Author Topic: car batteries (Read 5044 times)

JWilliams354 · « **on:** July 20, 2005, 11:34:42 AM »

are car batteries ok for someone wanting to see if they can make a mini-battery bank with charger+alternator system. What lead/acid battery are the best to use for this? Just wondering. Is this a gathering place for people, that can't get ideas out of their head until they spend all their money trying to get those idea to work.... If it is...Im in the right place. I have hard times going to slepp at night because of so many ideas in my head aaaaaahhhhh....BUT NO MONEY!!!!

Nando · « **Reply #1 on:** July 20, 2005, 07:11:04 AM »

Were you dreaming when you wrote this message ?.

You may have "brilliant" ideas, but do you record the ideas with all the details ?.

You are in the same "leaky" boat that many in this group are.

Yes, this group may be right for you !

John II · « **Reply #2 on:** July 20, 2005, 07:53:03 AM »

Hello JWilliams354:

A car battery is a shallow cycle battery meaning they do not make good batteries for that application at all. They can be used if you can find nothing else, If you use them for very light loads and cycle them extremely shallow.

You are much better off with deep cycle batteries even if used... such as golf cart batteries as one example.

Let us know how you come along with your project.

Nando... just checked my boat... seems to be some seeping .. but really not too bad yet. Occasionally anyone's boat can spring a leak, but it's usually easy to get under control. I'm sure you have experienced some of that. Glad to have you aboard the group.

John II

MountainMan · « **Reply #3 on:** July 20, 2005, 08:23:29 AM »

If it helps, you're not alone. On the plus side, having too many ideas is better than being stupid! 8^)

You should find an abandoned "errector set" (don't think of it as a toy, just think of it as a hardware store for table top experimentation). Also don't be ashamed to build stuff out of coffee cans and paper plates. Somewhere on this board is a great posting by one of the experts here...making VAWT experimental designs using large coffee cans. Great fun.

best,

jp

Charlane · « **Reply #4 on:** July 20, 2005, 10:21:42 AM »

Ideas can make a person rich, too. Necessity is the mother of invention.

Charlane

Charlane · « **Reply #5 on:** July 20, 2005, 10:27:17 AM »

I should have posted this sooner! Try to call all battery places local to you and see where they take their discards. Then call that place and see if they sell their old deep cycle batts. Sometimes they will sell these for .10 cents a pound. Test the voltage on these and pick out the ones with the better reading then take these home and use EDTA. You could have a battery bank with a sharp eye, a good meter and about 2 days of processing desulfication. You could get 8 batts for a total of $50 but it will take trial and error such as the desulfication process and getting the batteries that will withstand any testing/processing that you put it through. Start looking for places that sell EDTA for this, meanwhile.

Charlane

KansasSolar · « **Reply #6 on:** July 20, 2005, 09:16:03 PM »

Many years ago, I thought I could get away with standard vehicle batteries. We burned up nearly two dozen in less than 6 months before I finally realized that there was a reason that deep cycles are tried and true. I have come a long way since then and have known folks who use standard marine batteries but whatever the battery, they are all deep cycle type.

I hope you pillage this site like many others as there is a wealth of information here that can save you from costly mistakes and discouraging yourself. I don't post often, but have been here for several years. Welcome aboard!!!!

KS Solar

JWilliams354 · « **Reply #7 on:** July 20, 2005, 09:21:19 PM »

sorry I am such a NUBIE..what is an "EDTA" and the ealier post about the golf cart batteries was helpful thnx.

Charlane · « **Reply #8 on:** July 20, 2005, 09:41:38 PM »

Ehtylenediaminetetraacetic acid (ASC) as in a tetrasodium salt better known as EDTA.

