Hello All,
I think I need some help. Here is my setup.
24 6v flooded lead acid (Interstate workaholic back when they were
made by US Battery)
251 ah at 20 hr rating
Manzanita PFC-30
Zilla 1k controller
Since insulating the box holding 19 batteries, my PFC will on
occasion continue to put out amps but pack voltage does not rise to
setpoint, therefor does not shut off. I believe this is called
thermal runaway. The first time it happened I had the amps set at 25,
and the batteries were COOKING when I shut the charger off in the
morning. Since then I have made a number of trips, followed by
charges. Most of the time voltage rises to setpoint and amps go to
zero after timer finishes.
However the situation where the charger stays on without reaching the
setpoint has happened my last few charges (no longer charging at high
amps).
An additional point is that the battery temperatures vary alot
(almost 20 deg F) between the large insulated sub-pack and the two
smaller uninsulated subpacks under the hood.
Does this indicate a bad battery/cell?
Is this normal when battery temperatures vary greatly?
Is 5,200 miles about what I should expect out of this pack of floodies?
Have I murdered my pack?
I have had the entire pack gassing for a few hours, but I am still
seeing voltage differences. Just now I took 2 specific gravity
reading. Cells from two batteries in the insulated back had s.g. of
1.152 and 1.157. The s.g. from a cell from 1.179. This was about 3
hours after a trip that I thinks consumes about half the useable pack
capacity.
Any ides appreciated.
Below is a description of the truck history and recent changes made.
I have about 5,200 miles on the pack. For most of these miles I had
the batteries in two uninsulated plywood boxes, one subpack of 21 in
the bed of my truck and 3 in a box under the hood.
I had been charging to US Battery specs (2.58 temp adjusted volts)
and things were good until it started getting cold and performance
took a nosedive.
Last Sept I took the truck out of service for some upgrades/
revisions. I finally got it back on the road early september of this
year.
One of my revisions was to move two batteries from the truck bed to
under the hood.
Included in the plan was to insulate each of the now three plywood
boxes.
I was only able to insulate the box in the bed (now 19 batteries)
with 2 inch pink board insulation (plus additional lower quality
insulation to fill space )
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I think I need some help. Here is my setup.
24 6v flooded lead acid (Interstate workaholic back when they were
made by US Battery)
251 ah at 20 hr rating
Manzanita PFC-30
Zilla 1k controller
Since insulating the box holding 19 batteries, my PFC will on
occasion continue to put out amps but pack voltage does not rise to
setpoint, therefor does not shut off. I believe this is called
thermal runaway. The first time it happened I had the amps set at 25,
and the batteries were COOKING when I shut the charger off in the
morning. Since then I have made a number of trips, followed by
charges. Most of the time voltage rises to setpoint and amps go to
zero after timer finishes.
However the situation where the charger stays on without reaching the
setpoint has happened my last few charges (no longer charging at high
amps).
An additional point is that the battery temperatures vary alot
(almost 20 deg F) between the large insulated sub-pack and the two
smaller uninsulated subpacks under the hood.
Does this indicate a bad battery/cell?
Is this normal when battery temperatures vary greatly?
Is 5,200 miles about what I should expect out of this pack of floodies?
Have I murdered my pack?
I have had the entire pack gassing for a few hours, but I am still
seeing voltage differences. Just now I took 2 specific gravity
reading. Cells from two batteries in the insulated back had s.g. of
1.152 and 1.157. The s.g. from a cell from 1.179. This was about 3
hours after a trip that I thinks consumes about half the useable pack
capacity.
Any ides appreciated.
Below is a description of the truck history and recent changes made.
I have about 5,200 miles on the pack. For most of these miles I had
the batteries in two uninsulated plywood boxes, one subpack of 21 in
the bed of my truck and 3 in a box under the hood.
I had been charging to US Battery specs (2.58 temp adjusted volts)
and things were good until it started getting cold and performance
took a nosedive.
Last Sept I took the truck out of service for some upgrades/
revisions. I finally got it back on the road early september of this
year.
One of my revisions was to move two batteries from the truck bed to
under the hood.
Included in the plan was to insulate each of the now three plywood
boxes.
I was only able to insulate the box in the bed (now 19 batteries)
with 2 inch pink board insulation (plus additional lower quality
insulation to fill space )
_______________________________________________
| REPLYING: address your message to [email protected] only.
| Multiple-address or CCed messages may be rejected.
| UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub
| OTHER HELP: http://evdl.org/help/
| OPTIONS: http://lists.sjsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/ev