sealed Flooded Lead acid

[errolSA]

Hello everyone..
I have some questions to ask about Sealed Flooded Lead Acid batteries..
1.is there any change in the charging than the normal FLA batteries.?
2.are they also Valve regulated, if so what's the charging current they can take for lets say a 100ah battery..
3.if I change these sealed FLA batteries with the "max smoke" procedure won't it damage my battery plates and have excessive water loss that I cant replace..

[inetdog]

There is no such thing as "sealed flooded lead acid batteries".
You may be thinking of "maintenance free" FLA batteries which have extra height of free electrolyte and cell caps which are very difficult to open but are NOT pressure seals.
The way they should be handled is just like any FLA battery except you have to pry the caps off to add electrolyte (which they will eventually need) or to use a hydrometer to measure specific gravity.

[errolSA]

No these batteries are completely sealed (the once I have), I had one battery that failed so I tried to open it, there was no way but to cut it open.. When I got it open I found that one of the positive side the plates was a reddish rust colour, but I'm sure this battery was a normal starting battery an not a deep cycle maybe a type of Marine battery.. But lucky I got them for free so its no loss lol and I'm still in the learning stage..

[errolSA]

I tried to open up my other battery (DC31MF) but with no luck its top is like melted closed, and the top part has like cavities in so that each sell has a "water return" like a area where the water evaporation can condense and run back in to its cell.. So now I'm bit confused, are these maintenance free batteries any use for solar. But when I was reading this site it hit me, solar panels and charging batteries with solar is a complete wast of time.. Because a battery will never get to its full charge. When all my lights are on I use 4,3amps I never use all my lights at the same time. But it seems like my solar cant get my battery fully charged.. Battery volts can no drop to 12.5v(1a draw at night) when the controller turn off in the morning.. But then around 11 in the morning my battery is in float charge. Is my solar charging too fast at 10,9amps..

[ncs55]

Are you referring to VRLA ? (Valve regulated lead acid) which are sealed. If your batteries do not reach full charge, maybe your solar charging is to small for your load.

[errolSA]

No its a Sealed FLA battery.. E-Nix DC31MF

[ncs55]

That battery is not FLA and from what I gather from their website I found this. "Battery that is wet but the cells are not accessible. These are Lead/Calcium
type that do not require water top up during their life. This type of battery is vented however and emits gas during discharge and recharge." It is listed as a marine battery. If you are going to use a battery for solar it would be wise to use one specifically designed for solar. DC Power has a solar specific line of batteries you might want to check out. Also note that battery has a recommended and specific charger.

[errolSA]

I don't have much load on my battery, and I don't use any inverter (which is a complete wast of energy) .. I have 2 bit worn out batteries that I hooked up together to make 220ah@ 12v..
But I'm still struggling to work out my load and battery size requirements and solar panel size..
My panel is a 180w 22v. And controller is a victron pwm 20A pro. I also have a 85w panel. I'm still waiting for my 230ah silver calcium battery to arrive, but I think I will need to get another 3x 180w panels.

[littleharbor]

Sounds like your battery is shot.

[errolSA]

Lol yes they are.. Its why I'm waiting for my new battery.. Its also a sealed FLA (maintenance free) free.. But its a 695cz battery 230ah at 71kgs

[errolSA]

Yes its a marine battery, I bought it because it was the only battery option I had by that time. I'm using it for almost a year now, it had alot of abuse when I was using a inverter on it and i was in the absolute leaning stage by that time.. So now I'm buying a new battery and I hope its the correct one as it is made for solar applications, its also a sealed battery.. But will I have to charge it as a flooded battery or a Sealed Battery. Because of the venting issue of Equalizing charge.. Because to what I think is it will have to be charged as a sealed battery and not as a normal flooded battery.. Or am I wrong.?

[ncs55]

As far as charging any battery, We set up the charge controllers to the manufacturer specs and considering the loads, your daily depth of discharge etc. Make sure that your charge controller is capable of charging the battery type that you choose. To maintain the batteries health you have to consider the parameters mentioned previously.

