My system- 860 watts solar 8 exide 6 volt. Lasted 3 years. Now Im running 4 trojan 12 volt. 6 years in and they charge up like new. What I learned over the years is keeping them fully charged as much as possible is key. Letting them discharge even just to 50% and not getting a full recharge is a killer. Another thing alot of people dont know is that a 10 amp 120v draw at the house equals 100 amp draw at the batteries and thats not factoring in efficiency losses. Its not "what can I power" its "what can I NOT power" with solar. Each battery is going to need 20-30 amps of charge, if you only have a 60-80 amp charger on 10 batteries they will NEVER get fully charged with daily use. True Deep Cycle batteries do not like high current draws either, so if you have something with a high start up amp draw, it may not perform well. Its alot harder getting it all dialed in than most will admit.
3:45 I absolutely agree with this. If you can't discharge past 50% without damage to the battery then they shouldn't be advertised as what amounts to double their effective capacity. Also if their "customer service" can't even be bothered to give you the benefit of the doubt and give you a one-time 50% discount on a single battery if you have extensive records of maintenance and bought them from a legitimate distributor they don't deserve the overall good reputation and customers they already have. Was just looking at buying a couple Trojan batteries yesterday; this certainly makes me regret not getting them a lot less.
Wow, a timely video, indeed. I was about to order 8 of the Trojan SIND 06 610 batteries to replace our aging Davidson batteries. I'm ok with having a defective battery -- it can happen to anyone, but I'm not ok with receiving the customer service that you got. After seeing this video I'll be looking at other brands except Trojan.
Thank you for your video. I had same problems with my Trojan batteries , they started shorting out cells after 6 years. My system consisted of 32 x T105RE as that was the cheapest configuration for $ per watt/hours. I didn’t find out what actually caused the short but I was told that the two common causes are dendrite and material from the plate falling to the bottom of the cell eventually building up till they reach the plate and shorts the out. My system used a SMA sunny island which precisely controlled every aspect of the battery charging/discharging. The system used an average of 15% of the battery capacity every day, that is, between 77% to 92% mostly as this was controlled by the algorithm inside the SMA sunny boy. So from my calculations 6 year = 2190 day Each day battery discharged by 15% that means the equivalent of a full cycle would take 6.66 days 2190/6.66 = total 332 cycles before I started getting problems, not very good! I have replaced all the batteries now with another band similar to the T105. Friends of mine bought second hand 2V Exide light house batteries in the clear plastic case, these lasted him for over 20 years without any shorting. After 20 years their capacity was less than 50% and was replaced.
I have always used Trojan batteries for my off-grid home without problems UNTIL the batteries I bought 4 years ago. The 6 batteries I bought 1 month ago will not hold a charge after dark. Not any of them. Trojan was bought by another in 2018. Downhill since.
Thank you for taking time to make this video as I too was just getting ready to purchase 6 Trojan 8 volt batteries and will now get another brand. Thanks again and best of luck.
Nice video. I am an electrical engineer and noticed that one cable connecting two of your batteries in your system is badly corroded with green stuff. This could be the problem as may cause a weak connection and voltage drop that prevents the battery from being fully charged. I am not affiliated with Trojan in any way. I have off-grid solar system for the last 5 years, which uses two types of lead-acid batteries, and Trojan batteries never failed till now, and the other type has a 10% failure rate. They are expensive, but I will buy Trojan and only Trojan.
The green corrosion says it all. He should at least know not to let that happen. It could very well be his problems. Simple patrolium jelly applied to clean terminals will keep the corrosion away.
I understand why you made this video. I have issues with corporations my self. I read all the comments made below and think it’s possible some of them have merit. Heat is a huge issue and possibly not knowingly under charging may be possible. I would reach out to the guys below who offered help Looks like you have a nice home. PEACE ✌️
Thanks for the video we were going to buy the same battery setup for our place in Arizona. I'm glad I found your video, we have checked on 16 of them for our house but now I think we will look into crown batteries thanks again
But ... he bought the WRONG type of battery!!! He bought a MOTIVE type battery = rated at a very low # of cycles with only a 12 month warranty. He did NOT buy a SOLAR Industrial battery rated at 3,600 cycles with a 10 year warranty. Now, who's fault is that?
I had the same problem with these same batteries installed on my boat and I switched to Rolls S6 L16-HC, 6V, 512Ah and have never had a problem since I totally agree with you, Fuc% Trojan!
Thats for your video. Had a phone number and was going to call to get my 8 golf cart batteries replaced with Trojan but not going to do it now. Going to another company seeing that I now know why this set of Trojan only lasted 2 years. Thanks
Hello. I didnt watch till the end but I will after I write this. I think someone in comments mentioned a corroded wire so that does cause charge and discharge problems but I’m going To assume if everything is functioning properly then what you should do if you have the money is buy another bank. I don’t know how many volts your solar can produce but to do proper flooded deep cycle lead acid battery maintenance you have to put your batteries thru an equalisation charge at 2.7 volts per cell for 1 to 2 hours per month. And you have to charge them at 2.45 volts per cell. A 6 volt battery has three cells. And a 12 volt has 6 cells. If your system is connected in a way that you have 48 volts then you’ll need to equalise your bank w 64.8 volts and if it’s a 12 volt bank then you’ll need to get up to 16.2 volts. The bulk charge cycle meaning what you voltage you charge them at everyday is 2.45 volts per cell. So 14.7 for a 12 volt and 58.8 volts for a 48 volt system. If your solar can’t get that voltage to your bank during the day then having a second bank is what you need to do to get your batteries to last near the factory specs for how long they should last. Meaning. You take one bank offline entirely and charge it everyday until they are fully charged. You’ll have to check the specific gravity of each cell to get a true reading for state of charge. You can’t just base it off of letting them sit for 24 hours to come to a voltage that has stabled off and is no longer dripping from just being charged. It’s ok to judge a battery using that method but it wont be as accurate as checking the specific gravity. Again I havnt watched the full video I just can kinda guess the issues you’re having based on set up and location. The biggest killer of all batteries. No matter what the chemical make up of the battery is, is heat. Heat will kill a battery faster then rabbits thumping. It’s not seemingly possible to have those batteries in a room that stays 75 degrees because the power needed to run it would just kill your batteries just as fast as if they were in the heat. So you can either have a small vent coming from inside the house if you cool your house w ac and if you don’t use air conditioning (ac) then you must not be in that hot of a desert during the summer. But I assume it gets hot and i assume you have a way to cool your house down. Swamp coolers only add moisture into the air and arnt ideal for electrical of any kind wire device battery so don’t use that to cool the air around batteries. If you can’t cook them down artificially w air conditioning then I recommend spacing them apart more to let air flow in between them and get a fan to blow the hot air out the compartment. Ideally have two. One intake one exhaust. The intake you would want to have pull air from the coolest location. Usually you can dig down deep to find more temperate air conditions as apposed to the surface air temp. But they need to be spaced apart some and air needs to be flowing over them and around them to cool them. You have to make sure they have distilled water over the plates inside the cells. They have vent caps that you must check periodically to make sure they have enough water. They lose water especially in high temps. If the water ever drops below the top of the plates you get sulphated plates almost. Instantly and lowers the life of the battery. Or can permanently take it off line. If you have your batteries in series then you need to switch them up now and then so that the same battery isn’t always the first one being discharged from the bank or charged first in the series. When you charge and discharge in series you’ll always have batteries that charge and discharge disproportionally. Equalizing them helps mitigate that but it still occurs. One way to prevent it is by having a separate charge controller for each battery so if you have a in series 48 volt bank then if you have 6volt batteries then each 6 volt battery would have its own charger. Or you can have a 12 volt charger for two 6 volt batteries if you put them in a series/parallel set up. If you have batteries in parallel to get an equal charge and discharge from them you arnt supposed to daisy chain them together. Each battery in parallel will have two wire connected to it. One red. One black. Then all the red wires will then come together to connect to a larger wire or a lower awg number which would then go to your load or charge controller. Personally I like to put them all connected to a bus bar. Which then would connect to charge controller or inverter. Or direct dc powered appliances. You do that for positive and negative. Most people just daisy chain them when in parallel with one battery being the positive connection to the charge controller and the last battery used as the negative connection. It works that way but they still charge and discharge disproportionally. If you don’t understand think of an umbrella that has the handle which is connected to many wire supports that hold up the fabric to make the umbrella shape. All those supports would be your batteries and they all connect to the center handle. One negative handle. One positive handle. If you look online you’ll see pics of what I mean. You should put your battery bank on the north side of your building. The sun won’t directly hit them if you have them on the north side. If you can cool your home then I would suggest buying vrla agm batteries. Don’t buy gel. Gel doesn’t give much wiggle room for overcharging. Still have two banks. But if you have vrla batteries then you can keep them inside the house. They only vent gas if you overcharge them and you don’t equalise vrla agm batteries. It might be the better option for you. They don’t tolerate heat as well as flooded tho. So don’t put them outside. If you can’t spend more money and what you got is what you got then I recommend turning off all your power using devices for as long as it takes to fully charge your battery bank and to desulphate them. Candles or go into the city and stay w family for a few days and let your bank charge. Def get them some air flow. And don’t let the sun directly hit them. If you can’t move them the. Use a cover to get them shade. Get them shade regardless. A tarp or something so that the cabinet they in doesn’t get cooked which cooks the batteries. I would also suggest transitioning to dc powered appliances. They make fridges and ac’s and stoves and laundry now that use dc power. You’re losing some of your power w your inverter. Inverters wont 100percent invert the dc power to ac power w out some loss of power from your dc power supply. The more things you can have on dc power the more you’ll get from your batteries. If you use your inverter a lot use heavy power usage items during the day when the sun is out and never at night because it will drain the batteries too much. I’ve worked w all kinds of batteries. I like flooded because I like to be able to see the plates and how they are charging w their gassing. Trojan batteries maybe overpriced and their customer service maybe lacking as you say but they do make a good battery. I wouldn’t pay full price for them tho. You can good ones used online and at golf clubs. IMO. Find a good used battery dealer and get them half off. Buy enough to have multiple banks. Have one always offline for proper maintenance and charging. Have the other two support the night time. Use only the power your panels produce during the day and whatever amount needed to charge the banks that you have connected and not on maintenance time out. Maybe if I watched the whole video I’d have a better idea of your set up but the suggestions I’ve made are universal to all set ups. Your biggest problem is heat in the desert. Lower the heat around your batteries. And you’ll see a huge difference. For every degree above 75 degress you have to adjust your charging characteristics. Which is far too much to explain on this. Look it up. And good luck. And no offense but early death to batteries is almost always a users fault and not the factory. They put out maybe 1-2 percent bad batteries. Maybe. But they have it down to a science. They don’t want to make bad batteries cuz it cost them money. So what comes from the factory is usually good to go. It’s the user that doesn’t fully understand. A batteries chemical components and how to care for it properly. Takes a long time to get to that level. And I’ve nearly blown myself up a few times. But I still have my thumbs and that’s all I need. Lol. Im sorry I didn’t watch the full video. I just heard solar array and desert and your reason for not liking Trojan and assumed why you were having longevity problems. Also inverters don’t produce a pure sine wave. So if yours doesn’t have a low thd total harmonic distortion then you could be shortening the life of your appliances that need a pure sine wave as apposed to a modified wave.
