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Bulging Lead Crystal


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Anyone using lead crystal yet? R MARINE were in Whangaroa yesterday with a load of Betta LC 200ah batteries (bloody heavy!) and said they were replacing others on a gin palace that had deformed!!. I believe this is a problem with them?

A lot of money to fork out for batteries that are that fickle with charging?

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Seems to me that these are ALL emerging technologies. IMO best value for money is still Lead Acid. I went for VRSLA batts again, but next time, in another 10 years, who knows, very likely something new.

If you get less than 10 years from your batts, you are killing them with incorrect charging procedures. 

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Lead Crystal or lead carbon (micro fibre)? Seems the "super capacitor" style of carbon nano tech on the earth terminal of lead carbon is better for charging? Did a ring-around and the two techs have different plus and minuses. I was warned we needed very definitive voltage and current control to charge lead crystal correctly. Not the same with lead carbon? Give it your best shot!? but do not let lead carbon drop below 12v.....head still spinning!!

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I'm currently at 4yrs and will know in a few days what SOH is as installing a Balmar smart guage.

Too lazy to do 20hr cap test. And don't have the loads etc.

Can never get used to slight acidic smell tho of FLA. (unsealed)

So I'm either going to replace or vent the boxes.

Sorry Lateral, but that smart gauge won't tell you state of health. The ONLY way to get that is to do a proper 20 hour discharge test.

Yep, FLA smells as it gasses. VRSLA does not vent at all, unless something bad is happening, when the valve ( the V in VRSLA) can open, then they can produce a lot of gas! 

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In my eyes, theses new tech batteries need to prove themselves in boats over their claimed lifespans. They are considerably more expensive, but if their claim to lifespan and number of cycles prove correct, they would be good value for money, but I’d rather let someone else be the Guinea pig and prove they will go the distance in a boat first. I’m happy with AGM in the meantime.

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I'm currently at 4yrs and will know in a few days what SOH is as installing a Balmar smart guage.

Too lazy to do 20hr cap test. And don't have the loads etc.

Can never get used to slight acidic smell tho of FLA. (unsealed)

So I'm either going to replace or vent the boxes.

you really need to have a decent ventilation system, there is some nasty stuff in those gases including Arsine and Stabine gas.

You can reduce gassing on wet batteries by fitting Hydrocaps 

http://hydrocapcorp.com/

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I wouldn't consider lead crystal on a off grid setup because of the strict charging regimes. 

 

Lead carbon defiantly.   But...there is Lead Carbon and then there is lead carbon. There are a number of ways to make this battery chemistry, buy from a reputable manufacture and you will likely be on a win.   I see Victron Energy have brought out a Lead Carbon with a 20year design life and a quick google search suggests at good prices and compatible with existing charging equipment.

 

https://www.victronenergy.com/upload/documents/Datasheet-Lead-carbon-battery-EN.pdf

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They are 70kg each :shock:

 

They should be the equivalent weight of a quality AGM.  Weight is a very good indicator of a good battery,  when compared to other batteries of the same chemistry.    Even Lithium Iron Phosphate batteries. If you had two 100ah batts and one was 13kg and the other 14 kgs. Odds are the heavier one will be truer to capacity. There are no free lunches with physics,  as all common use batteries are metal based and more metal equals higher charged capacity. 

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Got the same warning from Hitech Solar. Probably why those batts bubbled? Tried googling the Vectron batts but could find nothing. I did however track down these.

 

http://sepbatteries.com/nsb210ft-northstar-blue-battery

 

Available in NZ. What do you think?

 

There was a guy selling Narada lead carbons on trademe, Coromandal based I believe. They are a good battery. 

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