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RE: IOTA Converter/Charger not charging...
There should be another fuse in the positive line close to the batteries.
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renoman69
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05/17/12 01:43pm |
Tech Issues
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RE: Tineed versus Copper only Lugs?
My hexagon crimps. No air...no oxidation.
http://i563.photobucket.com/albums/ss74/renoman69/EndinbussLarge-1.jpg
This is copper tubing crimped on stranded wire. Buy the copper lugs, clean them inside before you crimp them and heat shrink with adhesive tubing. I lifted myself up (225#) on a cable I made and crimped with my 8 ton hydraulic crimper. THESE guys have great prices on ring terminals.
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renoman69
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05/15/12 06:22pm |
Tech Issues
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RE: Ducted a/c, turn on and styrofoam comes out. ANTS GONE!!
Actually if they had really used Styrofoam you would not have pieces come out. Are the pieces like small white pellets?
Styrofoam is a brand of extruded polystyrene produced by the Dow Chemical Co. Their marketing color is blue. It will not break down into small pieces.
What you are seeing is expanded polystyrene beads - bead board. It is not as strong as extruded polystyrene.
Calling every kind of foam styrofoam is as accurate as calling every motorhome a Winnebago.
Thank you for the expanded polystyrene (bead board) vs. styrofoam lesson.
Hang on a sec while I go Xerox this.
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renoman69
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05/10/12 07:20am |
Tech Issues
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RE: Forum Members Solar Installations With Pics
Been trying to add bogen2's installation to this thread but something is not letting me add the link. Anyone else having problems adding a link in the last two days?
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renoman69
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05/09/12 07:56am |
Tech Issues
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RE: Forum Members Solar Installations With Pics
Holy Doodle! Do people ask to plug into your RV??!!
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renoman69
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05/04/12 03:58pm |
Tech Issues
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RE: Check Out US Battery's Compare of it's Batt to Trojan!
My "learner" batteries were a pair of U-2200s that my charger could not get to full SG by the time the charger decided they were "full." It was very frustrating. Eventually (too late really , for that pair) I found that they needed higher voltage for the finishing charge to get their SG up like it says here in the Interstate FAQ
http://www.batteries-faq.com/activekb/questions.php?questionid=1
Now with the newer charger I got, VEC1093DBD, which does an Equalize run to 15.7v temp compensated, I can get the GC2-XHDs (replaced the U-2200) 6v up to proper SG by doing that E after each recharge to so-called "Full", which is what Interstate says they need. No PITA, just push a button.
My Exide GC135s which are 226AH 6v also need this high voltage routine at the end to get them to "real full."
Crown 6v also want that it seems.
So is it different with T-105s? Does their SG come right up with an ordinary recharge to "full" with a converter or charger that has say 14.4v tops? That would be great if they did so you wouldn't need
a special charger that will get into the high 15s. (Converters won't of course)
BFL, I can't do a fair comparison because I now have a bank of 4 Trojans. I, unlike a lot of you guys don't have the time or interest for all the intricate numbers. I don't know if my converter ever got my US Batteries to full charge. All I know is that after a single night they would be dead. All summer long. I was constantly recharging them unlike the Trojans I had before them in the same unit. I have not given these new bank of 4 Trojans a real off grid test yet as I just added them late last year and they have been sitting on the Minder in the garage all winter. I will be putting them back in this weekend and plan to pull the plug on my converter and see how well they do. I am confidant that with my Iota 45 w/IQ4 and my 40 amp TC2 I can get them up to near 100% in a reasonable amount of time. Gonna see what % of charge I have to run the TC2 at before it stalls the Honda 2000. Of course the TC2 can be run to equalize once the batts are near 100%.
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renoman69
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05/04/12 03:22pm |
Tech Issues
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RE: Forum Members Solar Installations With Pics
Dicor sealant. Take lots of pics and post em when you are done.
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renoman69
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05/04/12 03:03pm |
Tech Issues
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RE: Check Out US Battery's Compare of it's Batt to Trojan!
Now all we need is Trojan's side of the story....
Well here is My side of the story......I had two Trojans that lasted 14 years. I then bought two US Battery 6vs that lasted a year and a half before I got fed up with them and went back to Trojans. I would NEVER go back and I think their claims are bogus.
Memory spotty, but ISTR last year you revived those US Batteries and got their SG back up. (there were photos of red top, white case?) If so, then perhaps it is not fair to blame those batteries for how they got that way. :)
EDIT: here it is:
Well it has been almost 1 month since I put my 2 US Battery 6 volt GC's on the Battery Minder. I took them off yesterday and let them sit idle for a day. Here is the SG reading now.
http://i563.photobucket.com/albums/ss74/renoman69/IMG_1310Medium.jpg
It seems that the Battery Minder has done what it claims, desulfate the batteries. The reading is almost 1.300 in all six cells. I will now draw them down and see if my 3 stage smart charger will bring them back up again.
