battery advice please

[snake]

hi friends,i wanted to take some advice before buying a deep cycle battery.in fact,i ordered 1 from china but they sent me a car battery instead of a deep cycle.

i have 2 wind turbines,both are ametek 38vdc motors.i am expecting about 4amps from each.its a 12volts system.

i read it somewhere in the postings about batteries but i cant remember the actual title for the posting.

anyways,i know that there are gel,sla,vrla,flodded batteries  which are being used by most of the members in the forum but i really need some advice.i will definitely not go for gel batteries due to its cost but i would like to know a bit more about the differences between sla,vrla and flodded or other types before buying.

advice are most welcome

thanks

[Ronnn]

Hi everyone has their favorite battery. But in general terms lead acid is the simplest, you just have to charge it correctly and put water in it. It keeps you in touch with your system. I would go with a major manufacturer. Continental, Trojan, Surrette rolls all make pretty good batteries. Trojan and Surrette are fairly highly regarded batteries. The Surrette version of the L16  comes with a 7 year warranty five years of which is prorated, The next step up the 5000 series has a 10 year warranty. These are not cheap but I found some of the L16s pretty cheap from       sunman9993@yahoo.com/    

 His name is jesse Delany. 916 745 4149. He may be too far from you he's in Ca. I got a set of 12 for 292 each.

These are six volt batts so you need at least two. You need to size your battery so your system can charge it properly. Two six volt L16s will give you lots of storage capacity, more usually than a single 12 volt battery. But you have to be able to fill them back up. How much you discharge them affects their life. If possible you'd like to stay more in the 20% discharge range for the longest battery life.

Ron

[snake]

i only intend to discharge it to 40%-50%.thats all.i will need a cheap,low self discharge and long life battery.what do you advise me?i was thinking of sla batteries. i believe its maintainance free.by the way,is sla battery the one which is being used in ups??

thanks

[kurt]

do you have a golf cart store / repair place near you?? 2 6 volt Trojan t-105 or equivalent golf cart batteries would be perfect for a small starter system as long as you provide them a vented enclosure i am sure you could find them people golf all over the world pretty much. if you need a bigger battery bank just buy more of them lots of people make large banks out of them as well.

[hayfarmer]

Hello,I think he was saying to target a 20 % drain on you battery (s) leaving 80 percent charged.with this 20 % drain you will almost triple the life over a battery drain of 50 % .here is a chart from U.S. battery corp.

http://www.fieldlines.com/images/scimages/16067/bat_cycle_life

good luck and more POWER to you

[snake]

in fact i was asking for the battery type that you will recommend me,either sla,or vrla.............

[RandomJoe]

SLA means "sealed lead acid" and encompasses several different types including gel, AGM and VRLA.  AGM is the hot new popular sealed battery, they are more forgiving than the gels (and I think VRLAs?  Not too familiar with those, they aren't as common.) but they are about three times the cost of regular "flooded" cells.  Most computer UPSes are using AGMs now.

Flooded types are your typical battery with caps you can open to add water if needed.  They are cheaper, but do require you pay more attention to them - monitor water levels, topping up as needed, and keeping them clean.

Here's a good place to learn more than you ever wanted to know about batteries!

http://www.batteryuniversity.com/index.htm