Absolyte IIP Questions

JT2222 · August 2009

Hello all,
I just happened on this site & appreciate all the info. I have a system of Absolyte IIP 100A-99 batteries. These were purchased several years ago & would be very interested in the year of manufacture. The only numbers visible are stamped on the metal case & are: FLZ 537688. Never did pay any attention to the caps on these & had no idea they were so easy to open or that you could add water. Also never knew that they could be equalized. Just added 8 oz. of distilled water to all the cells in one bank of these & did an equalize charge to 2.50 VPC. The rest voltage on that bank came up to 2.14 VPC. Don't know if it was because they never were fully charged or if it was the added water, but before doing this, they were running closer to 2.03 - 2.07.

I do have a couple of questions. These have 3 individual cells in a metal case. They can be either hooked together in parallel so that each group of 3 is a 2 volt - 4800 AH battery, or in series so that each group of 3 is a 6 volt - 1600 AH battery. They can then be series connected for the desired voltage. Is there an advantage or disadvantage to either method?

It appears that individual cells can be removed from the metal case & be replaced. Is there a recommended method of doing this?

I talked to a battery recycler who told me they were not interested in Absolyte batteries. What is in these that would make a recycler shy away?

From the web site, I see that one of the plates is a blend of materials & does contain some amount of silver. Is there enough to try separating the materials from a bad cell?

Dapdan · August 2009

Re: Absolyte IIP Questions

Hey J,

Welcome to the forum. First off let me direct you to my post. Do a search for post done by myself in respect of the absolyte cells and read all of them and then ask me some pointed questions. Basically I was at your stage back in March when i first joined this forum. I had just got some 100A-19 absolyte cells. When I first charged them they were generall around 2.09 per cell. Now having added water and equalised them several times most of them are at 2.15 a some are at 2.16/2.17 rest voltage. In respect of the date of manufacture check on the front of the cell there should be a code on in (letters and numbers) recorded and post it and I will tell when and where they were manufactured.

Cheers...
Damani

JT2222 · August 2009

Re: Absolyte IIP Questions

It appears there are several different codes on these. Some of the ones I see are:

FLZ14C100
FLZ14B100
FLZ12B100
FLZ13C100
FKZ28A100

How do you read these codes? Have you figured a way to determine how much water to add, or just an educated guess?

Dapdan · August 2009

Re: Absolyte IIP Questions

Hey J,

For me it was an educated guess based on my research on the IOVR process. I added approx. 8 oz to my cells. The process basically states that you approximated the amount of water based on the ohmic resistance of each cell. The higher the resistance is away from what it should be the more water you put in. I errored on side of caution because adding to much water would cause problems (positive plate corrosion).

In respect of your codes the translation is as follows:

FLZ14C100 Fort Smith plant, November 14th, 1997 3rd shift, 100A Absolyte

FLZ14B100 Fort Smith plant, November 14th, 1997 2nd shift, 100A Absolyte

FLZ12B100 Fort Smith plant, November 12th, 1997 2nd shift, 100A Absolyte

FLZ13C100 Fort Smith plant, November 13th, 1997 3rd shift, 100A Absolyte

FKZ28A100 Fort Smith plant, October 28th, 1997 1st shift, 100A Absolyte

Hope this helps you. Your batteries are basically 12years old. You should check for positive plate growth (bad thing) it looks like this:

Cheers...
Damani

BB. · August 2009

Re: Absolyte IIP Questions

Damani,

Is the positive plate growth evidenced by the positive post being "pressed up" out of the battery vs the position of the negative post?

-Bill

Dapdan · August 2009

Re: Absolyte IIP Questions

Bill,

That is correct. It is also evidence by localised bludging and stress cracks in the cell plastic casing at the base of the positve post. In one of the picture it is shown dramatically where you can see how the top of the positive post has been skewed at angle relative to the level negative post. Basically the plate has grown down to maximum at the base of the plates within the cells and it is now growing in the opposite direction pushing against the top of cells where the connection post is located.

Cheers...
Damani

JT2222 · August 2009

Re: Absolyte IIP Questions

I have noticed some of the cells bulging like that. Is that a death sentence for the cell , and if so, how do you pull it out of the metal case to be replaced?

Dapdan · August 2009

Re: Absolyte IIP Questions

The cell can be extracked by removing the valve and releasing the pressure then use one of your interconnect strap to pull it out by connection it across like posts. The cell may be binded against the wall of the casing so use a thin stiff piece of metal like a putty knife between cell and casing working between them in an attempt to break that bond and lots of elbow grease and wiggling to pull them. If your cell are installed horizontally this is easier as your are not pulling against the weight of the cell. Some come out easy and some are difficult. I have removed my numerous times without any major issues.

Cheers...
Damani

JT2222 · August 2009

Re: Absolyte IIP Questions

So should I weed out all the bulging cells, or are they possibly good for a while longer? Also, I'm still trying to figure out these date codes. How do you tell the year from those letters?

Dapdan · August 2009

Re: Absolyte IIP Questions

I am not sure how much longer they are going to last or how the failure will manifest itself this is outside my knowledge. PM me your email and I will send you the information that allows you to decifer the cell code. Did you read my post on the subject? Especially about the catalyst caps sold by others to improve the workings of these large Vrla cells.

Cheers...
Damani

BB. · August 2009

Re: Absolyte IIP Questions

Since Damani is too humble to point to his own threads

... I think that this one of them he is typing about:

Low rest voltage on GNB absolyte IIP cells

Very interesting.

-Bill

Dapdan · August 2009

Re: Absolyte IIP Questions

Bill,

Thank you for your kind intervention. BTW i have acquired another set of gnb batteries (12 1600Ah @ 20hr) and I am about to do the same thing with them. I have finally finished charging them and the rest voltages are ranging from 2.065 to 2.094. These cells have a similar story line, never used and manufactured in 1999.

I will let you guys know how it is going.

Cheers...
Damani

JT2222 · September 2009

Re: Absolyte IIP Questions

Yes, actually I read that entire thread before registering. The only info I had up to now was from the manufacturer web site, & they mention nothing about adding water, etc. so had no idea that it would help. So, after all the time I've had these, with several cells that were too low to use, maybe now they can be rejuvenated. The main question now is how much water to add to these large cells. I've added 8oz. to each already, but looking at some of the previous posts, that probably isn't near enough.

westbranch · September 2009

Re: Absolyte IIP Questions

JT I assume you have also read the data available from exide on the bulk, absorb and float voltage levels ...
I have noticed an improvement with mine after setting the float voltage at the same as EQ. I only get a few hours daily max at float due to shading... seemed to kick start them a bit and I baked it off .1v on the float and am watching it closely to see if there is a drop in performance... Have not added water as yet.

cheers

Eric;)

JT2222 · September 2009

Re: Absolyte IIP Questions

Dapdan, I sent a PM.

Westbranch, I have all the factory info on voltage levels. They are not as high as the equalizing charges I'm using at the moment. Probably wasn't giving them a full charge before now.

Absolyte IIP Questions

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