Battery Shed

[watermanhfl]

Today I finished trimming out the new shed.  50' from tower and 200' to house.  Houses a 3,000 lbs 810 amp.hr 48volt fork truck battery and the rectifier circuit for my 10' windmill.  250' of 6 awg to inverter in house.(yes I loose 2 volts)  1" rigid foam insulation surrounds and loosely covers the battery for some protection from NY winters.

The weatherstation is attached to shed with the anemometer 33' up 46' tower.  My battery expert that got me a great deal on the 2001 battery has a tip for minimizing residue voltage loss.  Keep water level between moss plate and cat's eye.  If level gets to cat's eye then capillary action brings acid to surface and contamination creates electrical path to ground.

[harrie]

Looks like a good setup to me, wish I could find a battery like that, without paying a arm and a leg for it, was it new, or used? Thanks for sharing, Harrie

[watermanhfl]

Harrie,

Tks for comments.  Battery was used and $850 but I did have to get out the word to get a good one. Battery is a Good investment as it is worth $300 scrap today and probably will be worth what I payed, in 20 years when I finally kill it.  See my diary for more.

Ant

[thirteen]

do you have any form of a backup battery? I know of two where they have a smaller battery for emergency lighting when working on the main battery banks. A simple small light on a cord may help you find a problem.

[Experimental]

Very nice,

    And, you have my envy as I have several wind gens, but the trees around my home, make it nearly impossiable to make use of them...

    Hopefully, I,ll be moveing to an area, where they will be usefull.

    Again, very nice and thanks for the pictures,  Bill H.......

[Ungrounded Lightning Rod]

Keep water level between moss plate and cat's eye.  If level gets to cat's eye then capillary action brings acid to surface ...

Great tip!

Wish I'd known it last Sunday when I went to the boat - with the solar panel to keep the combo starting/house battery charged while the boat's idle - and carefully topped all the cells up to where the level was touching the cat's eye.  B-(  I'll know better next time.

I was amazed by how clean the battery top was, being used to traces of corrosion and such on battery tops.  (It was replaced some months ago and this was its first "drink".)  Now I know why, and how to keep things sweet.

[watermanhfl]

Thirteen,

I am just now hooking up some permenant lights inside the shed.  No need for a separate battery as this monster will aways have some power left in it.  Just using 4 x 12v interior dome light bulbs solder together.  Work great and do not take up any room.  Heat shrink is great stuff.  $4 total for lots of light.  Also I have 4 car fog lights on a 2x6 which plugs into std 120v outlet(now 48v DC)used for my converted LED Chrismas lights.  Great for flooding the tower and mill with light during these dark early evenings.  Use std extension cord to extend the light.

[domwild]

Hi,

With 48VDC, do you have a problem to shunt the surplus once the battery is full? There would not be too many 48VDC appliances around and if you choose 2x24 or 4x12, how do you make sure the load is evenly distributed? Then you also need two or four relays to shunt?

So many questions, so little time!

dom

[terminus]

Very nice design for the battery shed, but I have a worry about that pool of water nearby. I know it's probably never an issue but I would be worried if the climate changes and you have alot more rain than normal.