Charlane

JWilliams354 · « **Reply #9 on:** July 20, 2005, 09:42:50 PM »

thankyou

richhagen · « **Reply #10 on:** July 21, 2005, 09:05:56 AM »

SLI or Starting, Lighting and Ignition batteries are not ideal as they tend to be optimized to provide large bursts of current, but have thin spongy plates that do not survive repeated discharging. That being said, if they are 'free', then you can build a small system, but you should try to limit the depth of discharge to no more than about 5% of capacity or less if you want it to last a while. That means a lot of battery for a little useable energy. When I first had a 12V system, I had a 12V 'free' car battery given to me. I rigged a small system in my laundry room with that battery and an LED light. Subsequently I upgraded and moved that battery to where my son lives and put it up with a 20 watt panel on the garage. That battery is still in use in a small LED lighting (about 2 watts or so) setup. I have a lighting controller on it that turns the light off after the voltage drops into the 11V range. It used to stay on most of the night, but now is only on a few hours. The battery is dying, but very slowly. Frankly, I am amazed it still works, but it does. The trick is to never let it deeply discharge. Rich Hagen

JWilliams354 · « **Reply #11 on:** July 21, 2005, 02:59:23 PM »

great info fellas thnx alot. Oh and by the way im using a tin can for my first genny, ten small magnets mounted on the out-side of it. I have 18&22gauge wire on its way to me from ebay. Wish me luck

Norm · « **Reply #12 on:** July 21, 2005, 08:22:52 PM »

Somewhere on this board is a great posting by one of the experts here...making VAWT experimental designs using large coffee cans. Great fun.

.....or plastic buckets,2 liter pop bottles,

foam cups and AOL disks...or take some of that

baseboard molding in the back of the closet for

some HAWT's (pick a time when she's out shopping

....she'll never miss it!) LOL !

( :>) Norm.

ghurd · « **Reply #13 on:** July 22, 2005, 07:20:20 AM »

Microwave transformers have a lot of wire.

I don't mind wasting free wire on a project

that probably won't work anyway.

G-

ghurd · « **Reply #14 on:** July 24, 2005, 07:31:19 PM »

Sorry that came out that way.

I don't mean to imply your project will not work.

But I do a lot of things that I expect will not work,

and use recycled wire to prove it won't work.

If it works, I can build a better one later.

Make sure you have enough iron behind the magnets!

Search here about 'paper clip test'.

(a piece of heavy muffler pipe or adaptor just came to mind)

Use good magnets!

Good luck,

G-

nothing to lose · « **Reply #15 on:** July 25, 2005, 01:48:12 AM »

Deepcycle batteries are the way to go for sure, but car batteries will work awhile as stated also.

When I first bought my place in MO. I had a trailer house, no power, no well, nothing but the trailer and land! We only came here a few times a year for a couple weeks. I used a 300-400watt inverter on a car battery and it worked well for a long time. I had 2 batteries, one charged to drive the van on and the other to use for the inverter. The van was set up to charge both at once while driving to town and back. Also I rigged an alternator to a riding mower for a gennie when we needed to charge a dead battery and did not need to go anywhere. Used the system many times, same batteries for a few weeks at a time like that, then for a good while when I moved here till I got powergrid installed. Gee those were the days eh

That was years ago before internet was even wide spread.

Anyway I am sure it was not good for those batteries but I never killed them either, they lived a long life in normal Auto use plus the inverter use like that.

If buying batteries for long term use get deepcycle, if just testing stuff short term limited use and they are cheap or free then auto batteries will work too, but not really recomended.

Shallow cycling does help them also as stated, but in the use I used them in above I ran them till the inverter shut down (often) and I did not kill them, though they probably had a shorter long term life than they could have had if used properly.

Also they most likely will not have as many amp hours as a deepcycle which means they will go dead faster.

If buying new, Wall-mart sells a 12V 115amphr deepcycle for about $55-$60, I would buy that over a $35 auto type anytime! Free or recycled I would use anything that works. Look for golf cart dealers and you might be able to get good trojan T105s for around $10 each, but would need 2 of those since they are 6V.

JWilliams354 · « **Reply #16 on:** July 25, 2005, 08:37:27 PM »

what is it exactly that make a deep cycle battery,"deep Cycle" Is there more acid or more lead. I haven't researched this very seriously, because search engines suck.

nothing to lose · « **Reply #17 on:** July 26, 2005, 01:10:58 AM »

"because search engines suck"

Well they can be your best friends, but then often best friends have fights too at times. I agree and have problems find alot of things at times myself.

Deep cycles are made to discharge much farther and recharge without damage, auto type batteries are made to stay near full charge all the time, just giving up a burst of power to start the car and recharge right away. Plates are thicker in deepcycles, thinner in auto types, plus other things.

Fieldlines.com: The Otherpower discussion board

News: