East Penn 6 Volt Golf Cart Battery - Gp GC2 from carquest -- is this any good?

[Mike90250]

I'll add a few conflicting thoughts here.

1) make up a list of "Must have power 24/7 loads" (beer fridge, grandma's iron lung)
2) make up a list of " when batteries get low, or bad weather is forecast " drop these loads.
3) trade some computer & monitor pairs for Laptops (80-90W total)
4) consider an "Android Plug Computer" for your entertainment center (10W vs 150W PC) *
5) Generator size. I ran last winter, with 2 daily, 30 min runs, of a 3,000w genset. You need
enough to keep batteries up to 80%, generator did the boost, solar (if any) did the top-off.
6) backup charger. Not all are created equal. The Power Factor (PF) will greatly affect the charge
that you actually get. I have one charger that is .6PF, and the other is .9PF Big Difference.
Some inverters have built-in charger, make sure you understand it's volt, amp and PF requirements.

* New Version Bluetooth Ug007 Mini Pc Android 4.1 Google Tv Dongle Dual Core Cortex A9 Wifi 1080p RAM 1gb+rom 8gb+3d Amazon (android computer with a HDMI plug that goes into your video display, no touch screen, you need to control it with a $25 wireless remote keyboard/mouse)

7) <added> Try starting with a small (~600ah) battery bank. Nearly everyone abuses/kills their first battery system. It's cheaper to replace a "4 year" battery bank after 1 year, than a 7year bank after 1 year. If you have to order batteries, get the 2V or 4V models, and try for a series string, not a massively parallel bank.

[bahamasolarnoob]

(beer fridge, grandma's iron lung)

LMAO

4) consider an "Android Plug Computer" for your entertainment center (10W vs 150W PC) *
* New Version Bluetooth Ug007 Mini Pc Android 4.1 Google Tv Dongle Dual Core Cortex A9 Wifi 1080p RAM 1gb+rom 8gb+3d Amazon (android computer with a HDMI plug that goes into your video display, no touch screen, you need to control it with a $25 wireless remote keyboard/mouse)

That is cool.

[bahamasolarnoob]

Ok, I scaled down my project expectations.

[bahamasolarnoob]

My new light bill.. usage 930KWh $484.23 most of it is Fuel Surcharge.
Thank you Emera.

[Sunking]

My new light bill.. usage 930KWh $484.23 most of it is Fuel Surcharge.
Thank you Emera.

Ok that works out to 30 Kwh per day. It is outrageous amount you have to pay for electricity which is one of the consequences of living in Paradise. $485/930 Kwh = $0.5215 per Kwh or about 5 times higher than what we pay in the USA. However just make sure you understand that going off-grid solar in the Bahamas will be much more expensive than what Emera charges you. With import taxes and shipping charges you will likely be paying around $3 per Kwh to go off grid.

Consider this I know you are looking at using Trojan T-105 Golf Cart batteries or an equivalent that can be had locally. For each battery can supply you with roughly with 300 Watt Hours per day or .3 Kwh. Based on paying 52-cents per Kwh amounts to roughly 15.6 cents of electricity per day. If you are really lucky those batteries might last you 3 years, but for argument sake let's pretend they will last 5 years. With me so far?

So in 5 years a single battery will provide you with 1825 days x .3 Kwh = 548 Kwh. Take note of that. Now what I want you to do is fill in a blank of $XXX. Take 548 Kwh and divide it into how much each one of those batteries cost delivered to your home so the formula is $XXX / 548 Kwh = $Kwh. That will give you what just 1 Kwh will cost you in batteries alone and nothing else. Also remember it is very unlikely a T-105 will last 5 years. I speak from experience of owning golf carts for 30 years using T-105 and they never make it through the third year using it twice a weak. If the batteries you get are copies or equivalent to T-105 are lessor quality.

FWIW you do not have to answer to my query. I am not trying to beat you up. I am merly trying to keep you honest with yourself. Here in the USA a genuine Trojan T-105 sells for $160 with sales tax and local pickup. You would need 100 of them to supply you with a full 30 Kwh/day. Just here in the for grins is $160 / 548 = 30-cents per Kwh. If we use real numbers of 3 years it changes to $160 / 328 Kwh = 49-cents per Kwh or about 5 times more than the national average for a Kwh of electricity.

[bahamasolarnoob]

Ok that works out to 30 Kwh per day. It is outrageous amount you have to pay for electricity which is one of the consequences of living in Paradise. $485/930 Kwh = $0.5215 per Kwh or about 5 times higher than what we pay in the USA. However just make sure you understand that going off-grid solar in the Bahamas will be much more expensive than what Emera charges you. With import taxes and shipping charges you will likely be paying around $3 per Kwh to go off grid.

Consider this I know you are looking at using Trojan T-105 Golf Cart batteries or an equivalent that can be had locally. For each battery can supply you with roughly with 300 Watt Hours per day or .3 Kwh. Based on paying 52-cents per Kwh amounts to roughly 15.6 cents of electricity per day. If you are really lucky those batteries might last you 3 years, but for argument sake let's pretend they will last 5 years. With me so far?

