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NiFe Batteries

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tanner0441:
Hi
Back in the sixties while working on trucks for a living I remember some of the trucks had two battery systems. Lead acid, and Nickel Iron batteries. These batteries had a tremendous ability to handle abuse, repeated heavy discharge and charge.
(The nominal cell voltage is 1.2V. It is a very robust battery which is tolerant of abuse, (overcharge, overdischarge, short-circuiting and thermal shock) and can have very long life even if so treated. It is often used in backup situations where it can be continuously charged and can last for more than 20 years.)(Wikipedia)
I wondered if there was a place for them in RE I did a search in Wikipedia, see above, and found the only drawback seems to be they do not have the ability to store the charge as long as a lead acid battery. later in Wikipedia it states these batteries are making a comback in wind and solar aplications.
I remember maintainance was simple you filled them initialy with a caustic soda, sodium hydroxide or potasium hydroxide (both worked), then checked the level occasionaly. Does anyone know where you can get these batteries now and at what cost, at one time the surplus market was awash with ex military ones.
Brian.

Flux:
Probably the military were the main users, the things have always been incredibly expensive.
I believe there have been some sources form Russia or other eastern parts but I haven't seen a source from the west for years. Not sure what happened to Britannia Batteries interests, they were based at Redditch.
They were robust though not very efficient. They have awkward voltage characteristics to interface with lead acid controllers and inverters. Fine if you can get them at a realistic price but at their original price not so attractive unless you are young and intend to stay in the RE business for a long time.
Flux

Chagrin:
http://www.beutilityfree.com/batterynife/Flyer.pdf
Asian batteries. 122Ah at 12V runs $840.

spinningmagnets:
At one point I was curious if it was possible to make NiFe batteries, but the processes  were too complex for me, and nickel is hard to get and expensive.
If you use "Google search the board" (from the menu on the top right of this page) with the phrase "nife edison battery" it will get you to a lot of previous discussion.

tanner0441:
Hi
122AH Lead Acid deep cycle batteries in the UK are over £100 so NiFe with a life of 20 to 50 years seems financialy viable.
Brian

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