need help with battery issues

[wildwood]

We need battery help! It looks like our battery bank may be on its way out. What is the best way to check the ph? My husband services them every 3 weeks and refills with distilled water. Do they occasionally need acid?? How is it best to determine if they are still good in case there is another issue going on? Why we suspect we might have some going bad is that even though we have had a lot of overcast days, we had a sunshiny one the other day and the batteries while charging were up to 13.2V. They leveled off at 12.2 after the sun went down. That evening after just a few hours with 2- 15 watt lights on our inverter shut off due to low juice 10.6 V. We have never had that happen in the 6+ years of using our system and we are usually running a TV, computer etc. So it sounded like batteries to us. We have L-16 and they are 6 years old. Needless to say I can't answer immediately as I need to get offline to save our juice! Thanks ahead of time

[flatwater]

I,m no garu on batterys but I have been told the average life span for those batterys is 5 years and less if they have been allowed to get to cold or run low on water. You mention you have to fill them every 3 weeks. That may be a clue to something else that is wrong. In my limited experience every three weeks seems like a lot. Come on 12volt man chime in here with some better advice!!
Flatwater

[12vman]

Sounds like you could be charging at a too high of a voltage. 13.2 volts wouldn't make them boil hard enough to dry them up like that..

As for the electrolyte, only the water content evaporates. The acid remains in the battery. You should only need to add distilled water..

Tell me more about your system..
~Don

[jott]

Yea that sounds like the batteries are about end of life. You can test the specific gravity for find how much acid is left but if it is low there is not much point in adding new. That just means that the lead has formed lead sulfate and it is probably sitting in the bottom of the battery never to be useful again. Some battery conditioners will reclaim some life in a battery but that will not be a permanent fix.

6 years for a battery bank sounds like you got good life out of them. But years is not the best for measuring battery life. The big variables for battery life are how deep of a discharge, how often, and how warm the battery is. Only a few deep discharges to less then 20% will kill most batteries, but even daily discharges to much less dose take its toll. The other big killer is heat never let your batteries get hot, keeping them at only 10-15 degrees over the manufactures recommended run temp may cut the life in half, most say 70 or 77.

[wildwood]

THANKS FOR ALL YOUR HELP! WE JUST LOST ANOTHER SET AND HAVE COME TO THE CONCLUSION THAT THEY ARE ON THERE WAY OUT. NOW WE NEED TO DECIDE IF WE REPLACE THEM WITH THE SAME L-16 OR LOOK AT THE GEL OR GLASS BATTERIES. ANY INFORMATION OR SUGGESTIONS ON THIS WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED. WE HAVE ABOUT A 1000 WATT 12V SYSTEM WITH INVERTER. WE LIVE PRETTY CONSERVATIVELY BUT DO WATCH A LITTLE TV AND I COMPUTOR WITH SATELIITE ABOUT 1 HOUR EACH DAY. FRIDGE AND STOVE ARE PROPANE. WASH CLOTHES & PUMP WITH GENERATOR AND GRAVITY SYSTEM. THANKS IN ADVANCE

[12vman]

I'd avoid gel cells. They're real persnickity on how they're charged..

"Glass Batteries"..? I'm not sure what you mean..

How many batteries do you use?

I would highly suggest a flooded cell type. The same type as your L-16's. Maybe look at some golf cart batteries. It don't hurt so bad when you need to replace them and they are easier to find locally. I bought my last set at Sam's Club..
~Don

[jott]

I too would avoid the glass mat and gel batteries for long life flooded wet cells still seem to be the best. If you don’t mind topping off water the flooded cells beat the sealed.

But if you can get golf cart batteries for much cheaper that is good.

[wildwood]

thanks we had 5 sets or 10 batteries of the L-16 we may want to get an extra set for a little more back up. We will look at the golf cart batteries though. Is their life span as good and what are the amp hours on them?

[12vman]

Did you mean.. 1,000 watts of panel?

The 6 volt golf cart battery is around 200 aHr. reserve.

I've ben getting at least 5 yrs. of service from them..
~Don

[wildwood]

yes, 1000 watts of panels. I asked my husband and we need something with a little more amp hours than that. thanks though