Battery Acid

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• RCinFLA Solar Expert Posts: 1,452 ✭✭✭✭

  August 2020 edited August 2020 #2

  What is battery voltage reading.
  You would need to charge up as much as possible first.
  
  Before changing electrolyte get a hygrometer to check specific gravity.
  
  Changing electrolyte rarely helps.  
  
  A discharged battery has lead-sulfate on plates where sulfate came from electrolyte sulfuric acid that gets converted to water making specific gravity of electrolyte low and must be returned to electrolyte or water.
  If it is hardened lead-sulfate because it was left in discharged state for some time, it is hard to get rid of crystals.  Best case is to recharge with high current and try to knock it off plates. Knocked off crystals will sink to bottom of battery but electrolytes specific gravity will still be low because sulfate needed to covert water to sulfuric acid has been captured in crystalized lead-sulfate.   
  
  That fact it is cloudy may imply someone tried to fix battery with Epsom salt.  Epsom salt can dissolve harded sulfate but it contaminates electrolyte and is not good for positive plates.
  
  Then drain electrolyte after charging as much as possible.  Replace with distilled water and try to hit it again with high recharge current.  Pure water provides more opportunity to combine with sulfate from plates.
  
  Then drain and replace wih fresh battery electrolyte.
  
  Like I said, usually a waste of time and money for replacement electrolyte.

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• pabloesguapo Solar Expert Posts: 116 ✭✭

  August 2020 #3

  Thanks.  I'm thinking of just replacing.  My Ah rating when new is 1200Ah, not getting anything near that, but a small fraction.  Golf cart batteries are cheap at Costco and will get me by for a year or so until I can save up enough cash to buy more and better batteries.  

  27 Kyocera panels, 6,500w
  24 CG2 6v batteries, 48v, 630Ah
  Midnite Classic 150 & Classic 150 Lite in "follow me" mode
  (2) Outback fx3648 inverters
  Generac ecogen 6kw backup generator

  Mate3s

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• Photowhit Solar Expert Posts: 5,805 ✭✭✭✭✭

  September 2020 #4

  I don't know your situation, but would consider doing some seriously heavy duty equalizing. Rolls was suggesting some very high voltages for Equalizing Something like 65 volts for a 48 volt system (temperature controlled)... Might do some searches here for how some have been able to recover a good bit of capacity on old Rolls batteries. 

  Home system 4000 watt (Evergreen) array standing, with 2 Midnite Classic Lites,  Midnite E-panel, Magnum MS4024, Prosine 1800(now backup) and Exeltech 1100(former backup...lol), 660 ah 24v Forklift battery(now 10 years old). Off grid for 20 years (if I include 8 months on a bicycle).
  - Assorted other systems, pieces and to many panels in the closet to not do more projects.

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