Maintenance and small repairs of a deep cycle lead acid battery

Maintenance and small repairs of a deep cycle lead acid battery

We will be looking at maintenance and small repairs on a deep cycle lead acid battery. Commonly these are used for forklifts or OffGrid power systems. We are talking about big battery blocks, not the ones used for common cars.
To ensure optimal lifetime of your deep cycle lead-acid batteries you should do maintenance at least once every half year to a year.

On the image you can see here there is quite a bunch of sulfation that formed. Initially sulfation will be green but, over time it can take all sorts of colours. While it is still green it usually is rather easy to remove, once it turned brown’ish to black its becomes very solid. As an idea of size, this battery here is my main block, it has 1250 Ah at 24 volts.

For safety, before we start doing anything on the battery we will be disconnecting all the connections. First by turning the fuses from the inverter and all the solar charge controllers off. Next we physically disconnect the battery from the system by separating the connection plugs. For this system each inverter and charge controller has its own connection plug.

If you are interested in how this complete OffGrid power system works check out the Project Link.

After removing the connections to the battery, unscrew each of the batteries cell connections, and remove any sulfation you encounter around the pole.

This can require quite some force. It is recommended to wear safety googles and a dust mask for this.

After cleaning all the connections of sulfation, make sure to apply batteryfat to all the connections before screwing them back on.
This helps to protect against moisture and future sulfation or oxidisation.

Some 2-3 hours of work later, your battery should look something like this. No visible dirt, dust or particles of sulfation leftover. No sulfation on the connections and a fresh layer of batteryfat.

Next we will be checking the waterlevel of the battery.
Each battery cell has the connection for the distilled water in the middle.
when you look closely you can see there is a small window build in. Under that is a swimmer that shows the water level of the cell. This will indicate a need for refill.
Use only distilled water for this, do not use normal tab water as it will damage the battery!
After refilling the battery reconnect the system plugs and we are done.

Solar Suitcase

Solar Suitcase – A portable Generator

Here we will be looking at small and portable yet powerfull mini solar system. This system was done as tutorial and training to get some basic experience. The design was choosen to have a electricity supply for power needs during camping and other outdoor activities. Charging the phone, run some small stereo, illuminate a construction site using led’s, etc.. nothing like powertools or such.
This little system is running since 2014 and is always usefull to have around. I can not count how many times it was great to have a small mobile electricity source that recharges itsself.

Technical Stats

• 10 Watt Solar Module
• 5 Ampere 12 Volt Solar PWM Chargecontroller
• 20 Ah 12 Volt Lead-Acid Gel Battery
• Voltmeter
• 300 Watt Modified Sinus Inverter
• 5 Volt / 12 Volt / 220Volt Output

Materials used

As housing i choose a aluminium suitcase. They are reasonable cheap, very lightweight and easy modifiable. For DIY projects any casing that can house the components should do.

The size of the solar module was picked so it would fit inside the suitcase for transport. The solar chargecontroller supports a lot more power-input so it is possible to have a larger “home station module” to connect the suitcase to. This is highly recommended to have if you DIY this project, as the 10W solar module will take quite a while to charge this battery size.

As mounting for the chargecontroller and the switches i choose a sheet metal plate and cut it with an anglegrinder to fit the suitcase middle bar.

For connections i used the power plugs and cables from computers.
The Plug in the solar suitcase was recycled from a broken pc power supply. These make for smooth connections. As this system will not be getting to much power from the solar panel the cable diameters is not a problem.

Inside the suitcase

To stabilize the components i used a few wooden blocks that got fixed by screwing them into the suitcase. I made some distance pieces and used ductape to make shure the metal cover and inverter or cables dont touch.
The inverter was fixed to the suitcase using additional screws.

Output

220V and 5V output of the inverter and the 12V output of the chargecontroller are placed to the right side of the suitcase.

Questions, ideas or input on this or many other projects ?!?
Join our community discord server.
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Advanced OffGrid PowerSystems

Advanced OffGrid Power-systems

The Information here are more advanced setups. It is assumend that the reader has the basic knowledge of solar, inverters, charge-controllers, batteries, generators and basic solar-system types. For questions or input join our community discord server.

Redundancy

If a vital system breaks and you do not have a local backup installed or a workaround is deemed impossible you might be in a position of having to source things quickly. Having systems setup from the start that take that into account can ease a lot of stress and basically removes the need for spending “emergency $/€” to workaround something until it gets properly replaced. This should also be taken into consideration for the budget.

Example: having a generator is a legit “workaround” for your electric system, good to use when maintaining batteries, changing cables, installing new solar panels etc, but it is not a “backup” for when your main inverter dies. It is exponentially more expensive to run a full household 24/7 on a generator, to maintain everything while you need to wait for your new inverter to arrive. The proper backup would be to have a 2 inverters setup, use one as default and resort to using the 2nd if the default one fails. If it does, casually order a new inverter; and when it arrives run your generator for 20 minutes whilst replacing the broken one.

Redundant Off-Grid Power-system

For our redundant OffGrid power-system we will be using “OffGrid Inverters”. These house a inverter, solar-chargecontroller, generator/grid-chargecontroller and electronics in a single unit. You can connect to these units via USB and configure them according to your needs.

