Silicon Salt Battery

thorsness · February 2017

P. S. the NUGlobal data sheet on silicon salt batteries says the "internal resistance" of their batteries is less than .25 micro ohms, which they say is ten times less than lead acid batteries. As I understand Mike's comment, this means that the higher than ambient battery temperature on arrival would NOT be explained by solar charging.

bbbuddy · February 2017

thorsness,
Do you know where he sourced them from? I emailed www.siliconebatteries.ca and the reply was to get them through backwoods solar. When I spoke with Backwoods solar the guy there tried to talk me out of them without giving me any reason why, I hung up frustrated with his attitude, he wouldn't give any specifics and kept trying to steer me away for no reason I could find...one size they had online, he said they no longer had. I think they may have been low on stock and weren't ready to order any...but that's just a guess.

I see on one of the silicon salt graphs that they should be kept at 70-80% SOC for longest life, unlike lifepo4 that will give long life with 80% usable...

mike95490 · February 2017

Not sure about the SS batteries, but AGM have such low internal resistance, they have little self-heating.

P. S. the NUGlobal data sheet on silicon salt batteries says the "internal resistance" of their batteries is less than .25 micro ohms, which they say is ten times less than lead acid batteries. As I understand Mike's comment, this means that the higher than ambient battery temperature on arrival would NOT be explained by solar charging.

AGM also have much less resistance than flooded Lead Acid. I don't have comparison charts of all three to know for sure,
But some self heating does raise the voltage a bit.

thorsness · March 2017

I was at my remote cabin for the past week. Sunny all seven days. Did not need to use the Honda eu2000i to charge my two 6V Silicon Salt batteries, even once. The cabin (and the batteries) was 18* F on arrival. They warmed up quickly as the cabin heated, and seemed unaffected by cold. I will now say, they perform, in all respects, better than my 12V AGM's did. I am very impressed at their cold weather and overall performance. JB

Lumisol · May 2017

It looks like these (aquion) have been discontinued and the manufacturer website shut down.
I wonder what the problem they had was.

I looked at the SB site and found a warranty that is 1 year max and might be a lot less if you use the batteries a lot...
WARRANTY

Supplier warrants the "Product" for an applicable Warranty period of one (1) year to be free of material and workmanship defects.
The Warranty commences on the day and year first written on the Buyers original purchase receipt (the Invoice) at the time of purchase.
Supplier does not warrant "Product" that reaches its normal end of life which may occur prior to the "Warranty" period stated, depending on the application of which the "Product" is used. the "Product" can deliver only a fixed number of usable amp-hours over its lifetime and is considered to have reached its normal end of life if the application uses up all of the amp-hours regardless of the time the "Product" has been in service. Therefore the Supplier/Distributors reserves the right to deny a "Warranty" claim if it determines the "Product" to be at its normal end of life, even if the claim is lodged within the applicable "Warranty" period.
"Product" determined to meet the conditions of "Warranty" will be replaced free of charge, if, at the sole discretion of the Supplier/Distributor an adjustment is necessary due to material or workmanship defects. "Product" for "Warranty" replacement consideration is to be returned to the original "Supplier" at Buyer's expense. "Product" replaced under the "Warranty" provisions will be shipped with a green replacement warranty sticker and carry only the remainder of the original applicable "Warranty" period for the "Product" that was replaced.

Dave Angelini · May 2017

Bad management at Aquion. I am helping some folks with one of these fubared systems. Once they are worn down and come to their senses they will be writing a big check 10 years before its time. It still surprises me that someone would buy anything this new for offgrid.