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jack fork stik
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Joined: 08/12/2012
Location: Australia
Posts: 34

Posted: 04:42pm 09 Dec 2012

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hi
been getting a few 2v solar batteries from the dump shop of late with the latest find being 4 2v 425ah excide brand marathon batties,with 4 terminals i mistook them as 4v cells so im 2 cells short of making up a 12v pack but ive got some 2v 250ah sungels which 2 dont make the cut so can i add 4 of these in series/parael to the 425ah pack to make it up to 12v again?i relise that i will have to catch the sungels up from time to time coz theyll be 500ah verses 425 of the excides, what do you think?

Downwind

Guru

Joined: 09/09/2009
Location: Australia
Posts: 2333

Posted: 06:44pm 09 Dec 2012

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I dont like the idea, as you should not mix FLA batteries with Gel cells, 2 different charging requirements needed.

Even mixing different cells of the same type is not a good idea as the weakest cell will effect the overall bank.

Sometimes it just works

jack fork stik
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Joined: 08/12/2012
Location: Australia
Posts: 34

Posted: 08:37pm 09 Dec 2012

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hi Downwind
both types of batteries are sealed gell types and both have the same float voltage of 2.30v per cell,the only difference is that ill be using 2 250ah cells in parael to make one 500ah cell verses the 425ah cells.im just rying to use what i have and what ive been able to get.since the red head with the big boobs put the carbon tax on my 10 acre farm water and supply cost went up by $480 before i use any of these 2 basic services we all take for granted so im trying to offset these costs and get to the point of turning them off like glenn has done as ive plenty of wind being near the coast

Downwind

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Joined: 09/09/2009
Location: Australia
Posts: 2333

Posted: 10:04pm 09 Dec 2012

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The Red Witch will tax your wind next.

What windmill do you have?

I would still think its not a ideal battery bank combo, but if you got them for little, and dont mind flogging them in less than ideal conditions, then use them.

Gel cells dont handle abuse as well as FLA, but sitting there not being used is of little use either, and if not being kept charged while sitting around wont help their life also.

The bigger question is what can each cell actually supply, as i doubt they would still deliver anywhere near their AH rating, making it difficult to know what cell/s will be the weak link.

Wind is not a very reliable method to depend on for recharging, and for a 500ah bank you would be better off with a wind/solar system.
To draw the bank down and it sit with low charge for a few days is not good for any battery and gel suffers worst than FLA.

Perhaps tell us more about you intentions of the full system, from charging through to what load requirements are needed.

Pete.

Sometimes it just works

jack fork stik
Newbie

Joined: 08/12/2012
Location: Australia
Posts: 34

Posted: 07:02am 13 Jan 2013

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hi Pete
to answer a few questions on the gear ive collected so far.
wind genny is a air marine 401 that regular puts out 15a @24v and goes all night once the tide changes
ive got 450 watts of solar with 3x80w panels and arange of smaller panels right down to 5 watts
2 regulators tristar 60a and a xantrex trace 40a.both will go into diversion mode if needed
batteries are lucent 24v 650ah gells cells
sungells 24v 250ah gell cells
northstar 14x 12v 100ah exchange batteries just taken out of service
bp 12v 570ah wet cells with 1 spare
and the exide 425 ah/sungell 500ah mixed pack
for inverters im using apc brand ups rangeing from 1.4kva,1kva,.9kva,.7kva and they all work on 24v and they are all pure sine wave with a surge of 5 times their rating. ive been finding a few 12v/300w mod square wave ups as well but there only good for phone charges and fluro lights
ive also got yards of 70mm2 and 50mm2 welding cables,a carbon pile battery tester i got for $5,a 30a 6/12v battery charger from the scrappy for $7 and lots of other h/duty cables,circuit breakers/fuses/shunts etc ive been collecting for years

shawn

Senior Member

Joined: 30/03/2010
Location: New Zealand
Posts: 210

Posted: 07:10pm 13 Jan 2013

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mmmmmm red head with big boobs mmmmmm
All sounds good but yes they end up costing money

jack fork stik
Newbie

Joined: 08/12/2012
Location: Australia
Posts: 34

Posted: 12:37am 14 Jan 2013

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true Shawn i doubt if id want to see hers though!theyd be abit droopy by now like hanging past her belly button with the hi beams shinning down towards the floor,maybe we the tax payer should shout her a tighten up job and get her beams pointing the right way

now back to discussing my batteries and system

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