[errolSA]

Please help me out where I go wrong..
I will buy 2x Excis 230ah batteries hook them up to make 24v..
Buy another 3x 180w panels hook them up in series and parallel. They will give around 18amps. My drain on the batteries will be around 3 amps from 5-8. Then around 8 only outside lights are one which use 1amps untill 6 the morning.. Will my panels charge the batteries fully in 8 hours sun( peak is from 8am-2pm) so it 6 hours where my panels perform best.

[errolSA]

Hello everyone.. I'm going to upgrade my CC to a 120A 12-48v MPPT one.. Its a local made CC so its much cheaper than these expensive imported makes..

[PNjunction]

Yes its a marine battery, I bought it because it was the only battery option I had by that time. I'm using it for almost a year now, it had alot of abuse when I was using a inverter on it and i was in the absolute leaning stage by that time.. So now I'm buying a new battery and I hope its the correct one as it is made for solar applications, its also a sealed battery.. But will I have to charge it as a flooded battery or a Sealed Battery. Because of the venting issue of Equalizing charge.. Because to what I think is it will have to be charged as a sealed battery and not as a normal flooded battery.. Or am I wrong.?

Here comes the Tecmate-Optimate charger fan - and for good reasons like this one.

The Optimate (larger ones like the "6" and above) does not use the bog-standard cc/cv routine, and applies a different charging algo for the CV than usual. It oscillates making discharge measurements during breaks and restarts the testing during charge if necessary. This also helps balance the cells *without* blowing the tops off from long retail storage, where one or more cells may be way out of range of the others.

The pre-test before charge will tell you if you are wasting your time. Trust it. I tried to outsmart it and spent a lot of time nursing a bad battery back to what appeared to be health, when in fact the Optimate was right from the start - it knew I was bringing back a zombie with high self discharge somehow.

If it passes the pre test, and finishes the charge, allow it to do the 24 hour test followup. Some people I know pull the charger too quickly. Let the Optimate have a good weekend run with the battery. Unless you have the tools and knowledge to commision a battery, especially questionable discards, let the Optimate tell you instead.

I can think of no better TOOL than a good Optimate to tell you if you are wasting your time, and/or getting a sealed battery properly charged AND balanced internally.

[PNjunction]

Sorry - back to the original topic...

A so-called "maintenance free" flooded battery should be treated as a flooded but with NO equalization. It is "sealed", which means that you cannot use a hydrometer to test for specific gravity. BUT, they do contain a slightly increased amount of electrolyte to nurse them to about 4 years of no-maintenance without excessive water loss.

This means 14.4v absorb, and NO EQUALIZATION, unless they specify otherwise.

So you'll want to hit your 230ah leisure battery with anywhere from 19A on the low side, (C/12) to maybe 28A (C/8) on the high side from your array. Since these are sealed, I'd personally go no higher than 0.1C, or 23A from the array. If you go lower than 19A, then you run the risk of electrolyte stratification.

So you'll want to keep on top of things. As for "made for solar", that is basically a marketing technique to say "you can charge a battery with solar".

So sure enough, it is not the ideal battery for daily-deep cycle operations, but is true to it's mark - leisurely non-critical use. Ie, if you abuse it, you recycle it and buy another. Think of this as your "learner battery". With a little reading and hands-on, your next battery may be chosen to be a better fit for your application.

Since you can't equalize, hopefully you can give it a day or two off once in awhile to actually finish a charge, and sit in float and suck in as much float as it can.

[inetdog]

Sorry - back to the original topic...

A so-called "maintenance free" flooded battery should be treated as a flooded but with NO equalization. It is "sealed", which means that you cannot use a hydrometer to test for specific gravity. BUT, they do contain a slightly increased amount of electrolyte to nurse them to about 4 years of no-maintenance without excessive water loss.

This means 14.4v absorb, and NO EQUALIZATION, unless they specify otherwise.

The "maintenance free" batteries that i am familiar with are all automotive starting batteries. They are still vented, just with non-obvious vents. And in every case I have seen you can, with the right tools, non-destructively pry open the vent caps to either use a hydrometer or add water to the cells. Not as easily as with conventional caps (and I really hate the conventional caps that cover three cells with a single piece vent cover!) but well enough to do a cell-by-cell SG check or add water if it turns out that the battery needs equalization.
That said, I am not really comfortable in the first place with any CC that automatically tries to perform true equalization rather than just an extended absorb.