Same old questoin

[thirteen]

Is there a benefit to useing more 1.5 / 2 volts battereis too using larger batteries 6 v to get the same power say 24v bank. 1200 ah. The smaller voltage battery seems to mean more connections and more maintence. The large ones maybe a cell going bad and losing the whole battery. Or is it that the larger power provided by the smaller voltage batteries that are more dependable. I am planning on buying batteries this fall and am going over simple questions. Which is better which is not.  Broard question but money oriented and longevity. I'll probably hear a little of everything. I just need to figure out the best way to go. None of my system is in. Hopefully I will be have solar this year and next year micro hydro added. time and money will tell.

[Flux]

Probably depends on the size of the installation.

Certainly you are right about more connections and more maintenance with individual cells. When new it may not be a big issue but as they get older the connections do become an ongoing problem.

For very large installations the individual cells are probably best rather than having so many parallel strings. There is certainly the advantage that you can replace one dead cell. Unless the 6 or 12v blocks have link bars to individual cells you don't have the ability to deal with an individual sick cell and you have to try and equalise the whole block and also treat the cells that don't need it.

In the old days I think the individual large cells had a longer life but I am not convinced that progress has got us much more than cheapness and convenience now and battery management has improved drastically with modern charge controllers.

In the old days when you made batteries work for a living the heavy Plante individual cells seemed to last for many years but the original cost needed to be considered.

Today with charge controllers and nursing things with only 30% discharge there probably is far less case for the individual cells.

Most installations are now nearer float than heavy cyclic operation and modern block units seem to stand this well enough and almost certainly have far less self discharge.

In the end I suspect what you are prepared to pay for the bank will decide how long it lasts, you can't win with batteries, they die if you use them , they die if you don't and they are the thing that takes all the economics out of generating your own power.

Flux

[thirteen]

A agree that with the better controlers the systems made today should last longer with less abuse. But a system can die quickly if not made right. The biggest problem I will face is at times I will be gone for a couple of months here and there during the year. I will need to have a solar and micro hydro deul systems. First will be solar then late next year a micro hydro system.
What do you think of NeFi batteries.? I live in Montana USA my property is in mid Idaho. I have talked with Zapp in Dillon, Mt. They sell NeFi batteries but the price is up there.  Is that type of battery really worth the money. They seem to take abuse but what I've read they also lose there capacity to recover back up to full ah hours only 80%. But they seem to last for years with general abuse. I'll be pushing up daisys in about 12 years(family average) and I am looking into the future beyond me.
I have several older 12v batteries that will get me by until next spring. By then I will know what to change in my system for it to work properly. I've never spent a winter up there so things might need to change. It is an isolated area with only a few people for distance neighbors.
Thisteen