Mena, I did get the SG back up but why the heck was it down and so difficult to get back up. Those two batteries sat on the Minder for 1 month and as you might recall I could not get them properly charged with a 3 stage smart charger. WAY to much of a PITA for me. I will stick with my Trojans which give ZERO grief.
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renoman69
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05/04/12 02:35pm |
Tech Issues
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RE: Check Out US Battery's Compare of it's Batt to Trojan!
Now all we need is Trojan's side of the story....
Well here is My side of the story......I had two Trojans that lasted 14 years. I then bought two US Battery 6vs that lasted a year and a half before I got fed up with them and went back to Trojans. I would NEVER go back and I think their claims are bogus.
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renoman69
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05/04/12 07:15am |
Tech Issues
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RE: Batteries in Canada on a budget
They still sell Trojan's, but they don't push them like their other stuff. I had heard the same rumour, but when I went there to have some inverter cables made...the shelves were full of them.
Daryll
I'll bet they were getting nothing but complaints about those US Battery brand that they were pushing for a couple of years. They sucked me right in.
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renoman69
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04/27/12 07:48am |
Tech Issues
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RE: 'costco vs trojan'
My last pair of 105s lasted 14 years and were not yet dead when I retired them. I would LOVE to see a contolled test on the two brands. My guess is Trojan would CRUSH them.
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renoman69
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04/26/12 05:29pm |
Tech Issues
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RE: Batteries in Canada on a budget
I picked up twin t105's at Rocky's battery in Edmonton for 160 each last summer. They made up and included the large gauge interconnect for free.
Daryll
Hey, I thought Rocky's quit selling Trojan's a few of years ago. They were the ones that sold me my US Battery 6 volts that never held a candle to Trojans.
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renoman69
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04/26/12 07:20am |
Tech Issues
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RE: Batteries in Canada on a budget
larsfam, I got my Trojan 105s at Battery World in Edmonton last summer for 165.00 each. In the long run it will be cheaper to buy Tojans.
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renoman69
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04/25/12 12:54pm |
Tech Issues
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RE: New Battery/Converter time
My Iota with IQ4 went into boost mode at 14.8v and a full 40 amps this past weekend. Stayed there for almost exactly 30 minutes before it dropped to 14.3. This was on a Trojan grp27 true deep cycle battery that I put in my fiver for the winter. After 2-1/2 hrs. it was only putting out about 3amps when I pulled the plug and came home.
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renoman69
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04/25/12 12:50pm |
Tech Issues
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RE: BatteryMINDer Results on Two Trojan T105's
I brought a pair of 2 year old 6 volts back from the grave with my Battery Minder. HERE is a link to the thread with SG readings.
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renoman69
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04/24/12 07:53am |
Tech Issues
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RE: Parallel or Series Solar?
I agree, trying to place shade on a specific cell is very difficult and most likely not repeatable.
Why not simulate shade by placing opaque paper over parts you want shaded. Wax paper could be a good solution. You could add multiple layers of paper for different degrees of shading. Make some real-world shade measurements and then simulate results with wax paper.
Sal
We have to start somewhere and a "hard cover" is the only type of shading that can be accurately duplicated without an elaborate lab type setup. Soft shading has a lot of difficult to control aspects to it. Such as light entering from the sides from reflections, fringe effects, and who knows what else.
Salvo, you just beat me to this suggestion. It is an excellent idea. This way you can completely control the test with what would be a more realistic cloud-like shade.
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renoman69
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04/20/12 12:27pm |
Tech Issues
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RE: Parallel or Series Solar?
Very interesting test results. I did a shade test on my panels last year and got very different results. I did not write them down but just made an observation. I cut a piece of white paper exactly the size of one cell and covered one cell while the panels were wired parallel and it cut the output almost exactly in half. When wired in series with one cell covered on one panel it basically cut the output to next to nothing. I have 2 of THESE 135w Kyocera panels with bypass diodes.
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renoman69
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04/19/12 11:00am |
Tech Issues
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RE: $600 crimper versus a $15 crimper?
renoman69, Do you have some special technique for cleaning the inside of the copper tubing before crimping?
Yes I use a round chainsaw file. It also takes off the little ridge on the inside of the tube that the tubing cutters leave.
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renoman69
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04/17/12 03:42pm |
Tech Issues
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RE: $600 crimper versus a $15 crimper?
When you make your crimps don't tighten down the crimper as far as it goes at first. That makes the "ears". Tighten it enough to form the hexagon then loosen it off and make a 1/3 turn with the wire. That takes the start of the ears and puts them in the middle of the die where they are then formed into the perfect hexagon crimp. Hope I explained this well enough. The sizes on the dies really don't mean much because it is the size of the copper tubing or ring terminal that determines what size of die to use. I think that it was my #2 terminals that I had to crimp twice because the size that fit the terminal wouldn't crimp as tight as I wanted so I had to recrimp with the next size smaller once the hexagon was formed.
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renoman69
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04/17/12 01:11pm |
Tech Issues
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RE: Forum Members Solar Installations With Pics
Added to the list!
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renoman69
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04/17/12 01:00pm |
Tech Issues
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