The idea behind this approach is a maximum of flexibility and redundancy. Having two inverters gives plenty of options for the household, and eases the load on each for bigger houses.
It is recommended to not “hardwire” the battery to utility connection but use plugs and flexible cables. (These plugs are usually used for electric forklifts). If need be you can then always connect any device to any battery. For bad weather conditions this can be great, you have the option to connect all your solar-lines to a single battery. No matter which part breaks or needs maintenance in the setup, your power is sustainable.

TheHappyBunker Power-system

A certified, tested and running system that is used in the HappyBunker project. The location is central Europa in the Czech mountains. This is built to sustain electricity during prolonged periods of fog, clouds, snow and general bad conditions.

For questions or input join our community discord server.

Forest Mobilheim

Mobilheim in Forest.

There is small garden around the mobile home bordered by a fence, as of now there’s only small growing patch for vegetables and few holunder trees, rest is covered by grass. There is also five big solar panels on their rack providing the mobile home the needed electricity. Outside the fence there is small forest on one side of the mobile home and grasslands on the other side.

Size of land : ~ 1200 m².
Structure size: ~ 36m².
Living space: ~36m².
Location: Central Europa, Shumava CZ.

Power System
1400 Watt Solar Panels
Deep Cycle Gel Battery at 24 Volt : 320 AH c5
High Frequency Inverter 2,4 Kw
3 Kw Gasoline Generator Multiphase 220/400 Volt

Water
Rainwater harvesting into  120 l barrel.
Butangas Water Heating 4Kw.

Heating
6 Kw Stove for logs or coalbrickets.
8 Kw Butangas central heating.
4 x 50/150Watt Infrared electric heating panels.

Communications
30/30 Mbit directional Wifi.
3G Mobile Connection.

Food
Vegetable garden, about 12m².
Local farming markets.
Local supermarket.

This is a mobile home with dimensions of 3,3 meters in width and 11 meters in length. Despite the name, it is not really mobile compared to its smaller brother the caravan. However it is possible to be moved by special transport, and due to this transportability it is long and not so wide habitation module. It consists of a living room, a bathroom, a service room, a storage room, a bedroom and a toilet.

As the structure will most likely be parked in one place for a while, it is important to have solid foundation underneath. The mobileheim has its tires and supports in each of the corners, we also used additional jacks to give mobilheim a few additional support points, and by use of concrete it was made sure the contact to the ground is a proper one. Then the sides were covered with metal plates in order to stop the air movement under the mobilheim to increase the insulation specially for the winter months. There are other improvements to the insulation inside the mobilheim, mostly in form of styrofoam. One should keep in mind that adding improvements to the mobilheim will add to the total weight, which might hinder future moving of the mobilheim to a new location in future

As mentioned electricity of the mobilheim comes from the sun and then is used or stored in the well sized battery on a reinforced floor within the mobilheim. There is also possibility to add powersource from outside in rare event of power running out. Gas is another major system within the mobilheim with its own piping network and is used for heating the mobilheim and water and also for the stove. Water is sourced from barrel within the mobilheim, so it will stay liquid also in the winter conditions, and is filled outside source, however water collecting system has been planned. As for outgoing water, it goes to underground barrel, which can be emptied from solid matter as needed. Mobilheim has self added fireplace with a proper chimney for additional heating at central placement. It is also possible to heat with electricity using small heating panels installed on the ceilings of most rooms, however this is tricky and situational at best as we’re after all living offgrid. Internet comes through directional wifi antenna installed on a pole on the other side of the forest, from which there is cable to the mobilheim.

For questions or input join our community discord server.

Live Support Module

Life Support Module

Small, efficiant, and lovely. This 2m x 4m container got modified into a fully OffGrid housing for two persons (and a dog).
Adapting a lot of idears and devices from the caravan world to save space. Technical devices are nicely arranged to enable a maximum of luxery on a minimum of space. The features include two beds, a shower, a small cooking corner with 2 plates, a fridge, a watertab + sink, outside and inside led lights, 120l watertank incl. pump, multible closets, wood-stove, a table and room to sit, 2 sealing lights and last but not least a fully functional solar system.

Size of land : ~ 1.000m²
Structure size: ~ 8.5m²
Living space: ~8.5m²
Location: Central Europa
Building materials used : ~ Wood, sheet metal, styrofoam-plates isolation,

Power System
320 Watt Solar Panels
Chargecontrollers: 1 x 5A pmw, 1 x 20A mppt
1x AGM Battery at 12V : 220 AH c100
1x High Frequency Inverter 1 Kw 220V
700 watt Gasoline Generator Singlephase 220 Volt

Water
Rainwater harvesting into 120l inside tank.
25watt 12v pump

Heating
3 Kw Stove for logs or coalbrickets.
200 watt micro boiler 6l .

Communications
10/10 Mbit directional Wifi.

Food
Vegetable garden 30m²
Local farming markets
Local supermarket

Toilet
Portable Festival Toilet

Overview of the inside structure

For questions or input join our community discord server.

A Special Wooden Garage

Size of land : ~ 3.500m²
Structure size: ~ 60m²
Living space: ~45m²
Location: Central Europa
Building materials used : 80% Wood, 10% Styrofoam Isolation, 10% Misc.

Power System
16Amp – Grid Connection

Water
Main water sourced thru well, 48m deep drilled hole

Heating
6 Kw Stove for logs or coalbrickets – Exhaust Pipes run thru inside for 3m.
5 kw Stove for logs or coalbrickets
11Kw Electric water heating

Communications
10/10 Mbit directional Wifi.

Food
Vegetable garden, about 120m²
6-8 Chickens
Local farming markets
Local supermarket