Just upgraded to 6 volt

BFL13 wrote:

JimK-NY wrote:

2oldman wrote:

JimK-NY wrote:
I never think of 6 volt as being an upgrade.

It is if it results in more ah.

Maybe, if there are substantial more AHs. Otherwise, I see a pair of 6v batteries as a negative. If one battery dies, the system is dead. If one of 2 12v batteries dies, you lose half the capacity but everything still works.

Lots of people see that a Trojan T105 6v battery has a capacity of 225 AH and fail to realize that is equivalent to 112 AH for a 12v system.

You are making it confusing. To clarify, two 225AH T-105s make a bank at 225AH. Two 110AH 12s make a bank of 220AH. Many people upgrade from a pair of 85AH 12s so they go from 170AH to 225AH with the same footprint, but the 6s are a bit taller.

and since 6v GC. at least the trojans. will last hundreds of cycles down to 25 percent SOC, a 220AH trojan bank of two has 150 useable AH. while a 220AH 12V battery bank has 110 useable AH.

I've done the 25 percent SOC on a trojan bank around 400 cycles over 14 years and the batteries are finally ready for replacement

downside of 6V is not being real frendly to high discharge rates when used with big Inverter loads, say 75A or more. If that is a big need for you, GC is not a good choice IMHO.

JimK-NY wrote:
If one battery dies, the system is dead. If one of 2 12v batteries dies, you lose half the capacity but everything still works.

Theoretically, but the chances of a normally healthy 6v battery just up and dying are miniscule. Now, if you run your batteries for years beyond their normal lives, then yeah, one is likely to die first.

Virtually the same risk exists for parallel 12s.

JimK-NY wrote:

2oldman wrote:

JimK-NY wrote:
I never think of 6 volt as being an upgrade.

It is if it results in more ah.

Maybe, if there are substantial more AHs. Otherwise, I see a pair of 6v batteries as a negative. If one battery dies, the system is dead. If one of 2 12v batteries dies, you lose half the capacity but everything still works.

Lots of people see that a Trojan T105 6v battery has a capacity of 225 AH and fail to realize that is equivalent to 112 AH for a 12v system.

You are making it confusing. To clarify, two 225AH T-105s make a bank at 225AH. Two 110AH 12s make a bank of 220AH. Many people upgrade from a pair of 85AH 12s so they go from 170AH to 225AH with the same footprint, but the 6s are a bit taller.

..

2oldman wrote:

JimK-NY wrote:
I never think of 6 volt as being an upgrade.

It is if it results in more ah.

Maybe, if there are substantial more AHs. Otherwise, I see a pair of 6v batteries as a negative. If one battery dies, the system is dead. If one of 2 12v batteries dies, you lose half the capacity but everything still works.

Lots of people see that a Trojan T105 6v battery has a capacity of 225 AH and fail to realize that is equivalent to 112 AH for a 12v system.

Rmack1 wrote:
I have two Trojan T105+ deep cycles that I replaced my old 12 volt boat batteries with. Series wired, off course. I suspect I'll have more amp hours now.

Question; should I do any maintenance on those bad boys?

Nothing immediate besides keeping them charged. Same as any battery.

Good time to review your charging system.

JimK-NY wrote:
I never think of 6 volt as being an upgrade.

It is if it results in more ah.

Rmack1 wrote:
I have two Trojan T105+ deep cycles that I replaced my old 12 volt boat batteries with. Series wired, off course. I suspect I'll have more amp hours now.

...............

I never think of 6 volt as being an upgrade. Anyway, I hope you realize that you must divide the amp hours for your 6 volt batteries by 2 in order to get the equivalent amp hours for 12 v batteries.

Try BOILING HOT water with the baking soda. TURBOCHAAAARRGE!

MEXICOWANDERER wrote:
Ktmrfs
KUDOS for being a authentic GREEN minded individual.

Batteries that do not BUBBLE are batteries at risk. Not Old Faithful grade bubbling or Bikini Atoll H-bomb test bubbling but slight bubbling in every last cell. This is an excellent way to tell if your cycled batteries are being recharged correctly. Then use a hydrometer. Meters help.

Most of today's converters deliberately undercharge a battery to prevent the manufacturer from ending up in court being sued for boiling dry a battery. The new new converters are designed to protect know-it-all owners with double digit IQs. Plugger in and head for the brewskies.

mex:

thanks, but also thanks to you from which I added to my knowledge of battery technology and upkeep.

As for SG, I got one of the refractometer combo battery SG, antifreeze testers from amazon from a likely reasonably reputable company. then compared the results for SG with my Freese (sp) hydrometer. They matched very closely. Now I use the refractometer to check SG. IMHO it's much easier to get a repeatable reading. no more making sure the top of the tube is not touching on the side, etc. etc. and much quicker. I can check 4 batteries in the time it took to check 1 battery before. and the results are extremely repeatable.

and for equalizing and finish charging, luckily my new solar charge controller has a wide range of latitude in setting charge levels, so I set the float, equalize and bulk charge modes to what Trojan recomends. that means I can set equalize to 16V, I just turn off the power to the trailer, and leave the charge line to the batteries turned on and let er rip on a nice sunny day a few times each year.

and somewhere stashed in pdf files is info from WFCO talking about why their charges are so hard to get into bulk mode charging. Basically exactly the reason you specified. They had to many complaints about dry batteries, so they changed the algorithm to avoid this, which basically makes the WFCO a 13.6V charge in most any case, and very difficult to get into the 14.6 V bulk mode. Which also means forever to get a battery anywhere near full charge.