CL#29032 FW 2126/ 2073/ 2133 175A E-Panel WBjr, 3 x 4s 140W to 24V 900Ah C&D AGM
Cotek ST1500W 24V Inverter,OmniCharge 3024,
2 x Cisco WRT54GL i/c DD-WRT Rtr & Bridge,
Eu3/2/1000i Gens, 1680W & E-Panel/WBjr to come, CL #647 asleep
West Chilcotin, BC, Canada
JB
|| Midnight Classic 200 | 10, Evergreen 200w in a 160VOC array ||
|| VEC1093 12V Charger | Maha C401 aa/aaa Charger | SureSine | Sunsaver MPPT 15A
solar: http://tinyurl.com/LMR-Solar
gen: http://tinyurl.com/LMR-Lister ,
tell us more about how many Amps you were putting in?
KID #51B 4s 140W to 24V 900Ah C&D AGM
CL#29032 FW 2126/ 2073/ 2133 175A E-Panel WBjr, 3 x 4s 140W to 24V 900Ah C&D AGM
Cotek ST1500W 24V Inverter,OmniCharge 3024,
2 x Cisco WRT54GL i/c DD-WRT Rtr & Bridge,
Eu3/2/1000i Gens, 1680W & E-Panel/WBjr to come, CL #647 asleep
West Chilcotin, BC, Canada
When I arrived Friday at about 11 am, the green light on my Morningstar PS-30 was flashing and I believe was showing 13.8 V. I did not need to use my Honda EU2000i the whole weekend since solar charging sufficed. Keep in mind it was overcast and snowing the whole time. I have two Kyocera solar panels (size unknown) that face south. My Morningstar PS-30 controller registered from .1 to a max of 1.1 charging amps. It may have been slightly higher when I was outside shoveling mid-day. I hope that responds to your question.
The battery temperature was ten to fifteen degrees above ambient in the cabin when I arrived Friday. In the course of only two days, and again without using those orange silicone heating pads or using my Vector charger, the temps rose to about cabin temperature (I keep them under the stairs sitting on a piece of blue Styrofoam, probably the coolest location in the cabin). This would have taken a week with my AGM'S and required daily charging with the generator and running it during the dark hours.
JB