Thanks!!! I personally do not trust many companies (or people) NEVER TROJAN NOW! At least RURAL KING warranties their batteries!! Not particularly long lasting, but Warranty is honored!
Had 4 DC31 and 4 DC29 marine grade Duracell, Exide and Everlast mix Deepcycle datteries and they lasted 8 years. Essentially two banks of 4 batteries each. Had two Harbor Freight 95 watt solar kits. Used the array banks two or three times a year here in Florida during power outages from Tropical Storms and from Hurricanes. We have several invetters; 125 watt, 250 watt, 450 watt, 750 watt, 2,000 watt and none are pure sign wave inverters. This video has helped me decide to not buy Trojan for our new Solar System. Sorry for yor mysery with Trojan, you conveyed your frustration well enough for myself and others to serousley consider alternatives. We just picked up twenty 100 watt solar panels and six 6volt Duracell AGM golf cart batteries and bank 2 will most likely be 4 LifPo 12 volt batteries. We will add four more LifPo batteries in a few months to have a total of 8 LifPo batteries. We are also adding a 1,000 watt and a 3,000 watt pure sign wave inverters. We are also going to add two new 80 amp charge controllers. We live in a city suburb neighborhood, but purchased 5 acres off grid in the Florida woodlands. This means we will be doing another solar system in a year or two when we move there to live. THANKS Bunches for the video rant. 👍
Thank You Great Video, I Was About To Purchase 10 Trojant Batteries Until We Saw This Video. You Are Right About This Company Very Rude People And Horrible Customer Service!!! Thank You For This Video
He bought the WRONG type of battery!!! He bought a MOTIVE type battery = very low# cycles with only a 12 month warranty. He did NOT buy a SOLAR Industrial battery rated at 3,600 cycles with a 10 year warranty.
@@vtorsi610 sound like a company rep haha. Still should get 1200 cycles out of batteries. He maintained them. Should be a free replacement due to failure of product regardless.
I ran eight L16 size Rolls Surrette brand batteries in a 48 volt system and got a good 6 years from them before noticing capacity losses. I did get another few year further out of them but they were pretty well had it by then and my power inverter was screaming at me every morning before the sun came up 😆. I did however shallow cycled those batteries, not going below 70 SOC (30%DOD) so that probably made a difference. I replaced them with some AGM batteries and only got 3 years out of the AGM's. I now run Lithium (LFP) batteries and so far I am around 2 years with those batteries and I have had no issues with them.... yet, I am crossing my fingers I will get my 8 to 10 years from them 😬😬
You need to keep the top of the batteries dry & clean to avoid self discharge, you may think you restricted the batteries to 50% DOD but I expect it was more like 80% or more There is so much moisture on the tops of those batteries, the self discharge rate would be quite high and enhanced by the heat from living in the desert If you put your multimeter probes directly onto the tops of your battery cases (not the terminals) I bet you will read voltage.. Looks to me like poor maintenance has played some part in your early battery failure..
Checked today. No self discharge. Those are stains from battery cleaner. What you would look for is not voltage but resistance and current. Even the dirtiest looking battery in they pack has several million ohms and zero mA of current.
i've used trojan batteries for decades and have never had any problems with them, but i do know that they do not like heat... over 90 degrees f you're going to reduce their lifespan considerably. they also don't need to be equalized as often as other batteries, equalizing is basically overcharging for a period of time but it does heat up the cells.. in hot weather i would never equalize for that reason.
The problem is .... He bought the WRONG type of battery!!! He bought a MOTIVE type battery = very low# of cycles with only a 12 month warranty. He did NOT buy a SOLAR Industrial battery rated at 3,600 cycles with a 10 year warranty.
I have been using Trojan batteries for almost 2 decades now for RVs and golf carts. They have been superb, I have had maybe 2 batteries over the years go bad but they take care of it when within warranty.
I have my batteries since 2018 and had no problem whatsoever, but I keep mine in a save place with no exposure to water or any other natural element that can damage them. Once each three weeks I clean them and check if water is ok. I don't think a water system will serve well because it could pour more water than needed. Lithium could serve you better, but if they are kept in the same place you keep those, they will not last.
But ... he bought the WRONG type of battery!!! He bought a MOTIVE type battery = rated at a very low # of cycles with only a 12 month warranty. He did NOT buy a SOLAR Industrial battery rated at 3,600 cycles with a 10 year warranty. Now, who's fault is that? If you purchase the WRONG type of battery, who are you going to blame? Exide?
Get reputable lithium cells - there are many seconds out there - Server batteries seem to be the way forward of late or if you feel confident 280ah prismatic - just watch out they really must be kept above freezing when charged
I was just about to buy from them!!! Thank you so much for the warning, I'm emailing the link to your video to them (and I'm sure you don't mind) so I can tell them because of this customer, I'm canceling my order of X amount of dollars! I do agree with many others that left comments, you get what you pay for I have always bought Lith. Batteries. I will not skimp now, thank you much. Dan
Thank you! By all means, share, that's why I made the video. Yeah, with Trojan you could buy their more expensive lead acid batteries with more warranty, though mind you, they are the same physical batteries, but at that point you might as well go with LiFePo4 since it's going to be the same price and a much more reliable chemistry. We are buying currently 20KWh pack of LiFePo4 WITH a battery management system for $5,600 plus delivery, so around $6K total all in. The cells are made by BYD, so one of the best out there for LiFePo4. I am completely done with Lead Acid, they really killed the industry by using impure lead. Honestly, lead acid batteries have never been as bad as they are now. In the 1990s lead acid batteries would last a decade. Now you are lucky if you can get 2 years out of them.
Are you using distilled water to replace fluids? If the water you use has minerals it will shorten the life of your battery. There are ways to regenerate a battery by removing scale on plates.
I think you're doing something wrong. Or your charger isn't right. There's no way you should need to add water every week. I'm off grid too. I have a Trojan L-16 bank that are going on 7 years old. They still work like new. I only need to add water to them about every 3 or 4 months. All cells in my bank always have an SG reading of 1.265 or a bit higher. If I were you, I'd pull that one bad 6 volt batt out and run an equalization on it at 12 volts, and at least 10 amps, for many hours. Check the cells SG to see if it improves as it charges. Note: the sg may drop for awhile. Dont fret, that's normal then it should start to come up. You may be surprised this could bring it back to the level of your other batteries
It looks like a 20 kW bank and if your heating and cooling your home with that (unless it's a high efficiency heat pump system), it's going to be short-lived..I would recommend Solar thermal heating and hot water. For air conditioning Evaporative air cooler work great in dry regions...definitely the way to go!
