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Forum Index : Solar : CEIL forklift Batteries personal review
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| noneyabussiness Guru  Joined: 31/07/2017 Location: AustraliaPosts: 512 |
so I thought I would write up my personal experience with these batteries.. I Apologize in advance as I'm not overly good at writing these up. purchased them through CEIL in Sydney, the first bank was about 3.5 years ( 680ah) ago( closest to wall, smaller one) and the second a few weeks ago ( 900ah ) total 1580ah.. I use MINIMUM 30% out of them every night ( obviously not that much now as I have 2nd battery) and have been extremely happy with them. As we have family coming to live with us soon on our property, I figured I'll get ready for that by increasing my storage. I used to have 550ah of agm's in series with the first one for some time but have now retired them as I was never happy with em, they were ex railway of unknown age or usage that I got for scrape price, and quite a few were sad to start with... but they still did there job... these are rated at the 5hr rate at 80% discharge, when new are warrantied for 5 years, being 2nd hand they only came with a year warranty. being 5hr rated, solar is incredibly easy on them, so taking peukert's law into consideration I would have AT LEAST their rated capacity. Total price including shipping to my door for both was 10 grand. once a year I use a battery terminal protector spray on each terminal, I used to use the proper " battery terminal protector " from CRC, but since I've found silicone spray to be effective, I disconnect that bank from the system via individual breaker, the systematically remove each hold down bolt with rattle gun, check / clean if needed / spray.. usually taking about an hour to complete. as you can see in the pics these have a " seal " around each terminal which dramatically reduces corrosion and is very effective.. to date I've had NO issues with corrosion, and found minimal when servicing.. My charge regiem is pretty simple, to quote " Oztules " lead acid likes to work, so I charge to 59v everyday and hold it there until gauge zero's out, as the day progresses the current to hold it there decreases. I don't bother with " float ". Regularly cycling the way I do seems to improve both under heavy load voltage and " in the morning " voltage.. but obviously this plateaus and will eventually drop off as the battery ages.. here is the monitor I use, its a " juntek " cheapy from aliexpress but its very handy, seems reasonably accurate and also has a wireless connection that uses the nrf24l01 board, so I replaced one, with one that has the on board amplifier to dramatically increase its wireless range ..      all up, coupled with my home built inverter I'm a very happy camper.. I think it works !! |
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Revlac Guru Joined: 31/12/2016 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1022 |
Nicely done.  Cheers Aaron Off The Grid |
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| Davo99 Guru Joined: 03/06/2019 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1578 |
Is that an Auto watering system on them? If so, could you explain a bit how that is setup and operates Please? |
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| noneyabussiness Guru Joined: 31/07/2017 Location: AustraliaPosts: 512 |
to be truly honest, i haven't used it yet dave... but by what i can tell, there is a 1 way valve on the end (the blue thing) and a float valve under each cap so its a matter of forcing some water in and once full it shuts the water off... seen my bother in law do it on his system.. he used a 2 litre bottle and a standard hose fitting.. when I can Ill use it and let you know asap... I think it works !! |
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| Davo99 Guru Joined: 03/06/2019 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1578 |
A couple I know on the mid north coast have their farm off grid and have an auto setup. He says it's on a 25L container and he adds a few liters every 3 months to give him something to do while he's in there. I said I thought they would use more than that? He said if the system is set up right and you aren't flogging them, they don't need much. They only have a system 1/3rd the size they did because the dairy operation is closed down now so it's just them living there and they still never run out of power. They do only have 2KW of panels which seems small but I guess if the battery capacity is high and the useage is low... People on forums go on about " Maintenance " of LA packs like it's a full time job but the people I speak to with them paint a very different picture. Seems to me the reality of of the situation is people with LA batteries spend less time on them than the city people do putting their garbage bins in and out every week! If they are just float valves on the watering system that sounds very simple and straightforward. I am told they are expensive to buy though. |
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| noneyabussiness Guru Joined: 31/07/2017 Location: AustraliaPosts: 512 |
the 2nd battery came with it... but a quick search on fleabay turns up about 300 bucks for em.. if you really want em, talk to your battery supplier if they come with it... I think it works !! |
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| noneyabussiness Guru Joined: 31/07/2017 Location: AustraliaPosts: 512 |
oh and honestly, its a pretty small job, so even my first bank that doesn't have it, its not that big a deal... but each to their own.. I think it works !! |
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| Davo99 Guru Joined: 03/06/2019 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1578 |
Yeah I didn't think it would be much to do them. How often do you check yours? Once a Month? Do they take much water? I distill my own with the solar coupled water heater with the thermo over ridden. Boiled the water and I can get about 5l day out of it depending on weather. |
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| noneyabussiness Guru Joined: 31/07/2017 Location: AustraliaPosts: 512 |
I fill mine about 5 times a year, so about every 2-3 months... I'm unsure on amount of water i use as I just pull the hose over to them( both when I was on town water and now tank), but at a educated guess, a 3-5 litres..I used to check em every day, then every week, now.... oh sh$% better check levels in batteries  ... probably safe once a week, but you will get to know your system and whats needed.. so your 5 litres a day is plenty.. I think it works !! |
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| bob.steel Senior Member  Joined: 27/02/2020 Location: AustraliaPosts: 188 |
There is a guy called Steve now in Hawai that swore by some sort of cells because he could make the electrolyte for them himself . He though it would be necessary some day . Steve off grid the videos were . Very interesting videos on Solar and off grid electrical , Inverters etc.. Learned a lot from him and he went into full detail with everything he did . He's stopped posting videos now . One of his readers managed to complete the solar 300 volt line and burnt himself pretty badly . Disgruntled at his own poor abilities he started a law suite against Steve so Steve has gone dark now. You might get him here though and the old videos are available too . If you are really keen I can put a few good ones up on Mega for you to download. https://www.youtube.com/c/SteveRobertsonOffGridLiving Steve Off Grid Edited 2022-02-18 17:11 by bob.steel |
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