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Has anybody had any experience with golf cart batteries from Sams Club. My local club has "Energizer" branded FLA 220ah golfcart batteries for 80 bucks each. The batteries have "distributed by Johnson Controls" written on the top. I am looking at buying 8 of these to use in a small off-grid cabin system. At less than half the cost of many RE batteries I am willing to accept a shorter life but I just don't want to have a huge hassle or be replacing batteries every two years. I am new to DIY Solar and any bodies help and advice would be greatly appreciated!
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Sure you can use a cheap battery that last a year or two. Or use a quality battery that last 4 or 5 years. FWIW none of the top end golf cart batteries will last more than 3 years. They are not true deep cycle.
Since you are looking at 8 - 6 volt batteries, unless you are using a 48 volt 225 AH system you should not even be considering the batteries. With that much capacity you should only be considering a 48 volt battery system. Let me guees you are thinking 12 volt right?MSEE, PE -
Haha, you guessed it! 12v. (yes I know its not a good idea. I researched around the forum and understand the implications of uneven charging/discharge etc.)
This system was started about 5 years ago and the plan was to use a 48v Surrette battery bank and 48v inverter. Before the system was completed the economy tanked and my income drastically changed so I finished it myself on the cheap. The system consists of a 1300w array, Midnite Classic 150 charge controller (most recent addition), 5 interstate 12v 100ah marine "deep cycle" batteries wired in parallel, and a Xantrex 2kw sine wave inverter. The system provides 24x7 power for a boiler and security system with a combined daily load of about .4kwh. We use the cabin about twice a month for about 3 days at a time. When we are there we use a mini fridge, about 100w of 120v LED lighting, and the other usual small appliances intermittently. The fridge is turned off when we leave. Over the past 4 years I have never had an issue with the system except when we stayed for a week or longer. Just recently I began to notice the lights flicker significantly more when the fridge kicks on or the vacuum cleaner starts up. This is what started the search for new batteries. I priced out surrette two 680ah 6v batteries at about 2500.00 total with shipping.
There are two things I am having a hard time with, the first is that eventually I want a better, higher voltage inverter. If I buy the Surrettes now, I cant add to them later and if I could, 680ah at 48 volts would be overkill for my needs and I don't want to spend the money for good batteries and inverter at this time. The second is that my cheap batteries lasted 4 years without any issues. Maybe I was just lucky, or my system just puts really low stress on them. I just am having a hard time justifying four times the cost for batteries making the assumption that the Golf cart batteries will have a higher ah rating and are probably a tougher battery than the marine batteries. I was hoping someone might be able to share some experiences with golf cart batteries or recommend something else I should look at that might be better suited than the golf cart batteries but less expensive than the Surrettes.Comment
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OK a couple of thoughts I will share with you to digest. At 1300 watt input on the 150 with a 12 volt battery is at the limit and will produce around 95 amps. That requires a battery capacity of 720 to 1100 AH. So you are a little light on batteries at that wattage.
If you run 48 volts does not mean you have to run 680 AH batteries. With a 1300 watt input the acceptable range is 200 to 320 AH. To support 680 AH @ 48 volt would require a panel wattage up around 3000 to 4000 watts.
As for the Golf Cart batteries I have a lot of experience with them. But what you need to be aware of Golf Cart batteries are Hybrid, not true deep cycle. Great example is the Trojan T-105 and T-105RE. Exact same capacity and case, but they are not the same battery as the T-105RE has heavier thicker plates and 5 pounds more lead in them. OK with that said you might want to look at Trojan RE series of batteries. There you will find the T-105RE and 3 flavors of L16.
Golf Cart batteries were used in the beginning of Off-Grid Solar systems because they were cheap, available, and most importantly there was no other alternative at the time. Well times have changed, demand is up for deep cycle batteries and the manufactures have met the demand offering good deep cycle batteries.
OK aside from Trojan and Rolls another top contender is Solar One.MSEE, PEComment
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Thanks for all the info and advice. I called around and found 4 Trojan L16RE-B batteries for a good price at one of our local RE business. They miss ordered them and just wanted to get rid of them before they sat around too long and went bad. They clamed that the batteries had been sitting at their shop for about five months hooked up to a battery tender so I am guessing they should be fine and I am getting them for about half of the cost I priced them at everywhere else. I am planning on wiring them in a series parallel configuration and stick with my 12v setup for now. I am hoping that this system will get my through about 5 years at which time we planning on living at the cabin full time and will be making substantial upgrades to this system.
I am making new battery interconnects out of 0 awg wire and was planning on soldering the ring terminals with a small torch as I do not have a crimper and was wondering if there was anything wrong with this or if I should take them somewhere to be crimped?
Also these batteries are located in the garage attached to the house. My old batteries were sealed so I wasn't concerned with hydrogen during charging. In a garage, do I need to be concerned with the gasses generated during charging and build a battery box that vents outside or is this more of a concern when there are a large number of batteries in a small confined space?Comment
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Don't worry about the hydrogen unless you are putting an airtight box over the batteries (hydrogen rises!) Worry a little bit about acid mist on things nearby if you really charge the batteries hard. There are replacement caps that are supposed to minimize that.
Just don't open the cap and light a match to look inside the cell while it is fizzing.
Biggest problems with soldering are that:
1. It is hard to make sure the heat and solder penetrate to the center without also cooking the insulation.
2. The solder will make the end of the cable more rigid and can cause more strand breakage from flexing.
You can look for a welding shop or welding supply near you since they usually make up and crimp their own cables.SunnyBoy 3000 US, 18 BP Solar 175B panels.Comment
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