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Battery advice request

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Wolvenar:
We will need to replace our battery bank very soon here, and such are shopping around.

I have been looking into NiFe batteries because of their super life plus extremely tolerant of abuse.  My reasons for these particular attributes over efficiency and any other drawback are rather simple. Basically because of rapid onset of health issues. I am not sure how long I will be able to deal with heavy jobs, like moving batteries. I don't want to deal with a bank replacement in 4-10 years. I'm sure my wife wont be to happy about dealing with such either.  I'm trying to set this up so its as fool proof as possible. I want to minimize the failure points. Of course I know there will always be light maintenance and maybe the occasional failed component replacement, but the less the better.

Any which way, Rossw brought to my attention they have a very wide voltage range over their charge cycle. Our current inverter has a range of 17 to 31 volt in its manual, however I have seen it's built in charger equalize batteries at 33.4v. I read that the NiFe batteries have a equalizing voltage of over 38v when setup for a 24v configuration.

So my questions are:

Is there any way to use this battery chemistry with this inverter.

Are there any obvious problems these batteries present?

Would Midnight Solar MPPT(s) play nice with this chemistry?







---EDIT---
 

From the owners manual


NiCad and NiFe Batteries

Disadvantages These types of batteries can be used but are not optimized for the DR Inverter for the following reasons:
• Alkaline batteries, such as NiCad and NiFe types, have a nominal cell voltage
of 1.2 volts per cell. Xantrex inverters and battery chargers are optimized for use with lead acid batteries having a nominal 2.0 volts per cell
(that is, 12 cells for a 24-volt
system and 24 cells for a 48-volt system).
The number of cells required in a battery bank for alkaline batteries must, therefore, be adjusted for a 24- and 48-volt system
(i.e, 20 cells for a 24-volt system and 40 cells for a 48-volt system).
• Alkaline batteries require a higher charge voltage to fully recharge, and drop
to a lower voltage


 Another option for 24 volt (only) alkaline battery banks is to use only 19 cells
instead of 20. Fewer cells allow the battery charger to operate more closely to the
settings used for lead-acid batteries. However, the battery voltage will drop to as
low as 18 volts when discharging the batteries.
Consult the battery manufacturer or supplier regarding system requirements and
battery charger settings for alkaline type batteries.


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------


I am not sure of the listed high scale voltage of the DR as an inverter is limited to the chargers max output, or the components voltage limits. Who knows now if i would get a real and informed answer from Schneider Electric (Xantrax) if I were to call them, but I will give it a shot on a weekday.

If so, I will just have to get an answer from the guys at Midnight if the MPPT works well with the NiFe.

tomw:
Pretty sure the Midnite Classics can do that battery type.

Try asking Ryan next time you see him in IRC.

Tom

tomw:
Wolv;

Ryan says:


--- Quote ---Yes should work just fine. We have a lot of flexibility built in so he should be able to tune the algorithm exactly to the batteries liking.

Ryan

--- End quote ---

Tom

Wolvenar:
Great! part of the problem solved.
Thank you Tom and Ryan

solarnewbee:

Good Day Wolvenar,

I see this was posted sometime ago but since I have recently shipped my panels to the Philippines I should be ready to order batteries soon. I am curious what you ended up deciding to purchase in the way of a battery bank. I have since decided that lithium batteries of most configurations is over_price so I am stuck with fel, agm etc etc. Any advice from your experience would be appreciated.I am working on Arduino projects to monitor each battery and input output ac and dc current voltages temperatures inverter status and charging. long road to that part but I believe if I can get the microcontroller to read and take actions like cooling, desulphate, equalization (a reason why I have separate banks of batteries). Any thoughts?

one last thing, I'm ADD like crazy some days and my health and long work hours I am seem at a loss as to post my own topic. is there a "post a topic for dummies" on this sight?

Attaching my wiring diagram, bank 1 is squirrely looking and may or may not be wired right. 3000w on front roof 3000w on rear roof nothing but sky. 2017 plan to double panels and batteries.

Thanks for your help,
Solarnewbee

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