Very big 12V battery - Montana Owners Club

Irlpguy · 01-22-2013, 04:00 PM

I thought I would share a picture and purpose of a very large 12V battery I use to keep my Ham radio VHF repeater and IRLP node on the air during power outages.

The battery is a Honda Liquid Nicad battery which was used extensively here in BC to power mountain top communications sites. When they were taken out of service several years ago I was given 2 banks as in the picture.

There are 10 individual cells each @ 1.25 Volts that make up the 12.5 Volt battery, which is rated at 225 amps. It is 13.5" wide x 23.5" long x 13" high and is currently housed in a large plastic storage bin outside my house.

The battery along with my 2 inverters powers my IRLP node computer, router, hub and three VHF radio's for at least a week. It is charged by floating a 12V power supply over it when the AC is on.

This would make an excellent battery pack for a Solar system, however it is fairly large and very heavy. I don't see it ever finding a home in my Monty however.

**DQDick** · 01-23-2013, 03:44 AM

That's something I've never seen, thanks for sharing. What did they replace it with? Does it weigh less?

Irlpguy · 01-23-2013, 10:00 AM

Norm these batteries were replaced with a bank of AGM (Absorbed Glass Mat) gelled batteries. There are 6 individual cells in a bank each at just over 2V each, they are rated at 700 ah per cell and weigh 90# each, so you are looking at just under 600 lbs per bank. The 10 cells in the bank I have are only rated at 225 ah per cell.

They are used in the Artic and extreme conditions on Mtn top communications sites around the country. Most if not all of these sites are solar powered and sometimes there is no charge to the batteries for a month or more.

At 700 ah per cell they last a long time, but believe me they are out of the price range of most of us RV owners.

Flymutt · 01-23-2013, 02:06 PM

Looks like hernia-time to me. Good thing its got two handles

Irlpguy · 01-23-2013, 02:09 PM

It does not get moved around Flymutt, and certainly not by one person, the batteries in the picture only weigh just over 300 lbs. definitely hernia material.

ols1932 · 01-24-2013, 06:36 AM

We have two Lifeline D8 AGM 12-V batteries installed in our rig. They weigh about 150 lbs each. Costly--run well over $500.00 a few years ago. Each battery provides 255 ah.

Orv

Irlpguy · 01-24-2013, 03:25 PM

That is a great battery setup Orv, many years ago when I owned a Class C motor home I installed an 8D battery for the RV 12V system, it was not nearly the battery they are today but still outlasted most anything else around at that time.

Thanks for bringing back some fond memories of trying to keep the lights and furnace going on hunting trips with the old Class C and it's 8D battery.

Art-n-Marge · 01-25-2013, 08:39 AM

I realize this is offtopic but I have a question for Orv. Who put those batteries in the rig? I don't think I'd be able to deadlift that much weight by myself or maybe even with help. The longer I'm retired the weaker I get. I can't imagine encountering a need to lift that much weight any more. I guess it's time to invest in a hydraulic motor jack.

Meanwhile back on topic, isn't a lot of the weight in Irlp's setup associated with the fact that EACH 1.25 V battery is separate and has its own packaging to eventually create a single 12v battery power source? Wouldn't this weigh a lot less if the redundancy of packaging was removed? Maybe that's what Orv is trying to get at and he has potentially twice the capability at half the potential weight since he had TWO 12v power sources instead of one. But I don't know enough that it would provide as much long term juice. Orv's batteries sure sound way better than the basic podunk deep cycle batteries I use.

I am hoping for two 6v batteries in series as my next battery configuration and possibly a second dual 6v bank if I need more capacity. I don't think I'll ever get to what Ozz has (three 6v battery setups, or the equivalent of three 12v batteries.) but I think just the basic 12v deep cycles are just not powerful compared to lower voltage batteries connected in series.

ols1932 · 01-25-2013, 10:54 AM

Quote:

quote:Originally posted by Art-n-Marge

I realize this is offtopic but I have a question for Orv. Who put those batteries in the rig? I don't think I'd be able to deadlift that much weight by myself or maybe even with help. The longer I'm retired the weaker I get. I can't imagine encountering a need to lift that much weight any more. I guess it's time to invest in a hydraulic motor jack.

Meanwhile back on topic, isn't a lot of the weight in Irlp's setup associated with the fact that EACH 1.25 V battery is separate and has its own packaging to eventually create a single 12v battery power source? Wouldn't this weigh a lot less if the redundancy of packaging was removed? Maybe that's what Orv is trying to get at and he has potentially twice the capability at half the potential weight since he had TWO 12v power sources instead of one. But I don't know enough that it would provide as much long term juice. Orv's batteries sure sound way better than the basic podunk deep cycle batteries I use.

I had them installed in Florida by Palmer Enterprises. Two men can put them in. They were removed and re-installed out in California near where you are by that RV service place that rents storage space for RVs. He's gone now. His wife left him because he was married to his business. Two men did it there too with a little help from a hydraulic piece of equipment. They've been operating since September 2003.
Every time I go to my dealer, he always has me back in or pull in the garage because if he hooks on with his front end Bobcat (I think it's a Bobcat), the back wheels come off the ground! My front end is pretty heavy.

Orv

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