He bought the WRONG type of battery!!! He bought a MOTIVE type battery = very low# cycles with only 12 month warranty. He did NOT buy a SOLAR Industrial battery rated at 3,600 cycles with a 10 year warranty.
@@vtorsi610 sound like a company rep haha. Still should get 1200 cycles out of batteries. He maintained them. Should be a free replacement due to failure of product regardless.
Want your lead acid batteries to last almost indefinitely? You need two banks. One to charge and one to draw power from. Drawing power and charging simultaneously from the same bank hardens the plates and ruins the batteries.
Just wondering what those batteries are sitting on. I have 2 banks of 48v Trojans going on about 5 years now but I built a platform to get them 6in+ off the ground. I was an off-grid solar dealer in Florida for a few years and heard stories of batteries going out quickly due to either direct contact with the ground or even just off the ground. It looks like you have something there but it is hard to tell. One of my customers in Belize had a house similar in construction to your's by looks at least and the builder had their solar battery bank under an interior stairway with vent pipes for the fumes. I imagine that was done for climate protection to keep the batteries cooler. Just sharing. I hope whatever cells you replaced those with are doing great!
I have been researching batteries for my RV. You are spot on as their warranty is if you follow their guidelines for warranty. Because of your video I am looking elsewhere. Thank you!!
I'm kinda a battery nerd - and I have (had) a few Trojin deep-cell 12v flooded, they were used- and I Found them in the trash dump at 0.000v -- manufactured 4 years before finding them, I have no background information on who-or-how they were used. I was able to recover Both batteries to working conditions - they both ended up Matching ( resting voltage of 12.8v and holding same-ish capacity of 120ah's "new-sold as 150ah's, my cutoff voltage is 11.5v). ----> During the restoration I did a full spray out, (you drain it -save its SA, then use tap water spaying out/ shaking heavily. it by far had the worse looking wast-water iv ever seen.. it took a Gross about of cycles of scrubbing/renting out for the Wast-water to become clear/partial fee. (I filter the SA -thew a paper-towel before refilling it) this leads me to agree with you, it was a manufacturing issue - both batteries looked as if I was the 1st person to ever open the cell's fill-hole.., but what you should get out of this is, I was able to fix-it.. before they met there end-of-life in the Hands of a crazy X-GF, the SA-never got dark or had an issue. I successfully Fixed it.. and it got Years of life after being dropped off for recycling (used the zapping method to recover it, - this shakes it High-voltage at low current for the initial brake-up of the sulfated plats. I do this until 300mila-aps @ 13v, before cleaning, and normal isn't needed after- spray out,- simply trickle charge - 2 week stay on a battery charger completes the desolations ) just hearing what you dealt with, I will never buy a Trojin "NEW" - it's not that they sold a defective product and did not admit to the mistake, it's that they did not exchange the Used-broken battery for a discounted New-battery.. almost every-mainstream manufacturer dose this thew- auto-part stores or wallfart (like die-hard has a 4 year limited, it's a variable % off a replacement under warranty ) this was recorded some years Igo, i would lovupdate-date on how the remaining cells are doing, and how you came to spend Huge $$ on these for Off-grid living.. wdoesdose your setup look like now that you have Yeexperienceperance in battery's ?? - main questionstion ibad-informationrmation lets you to buy batterys that are More-suttied for other applicatinsI , i couldn't think of a worce TYPE of battery to buy for engery-storage. "flooded-Pd" - this is vary 80s to use a flooded-pd.. . and Trojin's premium $$ - you cohaved of went wanth an off-branded non-Chinesee" AGM or GEL, that woulhaveof most-likely gave you the same -if not more, cycle life -under all condition... my favorite disscontted battery brand is Mighty-max , i buy thire Ho-agms's for my cars, (mighty vipers ) and use their Gel-cells for any-remote non-maintaied setup (like my Sicerty campers on the outher-end of the Property - recharging on solar- 5 years and thires all still working, and no issues, - subjected to mild climate of North-californa _
I have 8 12v 200 ah batteries from them, that are 5 1/2 years old and are like brand new. I set them up with the numbers from them and run the bulk, absorb and float cycle from the CC. I top them up monthly to the neck line of the cell and all's good. I don't have any corrosion on the posts like yours, those loose connections might be causing an imbalance in your system or maybe the heat. I'm not saying it is I don't know. I'm just saying how I do mine and hope I don't need the warranty as you pointed out, it probably wont be there.
The problem is ... He bought the WRONG type of battery!!! He bought a MOTIVE type battery = very low# of cycles with only a 12 month warranty. He did NOT buy a SOLAR Industrial battery rated at 3,600 cycles with a 10 year warranty.
He bought the WRONG type of battery!!! He bought a MOTIVE type battery = very low# cycles with only a 12 month warranty. He did NOT buy a SOLAR Industrial battery rated at 3,600 cycles with a 10 year warranty.
Anyway you look at it lead acid batteries are definitely out dated...best way to go LiFe PO4 like Pylontech etc. They say they get 3000 lifecycles And the 90% DOD how true it is for one to find out. The initial cost it's a little steep but in the end if you do the numbers 90% DOD means almost double the amp hours and 3000 cycles means three times longer life : 2 x 3= 6 times more battery for the buck!💪
He bought the WRONG type of battery!!! He bought a MOTIVE type battery = very low# cycles with only a 12 month warranty. He did NOT buy a SOLAR Industrial battery rated at 3,600 cycles with a 10 year warranty.
The problem is ... He bought the WRONG type of battery!!! He bought a MOTIVE type battery = very low# of cycles with only a 12 month warranty. He did NOT buy a SOLAR Industrial battery rated at 3,600 cycles with a 10 year warranty.
@@johnbell1859 For sure the HEAT is a killer. This "MOTIVE" type LH16-AC battery is a Dual-Purpose Marine/RV type battery. It can be used to start a car engine and act like a deep-cycle. But it is NOT optimized for either use. It is a POOR deep cycle battery. We should NOT ever use Dual-Purpose Marine Starting Batteries in an Off-Grid home. Did you see the "Car Starting" battery terminals on it? Dead give-away that, it is NOT a true deep-cycle battery.
I just had 8 Trojan 6v batteries fail after 3 years. They should have lasted at least 7 years. I maintained them perfectly. I think the plates they use are too thin. They went cheap over the years. They used to be the best batteries. Now they suck . 1400 bucks down the drain.
They used to be made in America. Not so much nowadays, as far as I know. You can even tell as they literally have gotten lighter over the years, which means the plates are thinner, as you stated. We went with Lithium Iron packs. It was $6k, but so far well worth it as we can drain them all the way down to 10% without any issues, though we usually never really go beyond 30%. And absolutely no maintenance, noise, or fumes. Sadly, it’s made in China, like everything else nowadays :(
One more thing that alot of people dont know is almost all batteries are rated at a 20 hour charge cycle. When off grid, full time use of the batteries brings that charge cycle down to 6 maybe 8 hours wich in turn creates a shorter life span. When was the last time you shut your house off for 20 hours straight and focused solely on charging the batts? I started running my house off a gen while charging in the winter because its the only way to get a full charge.
Im rocking the Harbor freight tailgator, yamaha et650 clone. Moved the coilpack to a cool non vibrating spot, replaced plug with resistor plug ngk. Avoided stock tank and fuel line, been running it on a medium load using 16:1 24:1 fuel mix. (Rotella 15w40) and it keeps kickin.
@Free Radical - Your off-grid battery bank should run your home for 3 DAYS of autonomy If you cannot run your home for more than 6 - 8 hours then your battery bank is way too small = bad design.
Too much swearing on public media is not good and will not solve the problem. Getting 2-year out of Trojan batteries itself is a blessing. Lead-acid lifespan is around 2-years anyway. Just move on and get Lithium type anyway
The Tristar MPPT can be set to charge any lithium battery bank. I use three of those. You may have to flash the Tristar eprom if the charge controller is not up to date to get the lithium settings exactly the way you need.
You have chronically undercharged the batteries. It happens all the time. You need to ensure you consistently overcharge by 5-10% of the discharged AHs. It's not the batteries dude. It's how they are being charged. I can help you with this if you are interested.
Also, he bought the WRONG type of battery!!! He bought a MOTIVE type battery = very low# of cycles with only a 12 month warranty. He did NOT buy a SOLAR Industrial battery rated at 3,600 cycles with a 10 year warranty.
But ... he bought the WRONG type of battery!!! He bought a MOTIVE type battery = rated at a very low # of cycles with only a 12 month warranty. He did NOT buy a SOLAR Industrial battery rated at 3,600 cycles with a 10 year warranty. Now, who's fault is that?
just came across your video, you clearly look like you have a solid knowledge base of of your system . You mention your watering system....but you don't state if it's distilled water you are using...which could lead to premature failure of the batteries......I'd be a bit shocked if you we're unaware of that ...you may want to add a note in the video that you are using distilled water ...btw...I have two 13 year old 6volt Trojan batteries in my boat...... As for warranty, if the store you bought $5000 worth of batteries didn't go to bat for you, I hope you aren't buying your lithiums from them....If I had a customer that dropped that kind of money in my store, I'd be discussing it with my rep, and pushing for some kind off explanation/resolution. If they can't do anything, they don't likely buy a lot from Trojan, and have no pull..
