>> Sam, How often should I do any battery bank maintenance. Such
>> as how often to add water and stuff like that? Please advise.

The most important thing is to not allow corrosion to begin. As soon as you get your battery bank configured and working, spray sealant on all terminals and connections at all angles to be sure it covers and penetrates all angles. This is usually a red tinted spray sealant that you can get from a local auto supply. MUST DO THAT.

Environment temperature. Batteries lose storage capacity incrementally the lower the temperature drops. Like I have heard that at 30 degrees Fahrenheit, a battery bank will lose 25% of its storage capacity. At higher temperatures your batteries will not have as long a life. This is why we put the cabinet inside the garage or basement usually. The perfect temperature for a battery bank to thrive and survive is normal room temperature.. 65 to 75 degrees Fahrenheit.

Generally I do a full system check every six months, usually before winter, and middle of spring or so. The battery maintenance part is just to check their water levels. All the cells in your flooded batteries must be covered by water. If you must add water, use distilled or deionized water. Do not overfill your flooded batteries. If you add any water, Get a turkey baster to add very slowly and carefully so that the batteries are not over filled because you never want to create any run-off. Use rubber gloves, take care not to get any on yourself.

Many of the dealers have talked to me about having a bi-annual service to the customers. This would be a twice annually scheduled service call and the dealer would show up and spend an hour looking over all the system and doing the maintenance for the customer. I think it's a great idea and will help with being able to sell a customer their next system, make sure it all performs well, lasts long etc.
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turbineZ
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turbine@windenergy7.com
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Sam how many batteries do you recomend and what type for the 700 watt off grid system can you use deep cycle marine batteries ?? Thanks Mark

Hi Mark, We use, document, and recommend ONLY 6v 200 to 220ah deep cycle golf cart batteries because of the commodity price, availability, and long life performance we get from them. No, I don't recommend marine batteries but you could use them I guess. Users can do what they wish on batteries. BUT, I will only support and deal with what I recommend because of simple standardization. I also only recommend what I consider the best price/performance solution for my own use. All WE7 drawings, configuration, and support are based on 6v 200 to 220ah battery banks. By sticking to that it saves time and money on support of all the systems. Both Off-Grid or Grid-Tie, if there's a battety bank, its most efficient to have them all configured to a standard.

Think about it, if you do exactly like the recommended config. Then, you are having any kind of issue. You can post here or email WE7, and or your local dealer. Preferably you can just post here and all will see and react to the post. You will have a large group of folks with exactly the same config. Thus all problems, problem solving, and people who may know how to help... well, it's like an army of support.

With regard to support. What I am implementing here is a community support system. All owners, dealers, customers, and potential customers will be able to help each other. It's a community support network, online, accessible, with every question, problem, suggestion, documented and searchable.