battery on its way out :-(

[Tomas]

So if a Battery is rated as 1000cca (Marine)
Whats the cca as related to a car?

Which is better a 95ah 830cca Car Battery or
a 110ah 1000cca Marine/Leisure ?

And what do we need for a 2.7TDi?
My local Battery dealer offered me both! 95ah/830cca Varta Car battery
and a 110ah 1000cca marine.

 

[solarman216]

this is what the inside of a full traction battery looks like, this is 720 Ah 2 volt cell and is 6 years old from a design life of 15 years, it is regularly discharged to 80% of capacity, I have 12 of these giving 24 volts and use between 5 and 10 lts of water per top up, Rick

 

[AD Ent]

Don't forget they recently changes the testing for batteries which usually brings down the ah's by 5ish. Compared to older spec. Still the same battery just tested differently.

 

[AD Ent]

Solarman are the cells the black Sandwhich filling in your pic or is that the plates?

 

[solarman216]

Solarman are the cells the black Sandwhich filling in your pic or is that the plates?

colours have come out bad, the black is chocolate brown these are the positive plates, the grey are the negative these are spiral plates, the bits with the curve on the end are the seperators, Rick

 

[rustic]

So what are the separators made from, some type of insulating mesh I assume?

Those batteries are awesome..
I guess if one cell goes down you just replace it.

I see what you mean about traction batteries now.
Thanks for spending the time to post the pictures Rick.:thumb2

best regards,
Rustic

 

[AD Ent]

Thanks Rick, interesting stuff. Are you topping up your batteries with de-ionised water?

 

[solarman216]

So what are the separators made from, some type of insulating mesh

Yes some kind of perforated plastic, but it has to be able to withstand 60 deg C plus as the normal running temperature is 30 deg C so when charging at 100 amps from flat takes 5 to 7 hours and they get hotter, and so drink water, I used to distil my own as cannot trust shop bought de ionised, but now I collect rain water and filter it, Rick

 

[rustic]

I used to distil my own as cannot trust shop bought de ionised, but now I collect rain water and filter it, Rick

Now you have an unused still... you like a drop of Malt, plenty of natural water.

By chance you don't grow barley do you...:lol:lol

Re :- rainwater, we store 3000 litres of rainwater, 2000 litres of which is in 2 underground ibc's. this is used for garden watering via an old boat battery,( now have a couple more old ones off the boat too) a 10 watt solar panel, and an old boat water pump.
The other 1000 litres is in 5 water butts, these are linked together and via an underground ball cock / tank automatically maintain the water levels in our two garden ponds. Excess water from these goes to feed the underground tanks.

Now I am thinking of using the rainwater for the down stairs loo, any special filtering required for this?

YOU GUESSED IT.... we are on a water meter.:doh

Now I was thinking of making a wind generator to charge the batteries, but using a car Alternator won't provide the power at low revs. I probably need about 100 watts or more, then I can use a spare inverter to run the filter pump on the pond.

Anything to save resources.:naughty

 

[solarman216]

Rain water is excellent for the WC, just filter it through a gauss like you would petrol, mainly to get rid of anything that may grow in your nice warm WC cistern, Rick

 

[AD Ent]

Rain water is not far from pure. pure being 0ppm, rain water can be as low as 3ppm, it does vary due to nature. I thought it was essential to use deionised water in batteries? Is it not that critical?
If you need a reliable source of deionised water get friendly with your local window cleaner. The water they use is polished with resin down to TDS 000ppm

 

[Lazy-Ferret]

Rain water is not far from pure. pure being 0ppm, rain water can be as low as 3ppm, it does vary due to nature. I thought it was essential to use deionised water in batteries? Is it not that critical?
If you need a reliable source of deionised water get friendly with your local window cleaner. The water they use is polished with resin down to TDS 000ppm

:lol:lol:lol Rick is already very friendly with his local window cleaner... he even has a pet name for the window cleaner, "wife"..:lol:lol:lol

 

[solarman216]

Rain water is not far from pure. pure being 0ppm, rain water can be as low as 3ppm, it does vary due to nature. I thought it was essential to use deionised water in batteries? Is it not that critical?
If you need a reliable source of deionised water get friendly with your local window cleaner. The water they use is polished with resin down to TDS 000ppm

I purchased the batteries from Chloride, and not only did they install them (all half tonne plus) but supplied a very comprehensive manual detailing all of the minimum and maximum parameters regarding the exact batteries I have, (they do vary in there lead composition and so voltages etc can vary) and one of the things they state is "clean rainwater can be used for topping up" Rick:thumb2

 

[glanrichbex]

And where are you going to find clean rain water? every time it rains my car is filthy!!

 

[solarman216]

And where are you going to find clean rain water? every time it rains my car is filthy!!

That is why I put it through a 200 mesh SS filter that is 200 x 200 strands per inch which = 40,000 holes per square inch, oh and the roof I colect it from is not contaminated by tree sap etc, Rick