Hi Bogdan, Just an advice, don't get rid of your Trojan, just replace the bad one, and keep adding more battery storage. Trojan are actually gems but you need to take care of them. If you want to sell them I will buy them, but at a high discount😊. All batteries, including Lithium, degrade rapidly with deep discharge. To prevent that you have to increase the capacity. The 20 KWH LiFePo4 system is also small, as I don't think 9KWh at night is enough to live a normal life, and running generators may not be an option especially in residential areas. Another advice, make sure all connections are tight and clean. and the best way to verify a connection is to measure the voltage drop in the connection cable under heavy load. So, when your batteries are heavily loaded, just take voltmeter and measure the voltage between the two battery terminals connected by the cable (not the cable lugs), and it should measure 5-10 millivolts, and the lower the better. If it measures 20-30 millivolt, that connection is not good because it interferes with battery balance. The batteries actually have an internal resistance of a few milliohms, and a bad cable connection could disturb that balance.
But ... he bought the WRONG type of battery!!! He bought a MOTIVE type battery = rated at a very low # of cycles with only a 12 month warranty. He did NOT buy a SOLAR Industrial battery rated at 3,600 cycles with a 10 year warranty. Now, who's fault is that???
I do have to ask whats up with all the pink discoreation all over everything and even inside the watering tubes and what sort of water are you using to top off the cells to be getting calcified batteries? hopefully, that pink discoloration in the tubes is not from terminal cleaner somehow getting in side the batteries and hope you're using good clean DISTILLED Or deionized water and not just some sort of hard water with lime in it like from most wells. That will kill a battery pretty quick
Trojan Batteries are the Best lead acid batteries. In 20+ years of selling them I have had two complaints and the two customers agreed they were at fault. I Love Trojan Batteries!!!!!!
48 volt system Trogen 12 volt 4 J185-AC ( equ Batt) 205 Am hr each , hooked up in series = 48 Volt air conditioned to 72 degrees (vented in side garage). Hand water ( your water injectors plug shoot over the cell) distilled as needed. Cut your PV back, over charging , regardless Controller. Last and biggest, batteries are dirty...getting unwanted current going across, top of the batteries, discharging at night , regardless of voltage regulator. All Batteries co SUCK. Just a suggestion.. MPLS Mike
Good quality Lithium is getting popular now. In 1982 our boat came with 2 x 6v 220ah Lucas deep cycle batteries, from UK I think. One lasted 13 years, the other around 20. Talking to a battery guy it seems that Lead acid batteries CAN be manufactured to last a very long time, its just that these companies nowadays want to get as many batteries from tiny bit of pure lead as they can. As a result batteries dont have good clean lead any more. If you were to open up these batteries and make your own plates with just lead, they would last a very long time. In fact decades ago you could get batteries with removable covers, for plate replacement.
Even with lawn batteries, tge same group of batteries can weigh 15lb to 25lbs. In automotive terms double that, its like having a 30lb lead battery replace your aging 50lb one, touting higher cranking amps.
@@DarkLinkAD 6x8v batteries in a Club Car Precedent. I have charged and checked with hydrometer and read perfect. Voltages start out good and then after 20min. the cart starts to hesitate to accelerate. I am replacing with lithium. They just shipped and I am looking forward to loosing 350 lbs. of weight(from the cart,not me). The new batteries are 66Ah so should have lots of range.
He bought the WRONG type of battery!!! He bought a MOTIVE type battery = very low# cycles with only 12 month warranty. He did NOT buy a SOLAR Industrial battery rated at 3,600 cycles with a 10 year warranty.
I was thinking of creating out and getting 2 of these instead of paying tripple for the lithium iron batteries. From SOK. But I guess I'll stick to SOK. As far as capacity, when using old style it's always half capacity because your voltage drops and your amperage will skyroket and break the plates.
I’m glad I read far enough into this thread to see that people in the know could see the poor condition of the bank and heat abuse. And that the FUCK was way uncool.
AND ... he bought the WRONG type of battery!!! He bought a MOTIVE type battery = very low# of cycles with only a 12 month warranty. He did NOT buy a SOLAR Industrial battery rated at 3,600 cycles with a 10 year warranty.
That's very interesting. Especially since Trojan batteries are some of the MOST expensive. This is yet again more proof that a brand name and price tag does NOT mean better quality. It only means more greed.
You will never have good luck with any batteries if you don’t clean the batteries and keep them clean. That moisture on top is killing your batteries as you bitch about them. Watch Trogen’s video on “Cleaning Batteries”. I get seven years out of every battery no matter the manufacturer. Touch one test lead to a post and drag the other through the top moisture and watch the meter. Good luck in the future, keeps the batteries clean and watch your batteries last!
I hear ya. Don’t buy Trojan but what does the state of Georgia have to do with it. Just saying. I am not even from there but don’t want people to get the wrong idea that Georgia has anything to do with this issue.
When you purchased the original batteries did you check the manufacturing date on the batteries,compare the manufacturing date and the date of purchase, lead acid batteries degrade when sitting on the shelf or in a Warehouse, also common sense would state you are living in Arizona so common sense would be keeping the batteries cool during the summer and warm during the winter will extend the life of the batteries
I purchased Trojan L-16 REB Solar Batteries and 2 out of 8 in one bank failed very quickly and the company would not compensate or stand behind warranty....I WILL NEVER BUY TROJAN AGAIN! I've been off-grid since 2001 started with Interstate L-16 very good !...After 2nd Interstate replacement I purchased Trojan... have been the worst batteries I've ever had. Again using Interstate Battery back to happy. Operating two separate solar battery systems for a total of 16 batteries...
The batteries in this video only have a 12 Month Warranty. But your Trojan L-16 RE-B battery should have an 8 YEAR warranty. You need to explain how / why Trojan did not honor an 8 YEAR Warranty...
There are too many variables. All your cables need to be checked out and cleaned regularly. I see corrosion from here! Checking resistance, individual cell voltage and specific gravity should be done monthly. I didn't hear you mention equalizing either. Good luck with your lithium adventure!
the charger that you are using its to small for the capacity of batteries you have. thats the issue. I have been using trojan without problems for more than 15 years.
I am from India and even I have heard about Trojan batteries, good things only. It's odd to see so many people saying their battery bank lasted exactly two years. Any chances they are doing this by design to boost sales? Companies have done that with light bulbs before. My Flooded Lead Acid batteries lasted for 8 years even after significant abuse. Those were Exide 12V 150Ah. Point to be noted, the Indian Exide and American Exide are different companies. Probably the same name comes from same British origin.
The problem is ... He bought the WRONG type of battery!!! He bought a MOTIVE type battery = very low# of cycles with only a 12 month warranty. He did NOT buy a SOLAR Industrial battery rated at 3,600 cycles with a 10 year warranty.
@@dexterroy It is a "Dual-Purpose" RV/Marine type of battery. It can do both ... Start an engine and act like a deep-cycle battery. It is a BAD compromise, the Motive L16H-AC is a poor deep-cycle battery. We do NOT use "Dual-Purpose" Marine/RV batteries in an Off-Grid home. Did you notice that it has CAR STARTING type of terminals on it ??? We need to use the Trojan "SOLAR" series deep-cycle battery for off-grid homes.
@@vtorsi610 If space or weight is not a constraint, I think deep cycle FLA are best for solar systems for home. Lithium iron phosphate only when you want to put solar panels on a vehicle.
@@dexterroy The price of LiFePO4 cells is dropping very fast. But now we need an extremely reliable BMS, otherwise we can destroy the entire LiFePO4 Battery pack overnight.
My trojan t105's have out lasted two sets of L16's I wont buy L16;s from any vendor any more. Ive read about the tallness of the battery and stratification seems to be more of a problem with the L16.
BUT ... he bought the WRONG type of battery!!! He bought a MOTIVE type battery = very low # of cycles with only a 12 month warranty. He did NOT buy a SOLAR Industrial battery rated at 3,600 cycles with a 10 year warranty.
@@tiredowalkin The problem is ... He bought the WRONG type of battery!!! He bought a MOTIVE type battery = very low# of cycles with only a 12 month warranty. He did NOT buy a SOLAR Industrial battery rated at 3,600 cycles with a 10 year warranty.
Lead acid batteries should maintain at short period ,between six month we should put distril water exact amout no more not less. Over full distrill water may be harm batteries and cannot work good. you mean good maintain at a time but dealer couuld maintain with powerfull charger for pickup again for good working condition.i got exide lead acid 150 ampire batteries. I have also a problem before 2 year then dealer take my batteries for a week for high voltage charge and it working good now.
after watching this video i spent $700 on CROWN BATTERIES. THEY ARE AGM DEEP CYCLE. time for the consumer to get the respect we deserve and the appropriate customer service this country has ALWAYS HAVE. when i upgrade i will not BUY TROJANS.
