A bit of a follow up on a thread of about three months ago where we had taken over an orphaned bank of Concorde 12V VRLA, 10 parallel banks of 4. Thanks for all the input on this!
Efforts to revive via fixed amperage charging have not proven successful. These batteries had been sorely abused. A friend recommends to try a Pulse tech desuphator, swears by them. Any experience with one of these? Going with some big Surettes for replacements. Maybe soon we'll have some 1000 amp hour Lithium Ion cells and can put all this lead acid stuff behind us! Conrad Cotuit Solar _____ From: re-wrenches-boun...@lists.re-wrenches.org [mailto:re-wrenches-boun...@lists.re-wrenches.org] On Behalf Of Dana Sent: Saturday, February 13, 2010 3:43 PM To: 'RE-wrenches' Subject: [RE-wrenches] Refractometer vs Hydrometer? We have retired the Hydrometer and now use only refractometer. We have used them for 4+ years now. Our clients that do their own battery maint. Are so impressed that we have sold quite a few to that crowd too. They are safer and less intrusive: you only use a drop of electrolyte. Faster to use than a Hydrometer. Appear to be a more accurate reading VS. the Hyd.. Will check propylene and eythethlene glycol concentrations. Are 1/10 as susceptible to getting broken in a work truck or situation. 1/3 the size of a hydrometer and live in a padded case. Calibrated to distilled H2O and we have never had to re-adjust the setting. And best of all they are easy to keep clean and do not drip battery acid for days even if the hydrometer is washed out. A hands down winner in my book - $100-125 at your local plumbing wholesale. You may want to get an extra plastic flap lid, we have had a couple come apart. Dana Orzel Great Solar Works, Inc www.solarwork.com E - d...@solarwork.com V - 970.626.5253 F - 970.626.4140 C - 970.209.4076 I will be the shift in how the world uses power! - Dana Orzel
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