So in 5 years a single battery will provide you with 1825 days x .3 Kwh = 548 Kwh. Take note of that. Now what I want you to do is fill in a blank of $XXX. Take 548 Kwh and divide it by how much each one of those batteries cost delivered to your home so the formula is 548 Kwh / $XXX = $Kwh. That will give you what just 1 Kwh will cost you in batteries alone and nothing else. Also remember it is very unlikely a T-105 will last 5 years. I speak from experience of owning golf carts for 30 years using T-105 and they never make it through the third year using it twice a weak. If the batteries you get are copies or equivalent to T-105 are lessor quality.

FWIW you do not have to answer to my query. I am not trying to beat you up. I am merly trying to keep you honest with yourself. Here in the USA a genuine Trojan T-105 sells for $160 with sales tax and local pickup. You would need 100 of them to supply you with a full 30 Kwh/day.

I know. I'm with you all the way, but not in a gay way. After re-reading everything, I am scaling down my project. I am not going completely solar. I realize that. I did some cost analysis: I am looking into replacing my energy hog poolpump with a more energy efficient 3 speed poolpump, I am replacing my giant bottom freezer energy hog 8.3 amp fridge.

My solar system will be limited to charging ipods, laptops, ipad, 3 fans and a energy efficient apartment type fridge that I am still looking for.
And yeah I am looking into other better batteries since our last exchange. That might be worth the initial investment. It wont be no huge battery bank.

[Sunking]

I know. I'm with you all the way, but not in a gay way. After re-reading everything, I am scaling down my project. I am not going completely solar. I realize that. I did some cost analysis: I am looking into replacing my energy hog poolpump with a more energy efficient 3 speed poolpump, I am replacing my giant bottom freezer energy hog 8.3 amp fridge

You are on the right track and made a smart decision.

You would be surprised how many folks who come here are not capable of doing cost analysis. They only go with warm fuzzy green feelings and hype. There is a gentleman on here right now wanting to take his house lighting off grid to save money. He does not want to hear how much it really cost.

[bahamasolarnoob]

Well I came here for advise (..and the comedy relief) and it all makes sense. I'll update over the coming months how things are progressing.

[Sunking]

Well I came here for advise (..and the comedy relief) and it all makes sense. I'll update over the coming months how things are progressing.

Please keep us posted and good luck. Hope to meet you some day in Bahamas somewhere someday. It has to be tough living right smack in the middle of Hurricane Alley.

[solarIdiot]

Please keep us posted and good luck. Hope to meet you some day in Bahamas somewhere someday. It has to be tough living right smack in the middle of Hurricane Alley.

I saw where TX had some nasty tornado's this week. Do you see many of those?

[Sunking]

I saw where TX had some nasty tornado's this week. Do you see many of those?

South and West of my location. They were in Hood county, I am in Collin county

[solarIdiot]

South and West of my location. They were in Hood county, I am in Collin county

That's good! Looks like you mostly get thunderstorms up there huh.

[Sunking]

That's good! Looks like you mostly get thunderstorms up there huh.

Yeah lots of it with hail.

[island406]

Just for fun

Sunking,
I love your approach! So Island 406 is on a lake in northern Ontario, no grid. We go there during july and August, winter entails a 10 mile xc ski hike from where we park the car visits are rare for us! After 11 years using two 30watt panels we arrive last year to find one panel had failed. We are upgrading as we have added a dish for internet and wifi.

I bought 2 100 watt panels and 2 Morningstar SunSaver SS-20L-12V 20A, Each panel will go thru a controller and then to a bank of 4 6v batteries. The thought is that if something fails in January we will not arrive in July to find dead batteries. The 20A controllers will allow us to add more panels if we decide to begin using electricity for more than telecom.

I chose the PWM over MPPT for price, based upon your earlier posts it sounds like I made a mistake, did I? And do you see any problems with setting up the two panels separately into the single battery bank?

thanks!

[Sunking]

I bought 2 100 watt panels and 2 Morningstar SunSaver SS-20L-12V 20A, Each panel will go thru a controller and then to a bank of 4 6v batteries. The thought is that if something fails in January we will not arrive in July to find dead batteries.

I chose the PWM over MPPT for price, based upon your earlier posts it sounds like I made a mistake, did I?

I sure think so. Magic happens around 200 watts. You PWM controller turns your 100 watt panel into 66 watts, so with two of them around 125 watts. Here is the deal. I bet those 100 watt panels are 36 cell battery panels right? Go price theses two systems and tell me which is less expensive. The both produce the exact same amount of power each day

System 1

Panel wattage = 200 watts using GRID TIED 72 Cell Panels.
MPPT 15 AMP Controller like Morningstar Sunsaver 15 Amp MPPT
12 volt battery @ 225 AH

System 2

Panel Wattage = 300 watts using 36 Cell battery panels. You will have to buy 2-150 watt battery panels to make 300 watts.
PWM 15 amp controller
12 volt 15 amp controller

Once you price that out you will see what I mean by Magic. MPPT is less expensive.

And do you see any problems with setting up the two panels separately into the single battery bank?

No problem