But ... he bought the WRONG type of battery!!! He bought a MOTIVE type battery = rated at a very low # of cycles with only a 12 month warranty. He did NOT buy a SOLAR Industrial battery rated at 3,600 cycles with a 10 year warranty. Now, who's fault is that?
Ended up with some (10) L16H-AC batteries. Research shows me that "AC" is for floor operated machinery (mine came from an underground locomotive) and are designed to be fully recharged daily with a constant 120VAC to DC charger. Trojan makes an "RE" version that is supposed to be used for solar and wind applications where the recharge rate is slower and variable. I'm still going to use them in my off grid cabin (two at a time) because they were basically free, but the AC vs RE is probably why they aren't working very well in your application. Sucks that you had such a bad experience with them. If I get 2 years out of each battery, then change them out when they fail, I'll still get 10 years of use out of the free batteries. When they all eventually fail, I'm sure I'll upgrade to another type/brand.
so i have no experience with those exact batteries but their 6v 225 ah batteries seem to last on average 4-5years. I maintain 300~ scissor lifts which all had these batteries in them.
WHAT model Duracell ? Teh problem is ... He bought the WRONG type of battery!!! He bought a MOTIVE type battery = very low# cycles with only a 12 month warranty. He did NOT buy a SOLAR Industrial battery rated at 3,600 cycles with a 10 year warranty.
He bought the WRONG type of battery!!! He bought a MOTIVE type battery = very low# cycles with only 12 month warranty. He did NOT buy a SOLAR Industrial battery rated at 3,600 cycles with a 10 year warranty.
Charge discharge rate ? How many amps did you took out from them as peak ? Also charge amps ? Please let me know … I’m newby solar systems… I have a 4*12v amps lifepo 100amps but I need at least 15kw daily … so I need to check other solution with Gel or Lead-Acid … so I’m very interested any advice from your side
3 года назад
There are so many more battery options beside lead and lithium and nobody uses them. Lead, flooded or gel are all the same, almost like primary cells. Use them a few times and down the chute they go. Lithium is fine, kinda expensive but delivers. But there is also NiCd, NiFe, NiMH. Flooded Nickel batteries can last a century!
I have Trojan T-105's in my Golf cart and they lasted about 8 years. I add only distilled water about every couple of months. Something is missing,but not sure and I understand your pissed,but calling Trojan and getting some guy who really does not give a shit,is probably not the answer. You need to get with other guys who are off grid and share information. Your main problems may be cycling at a higher rate than required. The range of recharging may need to have a delay put in place. I hear dealers who recommend recharging after each use,but I allow my batteries to go to 20% amps before I recharge because if you recharge too often, a memory can form on the battery. Remember : distilled water only! Good luck.
The problem is .... He bought the WRONG type of battery!!! He bought a MOTIVE type battery = very low# of cycles with only a 12 month warranty. He did NOT buy a SOLAR Industrial battery rated at 3,600 cycles with a 10 year warranty.
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My system- 860 watts solar 8 exide 6 volt. Lasted 3 years. Now Im running 4 trojan 12 volt. 6 years in and they charge up like new. What I learned over the years is keeping them fully charged as much as possible is key. Letting them discharge even just to 50% and not getting a full recharge is a killer. Another thing alot of people dont know is that a 10 amp 120v draw at the house equals 100 amp draw at the batteries and thats not factoring in efficiency losses. Its not "what can I power" its "what can I NOT power" with solar. Each battery is going to need 20-30 amps of charge, if you only have a 60-80 amp charger on 10 batteries they will NEVER get fully charged with daily use. True Deep Cycle batteries do not like high current draws either, so if you have something with a high start up amp draw, it may not perform well. Its alot harder getting it all dialed in than most will admit.
Your right on the mark!
3:45 I absolutely agree with this. If you can't discharge past 50% without damage to the battery then they shouldn't be advertised as what amounts to double their effective capacity. Also if their "customer service" can't even be bothered to give you the benefit of the doubt and give you a one-time 50% discount on a single battery if you have extensive records of maintenance and bought them from a legitimate distributor they don't deserve the overall good reputation and customers they already have. Was just looking at buying a couple Trojan batteries yesterday; this certainly makes me regret not getting them a lot less.
Wow, a timely video, indeed. I was about to order 8 of the Trojan SIND 06 610 batteries to replace our aging Davidson batteries. I'm ok with having a defective battery -- it can happen to anyone, but I'm not ok with receiving the customer service that you got. After seeing this video I'll be looking at other brands except Trojan.
Check out Rolls batteries
I had a pair of Trojan T-105s that lasted me a good 8 years even though i abused them by sometimes discharging below 50%. All this in Hot Jamaica.
Thank you for your video. I had same problems with my Trojan batteries , they started shorting out cells after 6 years. My system consisted of 32 x T105RE as that was the cheapest configuration for $ per watt/hours. I didn’t find out what actually caused the short but I was told that the two common causes are dendrite and material from the plate falling to the bottom of the cell eventually building up till they reach the plate and shorts the out.
My system used a SMA sunny island which precisely controlled every aspect of the battery charging/discharging. The system used an average of 15% of the battery capacity every day, that is, between 77% to 92% mostly as this was controlled by the algorithm inside the SMA sunny boy.
So from my calculations 6 year = 2190 day
Each day battery discharged by 15% that means the equivalent of a full cycle would take 6.66 days
2190/6.66 = total 332 cycles before I started getting problems, not very good! I have replaced all the batteries now with another band similar to the T105.
Friends of mine bought second hand 2V Exide light house batteries in the clear plastic case, these lasted him for over 20 years without any shorting. After 20 years their capacity was less than 50% and was replaced.
I have always used Trojan batteries for my off-grid home without problems UNTIL the batteries I bought 4 years ago.
The 6 batteries I bought 1 month ago will not hold a charge after dark. Not any of them.
Trojan was bought by another in 2018. Downhill since.
Thank you for taking time to make this video as I too was just getting ready to purchase 6 Trojan 8 volt batteries and will now get another brand. Thanks again and best of luck.
Nice video. I am an electrical engineer and noticed that one cable connecting two of your batteries in your system is badly corroded with green stuff. This could be the problem as may cause a weak connection and voltage drop that prevents the battery from being fully charged. I am not affiliated with Trojan in any way. I have off-grid solar system for the last 5 years, which uses two types of lead-acid batteries, and Trojan batteries never failed till now, and the other type has a 10% failure rate. They are expensive, but I will buy Trojan and only Trojan.
Was going to make the same reply after being in trucking business forty years this was the biggest cause of battery failure
The 12v Trojans have been a no go for years now. The golf batteries have always been the highest recommendation
The green corrosion says it all. He should at least know not to let that happen. It could very well be his problems. Simple patrolium jelly applied to clean terminals will keep the corrosion away.
I understand why you made this video. I have issues with corporations my self. I read all the comments made below and think it’s possible some of them have merit. Heat is a huge issue and possibly not knowingly under charging may be possible. I would reach out to the guys below who offered help
Looks like you have a nice home. PEACE ✌️
Thanks for the video we were going to buy the same battery setup for our place in Arizona. I'm glad I found your video, we have checked on 16 of them for our house but now I think we will look into crown batteries thanks again
But ... he bought the WRONG type of battery!!! He bought a MOTIVE type battery = rated at a very low # of cycles with only a 12 month warranty. He did NOT buy a SOLAR Industrial battery rated at 3,600 cycles with a 10 year warranty. Now, who's fault is that?
Crown makes excellent batteries for a very reasonable price. They also make all the batteries for Clark forklift company.
I had the same problem with these same batteries installed on my boat and I switched to Rolls S6 L16-HC, 6V, 512Ah and have never had a problem since I totally agree with you, Fuc% Trojan!
