How I lost 1,000 lbs.

beecee

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Made mention of my plans a while back. Well, finally got all wired in and going.

Switched from 8 x 6 volt 325 amp lead batteries to 4 x 1kwh Chevy Volt batteries.

The new batteries weigh less than 25 lbs. each, used much smaller cable and have slightly more storage than the former 15 kwh system, (you can "use" more of the Lithium vs the 20-25% depth of discharge of lead acid). The old ones, fully wet, weighed in at around 120 per .

I have the old ones on a 5' x 4' pallet. The new ones sit on a 24" drawer base I salvaged from the old kitchen in the camp. The old ones would have crushed the cabinet!!

Gonna make a custom shelf for them.

These should last a good 15-20 years. Very easy life for the Volt batteries compared to their intended use.
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GAD

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So cool! I'm envious of your rig. I've wanted solar forever but this house just isn't conducive to it.

That is a crazy cool upgrade.
 

dreadnut

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Ain't new battery technology wonderful?

Just one question: the new cables look to be actually larger than the old ones?
 

Nuuska

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Having one slope of my gabled house facing almost south - solar panels are quite interesting - even here in the north.

But please - " Switched from 8 x 6 volt 325 amp lead batteries to 4 x 1kwh Chevy Volt batteries." - can you please be more spesific?

Suppose 8x6V=48V = 4x12V batteries ?
Suppose 8x6Vx325A means 15600Wh = 15,6kWh ? ?
Suppose 4x1kWh is enough - and previous battery pack was overkill ? ? ?

Them cables can NEVER be too thick.
 

dreadnut

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Bigger DC cables, less voltage drop over distance.
 

dreadnut

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I am guessing beecee meant 365 amp hour batteries, which is about 1/3 of the power available with the new 1KWh batteries.
 

beecee

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But please - " Switched from 8 x 6 volt 325 amp lead batteries to 4 x 1kwh Chevy Volt batteries." - can you please be more spesific?

Suppose 8x6V=48V = 4x12V batteries ? You are forgetting series vs parallel I am at 24 Volts

View attachment 4880

Suppose 8x6Vx325A means 15600Wh = 15,6kWh ? ? exacto-mundo
Suppose 4x1kWh is enough - and previous battery pack was overkill ? ? ? No...It is the ability to use more of the capacity of the battery bank. Lead cannot really be used on a consistent basis to, say, below 75% of total capacity. If you pull more of that you'll kill your batteries in short order, Say 20% for easy math...that equals 3 kwh of my 15 kwh battery bank, Lithium on the other hand can go safely to 75% discharge. That too is roughly 3 kwh. BUT it will charge quicker in the morning to full capacity, plus, no hydrometer, no adding distilled water, no risk of toxic fumes...no having to haul batteries that weigh more than my first car.
 
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beecee

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And yes, the sale of the Orph and D-70 made all this possible.
 

beecee

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Ain't new battery technology wonderful?

Just one question: the new cables look to be actually larger than the old ones?


Angle of the picture. The thin wire you see on the lead bank comes from the charge controller. The leads on the big batteries are thicker than my ring finger, like car battery cables but a tad thicker. The lithium leads are 4 awg...still somewhat heavy duty but more akin to extra light guage strings
 

Guildedagain

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I just bought Trojan T105 RE batteries, they are amazing, best we've ever had. Hadn't heard of Volt batteries being used, I'll have to pass this on to a buddy who does solar full time. What's the cost of the Volt batts and where did you get them? Who makes them?
 

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Cool stuff!

I've been thinking for awhile about heading for the southwest, Albuquerque area maybe, buying a piece of land and building a multi-shipping container home on it. Four 10x40' containers, one of 'em maybe below ground (the amp room!), with solar panels mainly juicing up a battery array for evening use and backup "just in case." With adobe style facades on the shipping container layout. Once COVID-19 lets up I'll do some recon in the area.

-Dave-
 

Nuuska

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Thanks for clarifying - I had not at all thought about how much you can discharge lead vs Li-Ion - makes perfect sense.

EDIT - while I've been driving a Li-Ion EV car since february - I REALLY should know - well - actually I DO KNOW - just have to get more used to it so it is in the backbone . . .
 
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beecee

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I just bought Trojan T105 RE batteries, they are amazing, best we've ever had. Hadn't heard of Volt batteries being used, I'll have to pass this on to a buddy who does solar full time. What's the cost of the Volt batts and where did you get them? Who makes them?


If your buddy does it full time he should buy wrecked Chevy Volts. Harvest the 24 and 48 volt sections...sell off what he doesn't use.

A-Z Lithium was the most reliable source but ask for pictures of the man labels. He doesn't always send same year units.

The Trojans are far and away the class of the field for lead. My issue is I had to haul the batteries every fall and store inside as the camp is on an esker formed island in the Adirondacks. Real pain to do so. Relative to the Trojans, I can put these in my pocket!!!!
 

geoguy

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I was picturing a smaller building, on that esker/island. That camp is huge!

Oh, and good on ya for including the glacial-geology term "esker" in your post. (y)
 

Nuuska

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I have been toying building a boat battery for my Minnkota using old laptop cells - readily available for free - and even if one or two cells in the pack've gone bad - the rest might still be good. A control pc-board is less than 20€ delivered. So far I've been using 17Ah 12V lead battery - wishing it had a bit bigger capacity. Size and weight in those is not an issue. But just "because I can" it might be fun to build a 12V Li-Ion pack for boat - if it starts burning there's always plenty of water to immerse it in. That deeper discharge really seems to make big difference.
 

beecee

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Yeah, thanks. That revelation led to a pleasant 15 minutes grazing the interwebs on the glacial history of the Adirondacks.

Better in person...come on up!!

With the exception of the kitchen it is still circa 1860 something. It was a lumber camp Mgrs house that they disassembled and moved onto the island as a joke one winter before departing the denuded area...(all that Adirondack spruce??).

I spent the better part of 3.5 years making it user friendly for wife and daughter. It had no running water. Propane lights and a propane powered fridge...(what an ooohhh moment that invention must have been..burn propane to cool something).

Now thanks to solar array and batteries: Normal lights, slightly upgraded kitchen, (water, propane stove)..and AC fans with DC motors...technology is so cool. If it were not for LED bulbs I could have never done half of this.

Now of course lovely daughter, now a teen, has friends a phone and other interests. Wife cares for 4 dogs, (we lost one of the old ones 2 weeks ago). I head up alone a lot...(oh the suffering!)

ADK-LMG????
 
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