reverse osmosis water for the batteries?...

unicornio
unicornio Solar Expert Posts: 217 ✭✭
in Off Grid Solar & Battery Systems #1
Hi, there,

i wondered if anyone know if the water filtered and purified with a revese osmosis system with (UV lamp stage) is good enought for add it to our batteries???...
because I heard that is the method used by manufacturers that sell distilled water... deionized water and distilled water ...both are the same?...
also if anyone knows how to measure good quality distilled water? ...
please let me know

many thaks!...
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  • Cariboocoot
    Cariboocoot Banned Posts: 17,615 ✭✭✭
    #2
    Re: reverse osmosis water for the batteries?...

    Properly distilled water is best for batteries. It is pure H2O. Any other form of water will have contaminants, and the quantity and type will affect the lifespan of the battery. Determining how pure the water is (even distilled) is no simple do-it-yourself task. You can measure such things as total dissolved solids and pH, but that won't tell the whole story.

    Certainly reverse-osmosis water will be "cleaner" than straight tap water. But even the RO process does not remove all dissolved solids or other contaminants. The UV process kills bacteria, but it doesn't take it out. The osmosis filtration will remove much of this (as will a ceramic filter) however.

    The amount of water a battery system uses should be relatively small. Certainly not enough to where having to buy a jug of distilled now and then will break the bank. De-ionized is not the same as distilled, although in typical marketing fashion companies will incorrectly use the terms interchangeably (as best suits their sales strategy).
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  • BB.
    BB. Super Moderators, Administrators Posts: 33,613 admin
    #3
    Re: reverse osmosis water for the batteries?...

    Here are a couple threads with information on battery make-up water, including some tests of supermarket water:

    Battery water
    D.I. water

    The problem with home (and even in-store) R/O systems is that you do not know the amount of dissolved solids. You can purchase an inexpensive TDS meter to at least do a simple quality check.

    Please feel free to ask any further question in this thread.

    -Bill

    PS: Welcome to the forum "long time reader/first time poster".
    Near San Francisco California: 3.5kWatt Grid Tied Solar power system+small backup genset
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  • niel
    niel Solar Expert Posts: 10,300 ✭✭✭✭
    #4
    Re: reverse osmosis water for the batteries?...

    as coot said steam distilled is the best, but can be contaminated by the collecting container's not being free of contaminants and of course if open to the air there's airborne contaminants that settle into it. you need cleanliness for any water processing to avoid recontaminating the water.

    i use a cpap humidifier and it requires pure water so as not to put a buildup of contaminants in the reservoir. i found a purifier called zero water and it came with a tds meter. i measured 0ppm through that filter. it still has contaminants in it, but are below the level the meter can detect it. i keep filling the reservoir after each use and it has a shallow amount left at the bottom. after collecting contaminants after say a month it is discolored. i did not measure it, but rather just dumped it out, but for battery use it would do just fine i think.
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  • unicornio
    unicornio Solar Expert Posts: 217 ✭✭
    #5
    Re: reverse osmosis water for the batteries?...

    thank you very much for your help! ... ;-)
    would be very interesting to make our pure water for drinking and also for them to drink our batteries (purest yet) ... I am now learning a lot about water, I think it is very important, and therefore interesting! .. . lol

    I will launch my osmosis and finds out that such good water. I have a dual TDS meter which measures the inlet and outlet, and also I see how good is this distilled water for batteries that I'm buying now ... and compare with that of the osmosis system ...
    BB. wrote: »
    PS: Welcome to the forum "long time reader/first time poster".

    surprisingly, I was surprised myself the time I've been reading your post here and had not yet written any! ... ;-o

    I want to introduce:
    I live in the mountains of Gredos, in Spain, in an off-grid home, my power plant consists of: VFX3024E, MX60, (now) Mate3, FlexNet DC, 985 AH C120 Classic OPzS Solar, Solar Tracker Lorentz Etatrack 1000, 1,2kwp Kyocera PV´s, Biodiesel Diesel genset 6KVA 50% fuel.

    I like people, nature and Samoyed dogs ...

    thank you for this exciting and amazing forum! ...
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  • Cariboocoot
    Cariboocoot Banned Posts: 17,615 ✭✭✭
    #6
    Re: reverse osmosis water for the batteries?...

    Here's a little hint; don't drink distilled water. It has no taste! Nothing to excite the palate at all. Pure blah. :D
    Also, don't feed your batteries "drinking" water; quite often it has a bit of calcium in it to overcome that 'blah', which makes it slightly alkaline and therefor detrimental to electrolyte.

    Water is pretty complex for something so simple. ;)
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  • niel
    niel Solar Expert Posts: 10,300 ✭✭✭✭
    #7
    Re: reverse osmosis water for the batteries?...

    "Water is pretty complex for something so simple. ;)"

    the only time it gets complicated is when it's more than just water. for drinking the minerals are fine as we get many of our wanted minerals this way and when there's pollution there's many things there that we do not want too.

    "if you do not live on the edge, you are occupying too much space"

    it's either that or you fell off.:p
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  • unicornio
    unicornio Solar Expert Posts: 217 ✭✭
    #8
    Re: reverse osmosis water for the batteries?...
    niel wrote: »
    "Water is pretty complex for something so simple. ;)"

    yes!...all that seems simple when deepens, it begins to get complicated, but easy things are also very boring! ... ;-)

    well, I try to make the water that my batteries need, if I can achieve good quality I will, but if not, i will keep buying distilled water, but this is really easy, and boring! ...


    the only time it gets complicated is when it's more than just water. for drinking the minerals are fine as we get many of our wanted minerals this way and when there's pollution there's many things there that we do not want too.

    Well, I can even put another osmosis membrane so that the water passed through two, I want to see! ... hehehe, I'll go measure and see how I am able to improve water quality more and more ...
    Here I will tell ...;-)

    "if you do not live on the edge, you are occupying too much space"

    it's either that or you fell off.:p

    yes! ... I have dropped it!...lol...because our situation very closely and narrow, like dire straits!...;-)
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  • niel
    niel Solar Expert Posts: 10,300 ✭✭✭✭
    #9
    Re: reverse osmosis water for the batteries?...

    actually cariboocoot said this, "Water is pretty complex for something so simple. ;)" i had it in quotes to indicate it was a quote and not said by me. i only made comment upon it.

    as to what you said here, "yes! ... I have dropped it!...lol...because our situation very closely and narrow, like dire straits!...;-)", i am not sure i understand what it is you are saying. what did you drop?
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