Thats for your video. Had a phone number and was going to call to get my 8 golf cart batteries replaced with Trojan but not going to do it now. Going to another company seeing that I now know why this set of Trojan only lasted 2 years. Thanks
Hello. I didnt watch till the end but I will after I write this. I think someone in comments mentioned a corroded wire so that does cause charge and discharge problems but I’m going To assume if everything is functioning properly then what you should do if you have the money is buy another bank. I don’t know how many volts your solar can produce but to do proper flooded deep cycle lead acid battery maintenance you have to put your batteries thru an equalisation charge at 2.7 volts per cell for 1 to 2 hours per month. And you have to charge them at 2.45 volts per cell. A 6 volt battery has three cells. And a 12 volt has 6 cells. If your system is connected in a way that you have 48 volts then you’ll need to equalise your bank w 64.8 volts and if it’s a 12 volt bank then you’ll need to get up to 16.2 volts. The bulk charge cycle meaning what you voltage you charge them at everyday is 2.45 volts per cell. So 14.7 for a 12 volt and 58.8 volts for a 48 volt system. If your solar can’t get that voltage to your bank during the day then having a second bank is what you need to do to get your batteries to last near the factory specs for how long they should last. Meaning. You take one bank offline entirely and charge it everyday until they are fully charged. You’ll have to check the specific gravity of each cell to get a true reading for state of charge. You can’t just base it off of letting them sit for 24 hours to come to a voltage that has stabled off and is no longer dripping from just being charged. It’s ok to judge a battery using that method but it wont be as accurate as checking the specific gravity. Again I havnt watched the full video I just can kinda guess the issues you’re having based on set up and location. The biggest killer of all batteries. No matter what the chemical make up of the battery is, is heat. Heat will kill a battery faster then rabbits thumping. It’s not seemingly possible to have those batteries in a room that stays 75 degrees because the power needed to run it would just kill your batteries just as fast as if they were in the heat. So you can either have a small vent coming from inside the house if you cool your house w ac and if you don’t use air conditioning (ac) then you must not be in that hot of a desert during the summer. But I assume it gets hot and i assume you have a way to cool your house down. Swamp coolers only add moisture into the air and arnt ideal for electrical of any kind wire device battery so don’t use that to cool the air around batteries. If you can’t cook them down artificially w air conditioning then I recommend spacing them apart more to let air flow in between them and get a fan to blow the hot air out the compartment. Ideally have two. One intake one exhaust. The intake you would want to have pull air from the coolest location. Usually you can dig down deep to find more temperate air conditions as apposed to the surface air temp. But they need to be spaced apart some and air needs to be flowing over them and around them to cool them. You have to make sure they have distilled water over the plates inside the cells. They have vent caps that you must check periodically to make sure they have enough water. They lose water especially in high temps. If the water ever drops below the top of the plates you get sulphated plates almost. Instantly and lowers the life of the battery. Or can permanently take it off line. If you have your batteries in series then you need to switch them up now and then so that the same battery isn’t always the first one being discharged from the bank or charged first in the series. When you charge and discharge in series you’ll always have batteries that charge and discharge disproportionally. Equalizing them helps mitigate that but it still occurs. One way to prevent it is by having a separate charge controller for each battery so if you have a in series 48 volt bank then if you have 6volt batteries then each 6 volt battery would have its own charger. Or you can have a 12 volt charger for two 6 volt batteries if you put them in a series/parallel set up. If you have batteries in parallel to get an equal charge and discharge from them you arnt supposed to daisy chain them together. Each battery in parallel will have two wire connected to it. One red. One black. Then all the red wires will then come together to connect to a larger wire or a lower awg number which would then go to your load or charge controller. Personally I like to put them all connected to a bus bar. Which then would connect to charge controller or inverter. Or direct dc powered appliances. You do that for positive and negative. Most people just daisy chain them when in parallel with one battery being the positive connection to the charge controller and the last battery used as the negative connection. It works that way but they still charge and discharge disproportionally. If you don’t understand think of an umbrella that has the handle which is connected to many wire supports that hold up the fabric to make the umbrella shape. All those supports would be your batteries and they all connect to the center handle. One negative handle. One positive handle. If you look online you’ll see pics of what I mean. You should put your battery bank on the north side of your building. The sun won’t directly hit them if you have them on the north side. If you can cool your home then I would suggest buying vrla agm batteries. Don’t buy gel. Gel doesn’t give much wiggle room for overcharging. Still have two banks. But if you have vrla batteries then you can keep them inside the house. They only vent gas if you overcharge them and you don’t equalise vrla agm batteries. It might be the better option for you. They don’t tolerate heat as well as flooded tho. So don’t put them outside. If you can’t spend more money and what you got is what you got then I recommend turning off all your power using devices for as long as it takes to fully charge your battery bank and to desulphate them. Candles or go into the city and stay w family for a few days and let your bank charge. Def get them some air flow. And don’t let the sun directly hit them. If you can’t move them the. Use a cover to get them shade. Get them shade regardless. A tarp or something so that the cabinet they in doesn’t get cooked which cooks the batteries. I would also suggest transitioning to dc powered appliances. They make fridges and ac’s and stoves and laundry now that use dc power. You’re losing some of your power w your inverter. Inverters wont 100percent invert the dc power to ac power w out some loss of power from your dc power supply. The more things you can have on dc power the more you’ll get from your batteries. If you use your inverter a lot use heavy power usage items during the day when the sun is out and never at night because it will drain the batteries too much. I’ve worked w all kinds of batteries. I like flooded because I like to be able to see the plates and how they are charging w their gassing. Trojan batteries maybe overpriced and their customer service maybe lacking as you say but they do make a good battery. I wouldn’t pay full price for them tho. You can good ones used online and at golf clubs. IMO. Find a good used battery dealer and get them half off. Buy enough to have multiple banks. Have one always offline for proper maintenance and charging. Have the other two support the night time. Use only the power your panels produce during the day and whatever amount needed to charge the banks that you have connected and not on maintenance time out. Maybe if I watched the whole video I’d have a better idea of your set up but the suggestions I’ve made are universal to all set ups. Your biggest problem is heat in the desert. Lower the heat around your batteries. And you’ll see a huge difference. For every degree above 75 degress you have to adjust your charging characteristics. Which is far too much to explain on this. Look it up. And good luck. And no offense but early death to batteries is almost always a users fault and not the factory. They put out maybe 1-2 percent bad batteries. Maybe. But they have it down to a science. They don’t want to make bad batteries cuz it cost them money. So what comes from the factory is usually good to go. It’s the user that doesn’t fully understand. A batteries chemical components and how to care for it properly. Takes a long time to get to that level. And I’ve nearly blown myself up a few times. But I still have my thumbs and that’s all I need. Lol. Im sorry I didn’t watch the full video. I just heard solar array and desert and your reason for not liking Trojan and assumed why you were having longevity problems. Also inverters don’t produce a pure sine wave. So if yours doesn’t have a low thd total harmonic distortion then you could be shortening the life of your appliances that need a pure sine wave as apposed to a modified wave.
Thanks!!!
I personally do not trust many companies (or people)
NEVER TROJAN NOW!
At least RURAL KING warranties their batteries!! Not particularly long lasting, but Warranty is honored!
Had 4 DC31 and 4 DC29 marine grade Duracell, Exide and Everlast mix Deepcycle datteries and they lasted 8 years. Essentially two banks of 4 batteries each. Had two Harbor Freight 95 watt solar kits. Used the array banks two or three times a year here in Florida during power outages from Tropical Storms and from Hurricanes. We have several invetters; 125 watt, 250 watt, 450 watt, 750 watt, 2,000 watt and none are pure sign wave inverters.
This video has helped me decide to not buy Trojan for our new Solar System. Sorry for yor mysery with Trojan, you conveyed your frustration well enough for myself and others to serousley consider alternatives.
We just picked up twenty 100 watt solar panels and six 6volt Duracell AGM golf cart batteries and bank 2 will most likely be 4 LifPo 12 volt batteries. We will add four more LifPo batteries in a few months to have a total of 8 LifPo batteries. We are also adding a 1,000 watt and a 3,000 watt pure sign wave inverters. We are also going to add two new 80 amp charge controllers.
We live in a city suburb neighborhood, but purchased 5 acres off grid in the Florida woodlands. This means we will be doing another solar system in a year or two when we move there to live.
THANKS Bunches for the video rant. 👍
Thank You Great Video, I Was About To Purchase 10 Trojant Batteries Until We Saw This Video. You Are Right About This Company Very Rude People And Horrible Customer Service!!!
Thank You For This Video
He bought the WRONG type of battery!!! He bought a MOTIVE type battery = very low# cycles with only a 12 month warranty. He did NOT buy a SOLAR Industrial battery rated at 3,600 cycles with a 10 year warranty.
@@vtorsi610 sound like a company rep haha. Still should get 1200 cycles out of batteries. He maintained them. Should be a free replacement due to failure of product regardless.
@@vtorsi610 So says the Trojan troll.
I ran eight L16 size Rolls Surrette brand batteries in a 48 volt system and got a good 6 years from them before noticing capacity losses. I did get another few year further out of them but they were pretty well had it by then and my power inverter was screaming at me every morning before the sun came up 😆. I did however shallow cycled those batteries, not going below 70 SOC (30%DOD) so that probably made a difference.
I replaced them with some AGM batteries and only got 3 years out of the AGM's. I now run Lithium (LFP) batteries and so far I am around 2 years with those batteries and I have had no issues with them.... yet, I am crossing my fingers I will get my 8 to 10 years from them 😬😬
You need to keep the top of the batteries dry & clean to avoid self discharge, you may think you restricted the batteries to 50% DOD but I expect it was more like 80% or more
There is so much moisture on the tops of those batteries, the self discharge rate would be quite high and enhanced by the heat from living in the desert
If you put your multimeter probes directly onto the tops of your battery cases (not the terminals) I bet you will read voltage..
Looks to me like poor maintenance has played some part in your early battery failure..
Checked today. No self discharge. Those are stains from battery cleaner. What you would look for is not voltage but resistance and current. Even the dirtiest looking battery in they pack has several million ohms and zero mA of current.
i've used trojan batteries for decades and have never had any problems with them, but i do know that they do not like heat... over 90 degrees f you're going to reduce their lifespan considerably. they also don't need to be equalized as often as other batteries, equalizing is basically overcharging for a period of time but it does heat up the cells.. in hot weather i would never equalize for that reason.
