Battery information website.

[techman]

Thank you for the link. Strange but I am not getting all my emails. Just found out today.

Sorry about that. And also that I am late in replying. Been quite sick recently.

I will be putting a solar panel on the backup forklift battery bank behind the tiny house and then I will put the large desulfator on them for a while. Let it all just run for a while.

The ones on the truck are all separated from one another right now. That is bad. I am looking for some large gauge cables with clamps so I can just clamp them together to charge them.

The spare cells out on the ground are all still doing fine. But the ones that were dead flat empty with dead shorts in them are frozen and bulged but this is no surprise. The cells that I had charged up have survived the winter so far but I do have a sense of urgency to get them sorted out. Again, I have been sick since returning from Canada. I tried to hide it all winter but I got a bad bug and it is slowing me down badly.

I think I am going to make it with fire wood. So far it looks good. I fortunately have enough still scattered around to get me through at least until the snow melts. Then I can harvest more from the woods.

Thanks

[techman]

Thank you for the advice. Yes I do need to cut more wood next time. But I think I will be doing quite well this time. When the snow is melted there are going to be a lot of trees cut around here. A LOT.

And thanks for the idea about the battery connections. I will do that. Been trying to figure out an easy way to get them hooked up.

[techman]

Thank you.

I am still experimenting with the batteries and connections. It is definitely not draining through the solar panels. I disconnected them a few nights in a row to try that idea out.

I have experimented with just using the forklift battery as well and it drops down to 12.1 volts under load and stays pretty much there for the evening.

I fear connecting anything to the solar charge controller that is not meant to be connected to it. Hate to ruin it.

Yesterday the battery temperature was up to 85 degrees F and the battery stayed up to 12.3 volts the entire evening. Interesting.

[JimW]

Looking for some suggestions/info here.
I have a tractor with a large battery on it. This tractor will sit for over a month without being used at times. I was wondering about hooking one of the HF 1.25 watt solar panels up to it to keep the battery charged. I also have a 3 watt PWM solar controller that I had thought about hooking the solar panel to. Would that give any improvement or just be a waste of money/equipment?
Also, since the "load" portion of the controller would not be connected to anything, and the controller may not be un-hooked when the tractor is started would that cause any problems? The large battery drain during cranking and then the alternator charging the battery when the tractor is running. Should I un-hook the controller/solar panel when using the tractor?

[JimW]

Thank you Oldcodge.
It may be a 1.5 watt panel, but not much anyway. It's one that they provide a lighter plug that you can plug into your cars lighter socket and put the panel on the dash. I was wondering if the 3 watt PWM would be any kind of advantage or not. I've read somewhere that PWM controllers, because of the pulse, tends to remove or prevent, or slow down, sulfation and wasn't sure if it would be advantageous from that standpoint. Not that i think the battery is sulfated, but I'd prefer to keep it that way!

[JimW]

Qusetion!!
Why did the board change "You Are A Spammer lighter" to "you are a spammer"
edit - That should have been "cig are tte lig hter" - - - see if that gets through.

[techman]

Hi John,

Sorry about that. I am moving servers and there is some old code that got crossed in the lines. I will try to get it all ironed out. Sort of funny really. I am literally laughing right now.

Your 1.5 watt solar panel provides hardly any current at all. It is a battery maintainer, which will prevent self discharge without over charging the battery. It requires no charge controller.

Anything larger and you do need a charge controller though.

But the battery maintainer will never recharge a dead battery.

[JimW]

The battery is not dead, so it would be used just to maintain. I was just wondering if the PWM controller would be of any benifit. But I think oldcodger answered that for me! (just be a waste of time and money)

[techman]

The battery is not dead, so it would be used just to maintain. I was just wondering if the PWM controller would be of any benifit. But I think oldcodger answered that for me! (just be a waste of time and money)

A PWM controller is a cheap second charge controller to add more solar panels. I cant afford the proper MPPT solar charge controller so I plan to use the PWM as a second expansion controller.