Author Topic: Using battery desulfators - BEFORE they die.  (Read 4873 times)

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Offline Psinet

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Using battery desulfators - BEFORE they die.
« on: October 08, 2014, 11:16:52 pm »
Hi all. New face here. A quick question for any battery gurus.

Quick background: I work in aquaponics and have a system that is powered by solar and wind. It averages about 0.15kw/hr and peaks at about 0.25kw/hr.

I have a 24v 200AH VRLA battery bank that is running just fine. However, it has been under permanent usage for over a year now.

I own this battery desulfator: http://www.cleanenergy-npt.com/Shop/ShowProduct.asp?ProductID=14

Should I have this permanently attached?

Cheers,

Psinet

Offline rossw

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Re: Using battery desulfators - BEFORE they die.
« Reply #1 on: October 08, 2014, 11:51:40 pm »
Quick background: I work in aquaponics and have a system that is powered by solar and wind. It averages about 0.15kw/hr and peaks at about 0.25kw/hr.

0.15kw/hr is a nonsense term. Is it averaging 0.15kW (150 watts)? Or do you mean it's averaging 0.15 kWh in some period of time (what time?)

Quote
I have a 24v 200AH VRLA battery bank that is running just fine. However, it has been under permanent usage for over a year now.
I own this battery desulfator: [-deleted-]
Should I have this permanently attached?

Most desulfators state that they should be left permanently on the battery.
A (very) few inverters, charge controllers etc complain (or let out the magic smoke) from the high voltage pulses they create though, so it would be prudent to check just what it sticks back up the line. Ferrites on the cables leading away to your loads may significantly assist in this matter.

Offline A of J

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Re: Using battery desulfators - BEFORE they die.
« Reply #2 on: January 09, 2015, 06:28:56 pm »
I would go one further than Ross and ask why do yo believe you need a desulfator?

I have a battery bank that has been in service for 3.5 years, I would never consider a desulphator, I manage the bank.

My set previous to previous at another location was 20+ years old and never seen a desulphator.

Lets put it simply, look after your investment and don't allow them to sulphate, problem solvered.

Manage your battery and you will not require a desulphator, simple.

Good luck
Allan

Offline vk4ayq

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Re: Using battery desulfators - BEFORE they die.
« Reply #3 on: February 05, 2015, 12:41:56 am »
Hi All

I use desulphators all the time on my battery bank and use them to recover sulphated batteries as my whole bank was when i had it donated to me. In the dark ages i worked on farm 32 volt units servicing them on a 3 monthly cycle, this was the first time I came in contact with a desulphator it was given to me by the retiring gentleman who serviced the batteries for years.

While it is true that if properly managed you can get along well without a desulphator in practice this seldom happens particularly in the farming community, now I use them permanently on my batteries to keep them alive for as long as possible, my present set is 15 years old ex government building safety light set 1500 AH at 24 volts, it was originally a 240 volt DC system before I reconfigured it to 24 volts.

Advantages as I have found with desulphators, No need to waste a lot of power equalizing charge every cycle to get rid of sulphate and I believe this extends the battery life by not boiling active material off the plates, Also the sulphate is continually broken down from the crystalline state even when below float voltages, the frequency of the desulphator stops the crystals forming a blanket cover on the plates and internally in the microstructure of the plate active material.

There are high power desulphators meant for desulphating badly sulphated batteries in a short time, I do not believe these models should be left on the battery permanently but the lower intensity ones are OK to leave on.

As for interference with electronics a couple of my HAM radios suffered from noise from the desulphator so I put some ferrite beads on the battery leads and that reduced interference to a low level, lower than the PWM regulator.

All the best

Bob

Offline gww

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Re: Using battery desulfators - BEFORE they die.
« Reply #4 on: February 05, 2015, 07:01:53 am »
psinet
Welcome to the forum. If you have lots of time, check out what bob has been doing.


http://www.thebackshed.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=2979&PN=1&TPN=34

Bob
hi and welcome to the forum.  I am still not compleetly sold on desulfators but also believe if you have one sitting there it probly won't hurt to put it on your bank.

Good to talk to you again
gww