The problem is .... He bought the WRONG type of battery!!! He bought a MOTIVE type battery = very low# of cycles with only a 12 month warranty. He did NOT buy a SOLAR Industrial battery rated at 3,600 cycles with a 10 year warranty.
Great video. Thank you for sharing. I feel the same way about Trojan. I'll be buying from another manufacture.
I have been using Trojan batteries for almost 2 decades now for RVs and golf carts. They have been superb, I have had maybe 2 batteries over the years go bad but they take care of it when within warranty.
Wow thanks for the laugh! I though I was the only one that got that mad at battery makers. I hope the lithium give you the service you need.
I have my batteries since 2018 and had no problem whatsoever, but I keep mine in a save place with no exposure to water or any other natural element that can damage them. Once each three weeks I clean them and check if water is ok. I don't think a water system will serve well because it could pour more water than needed. Lithium could serve you better, but if they are kept in the same place you keep those, they will not last.
This video saved my life, was going to buy trojan batteries, Guess I'll buy exide now.
But ... he bought the WRONG type of battery!!! He bought a MOTIVE type battery = rated at a very low # of cycles with only a 12 month warranty. He did NOT buy a SOLAR Industrial battery rated at 3,600 cycles with a 10 year warranty. Now, who's fault is that? If you purchase the WRONG type of battery, who are you going to blame? Exide?
if you notice the battery that went bad has a lot of green on the post. something is wrong not the battery fault
Get reputable lithium cells - there are many seconds out there - Server batteries seem to be the way forward of late or if you feel confident 280ah prismatic - just watch out they really must be kept above freezing when charged
Glad to here this I was thinking about buying a set of 4 12 volt, not now, thanks, I`m more concerned about Trojan`s response. what BS.
I was just about to buy from them!!!
Thank you so much for the warning, I'm emailing the link to your video to them (and I'm sure you don't mind) so I can tell them
because of this customer, I'm canceling my order of X amount of dollars!
I do agree with many others that left comments, you get what you pay for I have always bought Lith. Batteries.
I will not skimp now, thank you much.
Dan
Thank you! By all means, share, that's why I made the video. Yeah, with Trojan you could buy their more expensive lead acid batteries with more warranty, though mind you, they are the same physical batteries, but at that point you might as well go with LiFePo4 since it's going to be the same price and a much more reliable chemistry. We are buying currently 20KWh pack of LiFePo4 WITH a battery management system for $5,600 plus delivery, so around $6K total all in. The cells are made by BYD, so one of the best out there for LiFePo4. I am completely done with Lead Acid, they really killed the industry by using impure lead. Honestly, lead acid batteries have never been as bad as they are now. In the 1990s lead acid batteries would last a decade. Now you are lucky if you can get 2 years out of them.
Go with Rolls nano carbon batteries! Great product.
Are you using distilled water to replace fluids? If the water you use has minerals it will shorten the life of your battery. There are ways to regenerate a battery by removing scale on plates.
Is there a video 9n that
He used Trojan water system.
I think you're doing something wrong. Or your charger isn't right. There's no way you should need to add water every week. I'm off grid too. I have a Trojan L-16 bank that are going on 7 years old. They still work like new. I only need to add water to them about every 3 or 4 months. All cells in my bank always have an SG reading of 1.265 or a bit higher. If I were you, I'd pull that one bad 6 volt batt out and run an equalization on it at 12 volts, and at least 10 amps, for many hours. Check the cells SG to see if it improves as it charges. Note: the sg may drop for awhile. Dont fret, that's normal then it should start to come up. You may be surprised this could bring it back to the level of your other batteries
I hope that your battery charger is a good design and functioning properly.
It looks like a 20 kW bank and if your heating and cooling your home with that (unless it's a high efficiency heat pump system), it's going to be short-lived..I would recommend Solar thermal heating and hot water. For air conditioning Evaporative air cooler work great in dry regions...definitely the way to go!
He bought the WRONG type of battery!!! He bought a MOTIVE type battery = very low# cycles with only 12 month warranty. He did NOT buy a SOLAR Industrial battery rated at 3,600 cycles with a 10 year warranty.
@@vtorsi610 sound like a company rep haha. Still should get 1200 cycles out of batteries. He maintained them. Should be a free replacement due to failure of product regardless.
Want your lead acid batteries to last almost indefinitely? You need two banks. One to charge and one to draw power from. Drawing power and charging simultaneously from the same bank hardens the plates and ruins the batteries.
Total nonsense. Witchcraft. Since charging and discharging occur at the same terminal the charge current simply reduces the draw on the battery.
I'll never buy a battery from Trojan. Thanks for the warning!!!!
Just wondering what those batteries are sitting on. I have 2 banks of 48v Trojans going on about 5 years now but I built a platform to get them 6in+ off the ground. I was an off-grid solar dealer in Florida for a few years and heard stories of batteries going out quickly due to either direct contact with the ground or even just off the ground. It looks like you have something there but it is hard to tell.
One of my customers in Belize had a house similar in construction to your's by looks at least and the builder had their solar battery bank under an interior stairway with vent pipes for the fumes. I imagine that was done for climate protection to keep the batteries cooler. Just sharing. I hope whatever cells you replaced those with are doing great!
Well I have just cancelled my order for Trojan. Thanks for the info
I have been researching batteries for my RV. You are spot on as their warranty is if you follow their guidelines for warranty. Because of your video I am looking elsewhere. Thank you!!
The issue is you have them laying in concrete
Yep, concrete will kill batteries..
Thanks for the heads up. Btw, were the batteries warrantied?
Wow I'm really glad I watched this video . I was going to buy several trojan batteries but not now... thanks for the heads up. 😊
I was ready to buy them BUT NOT ANYMORE.
I'm kinda a battery nerd - and I have (had) a few Trojin deep-cell 12v flooded, they were used- and I Found them in the trash dump at 0.000v -- manufactured 4 years before finding them, I have no background information on who-or-how they were used. I was able to recover Both batteries to working conditions - they both ended up Matching ( resting voltage of 12.8v and holding same-ish capacity of 120ah's "new-sold as 150ah's, my cutoff voltage is 11.5v).
----> During the restoration I did a full spray out, (you drain it -save its SA, then use tap water spaying out/ shaking heavily. it by far had the worse looking wast-water iv ever seen.. it took a Gross about of cycles of scrubbing/renting out for the Wast-water to become clear/partial fee. (I filter the SA -thew a paper-towel before refilling it)
this leads me to agree with you, it was a manufacturing issue - both batteries looked as if I was the 1st person to ever open the cell's fill-hole.., but what you should get out of this is, I was able to fix-it.. before they met there end-of-life in the Hands of a crazy X-GF, the SA-never got dark or had an issue. I successfully Fixed it.. and it got Years of life after being dropped off for recycling (used the zapping method to recover it, - this shakes it High-voltage at low current for the initial brake-up of the sulfated plats. I do this until 300mila-aps @ 13v, before cleaning, and normal isn't needed after- spray out,- simply trickle charge - 2 week stay on a battery charger completes the desolations )
just hearing what you dealt with, I will never buy a Trojin "NEW" - it's not that they sold a defective product and did not admit to the mistake, it's that they did not exchange the Used-broken battery for a discounted New-battery.. almost every-mainstream manufacturer dose this thew- auto-part stores or wallfart (like die-hard has a 4 year limited, it's a variable % off a replacement under warranty )
this was recorded some years Igo, i would lovupdate-date on how the remaining cells are doing, and how you came to spend Huge $$ on these for Off-grid living.. wdoesdose your setup look like now that you have Yeexperienceperance in battery's ?? -
main questionstion ibad-informationrmation lets you to buy batterys that are More-suttied for other applicatinsI , i couldn't think of a worce TYPE of battery to buy for engery-storage. "flooded-Pd" - this is vary 80s to use a flooded-pd.. . and Trojin's premium $$ - you cohaved of went wanth an off-branded non-Chinesee" AGM or GEL, that woulhaveof most-likely gave you the same -if not more, cycle life -under all condition...
my favorite disscontted battery brand is Mighty-max , i buy thire Ho-agms's for my cars, (mighty vipers ) and use their Gel-cells for any-remote non-maintaied setup (like my Sicerty campers on the outher-end of the Property - recharging on solar- 5 years and thires all still working, and no issues, - subjected to mild climate of North-californa _
Thanks for the heads up was about to buy 4 of em for my narrowboat.
I have 8 12v 200 ah batteries from them, that are 5 1/2 years old and are like brand new. I set them up with the numbers from them and run the bulk, absorb and float cycle from the CC. I top them up monthly to the neck line of the cell and all's good. I don't have any corrosion on the posts like yours, those loose connections might be causing an imbalance in your system or maybe the heat. I'm not saying it is I don't know. I'm just saying how I do mine and hope I don't need the warranty as you pointed out, it probably wont be there.
