Nickel Iron vs. Lead Acid - Off Grid battery debate

[ket222]

encell

could you please tell me more about what was wrong with the Sandia National Labs / Encell Technology Report?

[Sundetective]

could you please tell me more about what was wrong with the Sandia National Labs / Encell Technology Report?

There is a little bit in the thread called -

NiFe USA Series Batteries.

This is probably the wrong thread for such shame.

Bill Blake

[robotek]

Just read this whole thread with great interest. Surprised that nobody got wind of this http://news.stanford.edu/news/2012/j...ry-062612.html

"Fact is there is ZERO interest, ZERO money, and Zero research going into NiFe. That ought to tell everyone something about them."

May be more interest than you think!

[Cult of Dionysus]

Think the prices being thrown here by some are really ridiculous.

You can buy a 48 volt / 400Ah NiFE battery kit on Iron Edison for $15,200. A set of 8 top of the line Rolls/Surrette 6 CS 21Ps (48 volt / 683Ah) runs about $8,200. The Rolls (which I have) come with a 10 year warranty I believe and can withstand up to 50% DoD. The NiFe are estimated to last 30 years and supposedly can withstand 80% DoD.

These two systems, to my relatively lay mind, provide similar usable performance. One system costs more upfront, but could easily last 2x, if not 3x as long.

[awcristelli]

I am looking to replace my present FLA

[awcristelli]

I am looking to replace my FLA battery bank and am looking at NIFE battery. Has anyone had them for a few years and how are they doing? would you recommend them, or if not why.

Thanks
Andy

[inetdog]

I am looking to replace my FLA battery bank and am looking at NIFE battery. Has anyone had them for a few years and how are they doing? would you recommend them, or if not why.

Thanks
Andy

Search the forum for posts by Mike90250 and the keyword NiFe over the last couple of years.

[Sunking]

I am looking to replace my FLA battery bank and am looking at NIFE battery. Has anyone had them for a few years and how are they doing? would you recommend them, or if not why.

Thanks
Andy

Stay away from them.

[Mike90250]

They are a very niche application. They are less efficient than LA. Need special voltage setup in charge controllers & inverter setpoints.
They consume a lot of water, I use about 6-10 gall monthly, doing about 1/3 of the bank at a time. They need a messy electrolyte change out every 5-10 years
They survive long cloud events when you have days of no hope for solar charging, and can't complete absorbcloudy days Jan2017.png

And the week before
cloudy days.png

So, to keep from flattening a LA bank, you'd need to run a generator a couple long days to complete a cycle, or risk sulfating LA batteries. Me, I just run enough (about 2 hrs day) to keep the power flowing till the next day
Li batteries (LFP, LiPo4) Look hopeful, but have not had a lot of consumer history, and have some thermal concerns when chargeing in the cold

[Guest]

Well, I have on order a set of NiFe batteries [bank of 800 a/h]. So, no experience, yet, but looking forward to it and never having lead-acid again. Though I've had great luck with them, more than 20 yr. on my present set.

But, stay tuned. I shall be glad to relate both good and bad I find with the NiFes once I get them and am using them.

If you need high quality deep cycle batteries, take a look at NiFe batteries.

[Guest]

I've followed the Fe-Ni battery saga for a year or so: i believe if anyone is going to compete with energy trusts, it would have to be with such batteries.

There's right now a host of Fe-Ni vendors in China: so somebody MUST be buying them.

[J.P.M.]

There's right now a host of Fe-Ni vendors in China: so somebody MUST be buying them.

Why ? Ever think maybe all slick marketing like Tesla ?

[jflorey2]

Why ? Ever think maybe all slick marketing like Tesla ?

?? Tesla doesn't sell NiFe.

The new sales are likely going to Iron Edison, a vendor who sells and integrates both LiFePO4 and NiFe storage systems.

[J.P.M.]

?? Tesla doesn't sell NiFe.

Yes, I'm aware of that. I was referencing the possible similarities of marketing techniques that create an aura around a fallacy to give the impression of a reality that does not quite exist.

[jflorey2]

Yes, I'm aware of that. I was referencing the possible similarities of marketing techniques that create an aura around a fallacy to give the impression of a reality that does not quite exist.

Perhaps. I spoke to Iron Edison at SPI and they didn't seem at all to be marketing hypesters. In fact the technical guy there warned me about assuming that nickel iron batteries were a drop-in replacement for any other kind of battery.