Allan: We have had poor luck with the 8D AGM batteries (MK/Deka). Many of them have had short life spans along with swelling, heating and even exploding. Your point about the inefficient footprint is right on.
I have minimal experience with Full River. I have seen a set fail, but heck, anyone can do that in a hurry. When footprint is an issue, we have gone to racked AGMs, like the Deka Unigy. Now to get higher voltages might require custom racking, but the cells come in lots of sizes and shapes, physically and in capacity. It may be worth checking into the size of a 400 AH Unigy cell and see how they rack up. I don’t have but a smattering of drawings for the models we have purchased, but my cursory look indicates you won’t save on volume or dollars, but you may gain a smaller footprint with some Unigy racks in series. William [image: Gradient Cap_mini] Lic 773985 millersolar.com <http://www.millersolar.com/> 805-438-5600 *From:* RE-wrenches [mailto:re-wrenches-boun...@lists.re-wrenches.org] *On Behalf Of *Sindelar Solar *Sent:* Wednesday, November 28, 2018 9:31 PM *To:* re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org *Subject:* Re: [RE-wrenches] FullRiver battery question Thanks, Ray. In this case I established availability (albeit in SoCal) and a good written price quote before posting my request here. Allan On 11/28/2018 9:53 PM, Ray wrote: I don't see why it wouldn't have similar performance to other Fullriver products. The problem I've had in the past, when I found that "perfect" battery model on the spec sheet, is that the distributor usually doesn't stock it, and then it either is too pricey, or too long a lead time to be practical. Ray Walters Remote Solar 303 505-8760 On 11/28/18 8:22 PM, Sindelar Solar wrote: Esteemed Wrenches: Short form, just my question: FullRiver makes a DC215-12 AGM battery, which is in the J185 profile, more akin to an L16 at 15"x7"x15" tall. I haven't used this particular battery model and it's not commonly used in solar applications. Is there any reason I should avoid it, because of shape or intended application or anything else? Background story: I'm rebuilding/upgrading one of a handful of late-1990s off grid systems that use the Michigan Energy Works transformerless inverter/charge controller on a 144V DC voltage standard. It's a rather unique product, difficult to make fully Code-compliant today given the lack of an isolation transformer between the DC and the AC. However, Code compliance isn't the issue here. The existing system uses 24 6V L16 FLAs wired in series, with a 900W array (10 BP590s from 1996) feeding them (at 5A max). I'm adding 1,560W and reducing the battery capacity using FullRiver AGMs. My question is simple: the most familiar large 12V AGMs are the 8D profile with about 260 AH (C/20 rate) and sometimes the 4D profile with about 210 AH. Both of these batteries are short, with a larger footprint, and 12 of them won't fit in the space of the 24 L16s unless they're mounted on their sides. I can do that but would prefer not to. FullRiver also makes DC215-12, which is in the J185 profile, more akin to an L16 at 15"x7"x15" tall. It fits the space. Thanks, Allan -- *Allan Sindelar* al...@sindelarsolar.com New Mexico EE98J Journeyman Electrician Founder (Retired), Positive Energy, Inc. *505 780-2738 cell*
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