Posted by Michael B on October 13, 2010, 11:47 pm
Not to be cynical (what, me?) but I was wondering why the Edison
Battery was not being mentioned a lot more.
Did some research, found that the early electric vehicles may well
have many of the same batteries they started out with (Jay Leno
collection?). They were Nickel Iron, used a caustic solution as the
electrolyte, had pretty good current density, and were being used for
locomotives mainly. But their liability is that they could well easily
last for over 40 years, even with overcharging. Seems perfect for
a photovoltaic setup, wind generator, or both.
So the Exide folks bought up the company making them in 1972, stopped
production in 1975. In a very good marketing decision. They are the
second-largest lead acid battery company, and where's the sense of
turning out a product for which there's very little repeat market? In
direct competition with batteries that are good for maybe eight years?
Just mentioning in case anyone had some interest in looking further.
Posted by Ron Rosenfeld on October 14, 2010, 12:42 am
On Wed, 13 Oct 2010 16:47:12 -0700 (PDT), Michael B
>Not to be cynical (what, me?) but I was wondering why the Edison
>Battery was not being mentioned a lot more.
>Did some research, found that the early electric vehicles may well
>have many of the same batteries they started out with (Jay Leno
>collection?). They were Nickel Iron, used a caustic solution as the
>electrolyte, had pretty good current density, and were being used for
>locomotives mainly. But their liability is that they could well easily
>last for over 40 years, even with overcharging. Seems perfect for
>a photovoltaic setup, wind generator, or both.
>So the Exide folks bought up the company making them in 1972, stopped
>production in 1975. In a very good marketing decision. They are the
>second-largest lead acid battery company, and where's the sense of
>turning out a product for which there's very little repeat market? In
>direct competition with batteries that are good for maybe eight years?
>Just mentioning in case anyone had some interest in looking further.
Take a look here for a discussion of the pros and cons.
http://www.windsun.com/Batteries/Battery_types.htm
Posted by Curbie on October 14, 2010, 1:34 am
Michael,
The Battery Builder's Guide
by Phillip Hurley
http://www.goodideacreative.com/battery_builder.html
It's a pretty good read and according to the author, as far as lead
acid batteries for a RE system goes, there are really only two types:
1) Faure (pasted lead) plates, like is used in T105 or L16 batteries.
2) Plante (pure lead) plates, like used in industrial, Surrette, or
HUP batteries.
Basically, the more lead, the better the battery.
www.eastpenn-deka.com
www.exide.com
www.hawkerpowersource.com
www.enersysmp.com
www.powerbattery.com
www.surrette.com
www.trojan-battery.com
www.usbattery.com
Curbie
Posted by Jim Wilkins on October 14, 2010, 2:12 am
> Not to be cynical (what, me?) but I was wondering why the Edison
> Battery was not being mentioned a lot more.
> Did some research, found that the early electric vehicles may well
> have many of the same batteries they started out with (Jay Leno
> collection?). They were Nickel Iron, used a caustic solution as the
> electrolyte, had pretty good current density, and were being used for
> locomotives mainly. But their liability is that they could well easily
> last for over 40 years, even with overcharging. Seems perfect for
> a photovoltaic setup, wind generator, or both.
> So the Exide folks bought up the company making them in 1972, stopped
> production in 1975. In a very good marketing decision. They are the
> second-largest lead acid battery company, and where's the sense of
> turning out a product for which there's very little repeat market? In
> direct competition with batteries that are good for maybe eight years?
> Just mentioning in case anyone had some interest in looking further.
NiFe cells from China:
http://www.beutilityfree.com/pdf_files/NiFeFlyer.pdf
Look at 7008; $010 for 12V 122AH. Batteries Plus sells a 12V 105AH
deep discharge for $5. If it lasts only 5 years you break even at 60
years.
jsw
Posted by vaughn on October 14, 2010, 12:57 pm
.
>NiFe cells from China:
>http://www.beutilityfree.com/pdf_files/NiFeFlyer.pdf
>Look at 7008; $010 for 12V 122AH.
Interesting! But not tempting. Look close at the graphs. Except perhaps here
in Florida, you would need to keep them in a heated room. Also, they have high
self-discharge compard to a lead-acid. That represents a considerable 24/7
vampire load on your system.
> Batteries Plus sells a 12V 105AH deep discharge for $5. If it lasts only 5
> years you break even at 60 years
Yep, I'll just stick to my 6-volt lead-acid batteries. When I got them they
were perhaps 5 yers old (standby service only), and .they still test fine after
another 5 years.
Vaughn
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>Battery was not being mentioned a lot more.
>Did some research, found that the early electric vehicles may well
>have many of the same batteries they started out with (Jay Leno
>collection?). They were Nickel Iron, used a caustic solution as the
>electrolyte, had pretty good current density, and were being used for
>locomotives mainly. But their liability is that they could well easily
>last for over 40 years, even with overcharging. Seems perfect for
>a photovoltaic setup, wind generator, or both.
>So the Exide folks bought up the company making them in 1972, stopped
>production in 1975. In a very good marketing decision. They are the
>second-largest lead acid battery company, and where's the sense of
>turning out a product for which there's very little repeat market? In
>direct competition with batteries that are good for maybe eight years?
>Just mentioning in case anyone had some interest in looking further.