The problem is ... He bought the WRONG type of battery!!! He bought a MOTIVE type battery = very low# of cycles with only a 12 month warranty. He did NOT buy a SOLAR Industrial battery rated at 3,600 cycles with a 10 year warranty.
@vtorsi610 Aha. The Trojan sales rep fighting for his job. Don't buy Trojan. Mine lasted 2 years in our RV. Never again.
Excellent video! Good for you to blow these crooks away! Hope to see your Lithium battery solution up and running soon.
He bought the WRONG type of battery!!! He bought a MOTIVE type battery = very low# cycles with only a 12 month warranty. He did NOT buy a SOLAR Industrial battery rated at 3,600 cycles with a 10 year warranty.
Anyway you look at it lead acid batteries are definitely out dated...best way to go LiFe PO4 like Pylontech etc. They say they get 3000 lifecycles And the 90% DOD how true it is for one to find out. The initial cost it's a little steep but in the end if you do the numbers 90% DOD means almost double the amp hours and 3000 cycles means three times longer life : 2 x 3= 6 times more battery for the buck!💪
LOVE THE REVIEW !!!! Thank You for sharing
He bought the WRONG type of battery!!! He bought a MOTIVE type battery = very low# cycles with only a 12 month warranty. He did NOT buy a SOLAR Industrial battery rated at 3,600 cycles with a 10 year warranty.
Loved your video. We have failing Trojan golf cart batteries and were considering new Trojans.
Based on your experience we are steering clear.
Thanks
expect for the colorful metaphors,,, thanks for the input
And I was ready to buy 6 trojans. L16's, thanks for the warning
Would not buy Trojan batteries after this video, thanks very much good look to you. P.s beautiful home 🏠. 🇬🇧
The problem is ... He bought the WRONG type of battery!!! He bought a MOTIVE type battery = very low# of cycles with only a 12 month warranty. He did NOT buy a SOLAR Industrial battery rated at 3,600 cycles with a 10 year warranty.
@@vtorsi610 l think the heat has not helped as well. 🇬🇧
@@johnbell1859 For sure the HEAT is a killer. This "MOTIVE" type LH16-AC battery is a Dual-Purpose Marine/RV type battery. It can be used to start a car engine and act like a deep-cycle. But it is NOT optimized for either use. It is a POOR deep cycle battery. We should NOT ever use Dual-Purpose Marine Starting Batteries in an Off-Grid home. Did you see the "Car Starting" battery terminals on it? Dead give-away that, it is NOT a true deep-cycle battery.
I just had 8 Trojan 6v batteries fail after 3 years. They should have lasted at least 7 years. I maintained them perfectly.
I think the plates they use are too thin. They went cheap over the years. They used to be the best batteries. Now they suck . 1400 bucks down the drain.
They used to be made in America. Not so much nowadays, as far as I know. You can even tell as they literally have gotten lighter over the years, which means the plates are thinner, as you stated.
We went with Lithium Iron packs. It was $6k, but so far well worth it as we can drain them all the way down to 10% without any issues, though we usually never really go beyond 30%. And absolutely no maintenance, noise, or fumes. Sadly, it’s made in China, like everything else nowadays :(
One more thing that alot of people dont know is almost all batteries are rated at a 20 hour charge cycle. When off grid, full time use of the batteries brings that charge cycle down to 6 maybe 8 hours wich in turn creates a shorter life span. When was the last time you shut your house off for 20 hours straight and focused solely on charging the batts? I started running my house off a gen while charging in the winter because its the only way to get a full charge.
Im rocking the Harbor freight tailgator, yamaha et650 clone.
Moved the coilpack to a cool non vibrating spot, replaced plug with resistor plug ngk.
Avoided stock tank and fuel line, been running it on a medium load using 16:1 24:1 fuel mix. (Rotella 15w40) and it keeps kickin.
@Free Radical - Your off-grid battery bank should run your home for 3 DAYS of autonomy If you cannot run your home for more than 6 - 8 hours then your battery bank is way too small = bad design.
Too much swearing on public media is not good and will not solve the problem. Getting 2-year out of Trojan batteries itself is a blessing. Lead-acid lifespan is around 2-years anyway. Just move on and get Lithium type anyway
The Tristar MPPT can be set to charge any lithium battery bank. I use three of those. You may have to flash the Tristar eprom if the charge controller is not up to date to get the lithium settings exactly the way you need.
Thanks for the info....I was about to buy them for my golf cart....no way!
You have chronically undercharged the batteries. It happens all the time. You need to ensure you consistently overcharge by 5-10% of the discharged AHs. It's not the batteries dude. It's how they are being charged. I can help you with this if you are interested.
Also, he bought the WRONG type of battery!!! He bought a MOTIVE type battery = very low# of cycles with only a 12 month warranty. He did NOT buy a SOLAR Industrial battery rated at 3,600 cycles with a 10 year warranty.
Excellent video, thanks for the video. Going to purchase Interstate batteries
But ... he bought the WRONG type of battery!!! He bought a MOTIVE type battery = rated at a very low # of cycles with only a 12 month warranty. He did NOT buy a SOLAR Industrial battery rated at 3,600 cycles with a 10 year warranty. Now, who's fault is that?
@@vtorsi610 Trojan troll. Maybe a bot. BOT BOT BOT Trojan. That's the problem here. Don't buy Trojan!!!!!
im so glad i came across this video... thanks pal !!!
just came across your video, you clearly look like you have a solid knowledge base of of your system . You mention your watering system....but you don't state if it's distilled water you are using...which could lead to premature failure of the batteries......I'd be a bit shocked if you we're unaware of that ...you may want to add a note in the video that you are using distilled water ...btw...I have two 13 year old 6volt Trojan batteries in my boat......
As for warranty, if the store you bought $5000 worth of batteries didn't go to bat for you, I hope you aren't buying your lithiums from them....If I had a customer that dropped that kind of money in my store, I'd be discussing it with my rep, and pushing for some kind off explanation/resolution. If they can't do anything, they don't likely buy a lot from Trojan, and have no pull..
Lithium batteries will serve you better u will never stay with out power
The way he’s speaking it’s to show his wife he’s so smart 😹😹😹
Wow, I was just going to buy Six 6Volt T105 for my golf cart.
The owner of a cart rental business says they only buy Trojan batteries because they last , everyone has opinions!!!
And you can scroll through the comments here to see how many people disagree. In 2023 getting lead acid batteries is simply silly, no matter what.
Hi Bogdan,
Just an advice, don't get rid of your Trojan, just replace the bad one, and keep adding more battery storage. Trojan are actually gems but you need to take care of them. If you want to sell them I will buy them, but at a high discount😊. All batteries, including Lithium, degrade rapidly with deep discharge. To prevent that you have to increase the capacity. The 20 KWH LiFePo4 system is also small, as I don't think 9KWh at night is enough to live a normal life, and running generators may not be an option especially in residential areas.
Another advice, make sure all connections are tight and clean. and the best way to verify a connection is to measure the voltage drop in the connection cable under heavy load. So, when your batteries are heavily loaded, just take voltmeter and measure the voltage between the two battery terminals connected by the cable (not the cable lugs), and it should measure 5-10 millivolts, and the lower the better. If it measures 20-30 millivolt, that connection is not good because it interferes with battery balance. The batteries actually have an internal resistance of a few milliohms, and a bad cable connection could disturb that balance.
But ... he bought the WRONG type of battery!!! He bought a MOTIVE type battery = rated at a very low # of cycles with only a 12 month warranty. He did NOT buy a SOLAR Industrial battery rated at 3,600 cycles with a 10 year warranty. Now, who's fault is that???
I do have to ask whats up with all the pink discoreation all over everything and even inside the watering tubes and what sort of water are you using to top off the cells to be getting calcified batteries? hopefully, that pink discoloration in the tubes is not from terminal cleaner somehow getting in side the batteries and hope you're using good clean DISTILLED Or deionized water and not just some sort of hard water with lime in it like from most wells. That will kill a battery pretty quick
Cold temps and lithium batteries don’t work, you will need to heat your enclosure
Good for YOU MAN!!
Run that SH🤬T😎 Kind of advice people need to hear/ see
Trojan Batteries are the Best lead acid batteries. In 20+ years of selling them I have had two complaints and the two customers agreed they were at fault. I Love Trojan Batteries!!!!!!
48 volt system
Trogen 12 volt 4 J185-AC ( equ Batt)
205 Am hr each , hooked up in series = 48 Volt
air conditioned to 72 degrees (vented in side garage).
Hand water ( your water injectors plug shoot over the cell) distilled as needed.
Cut your PV back, over charging , regardless Controller.
Last and biggest, batteries are dirty...getting unwanted current going across, top of the batteries,
discharging at night , regardless of voltage regulator.
All Batteries co SUCK.
Just a suggestion..
MPLS Mike
I am battery shopping and have to believe this guy. He even gave Trojan the second chance. 🙈🙈🙈
Good quality Lithium is getting popular now.
In 1982 our boat came with 2 x 6v 220ah Lucas deep cycle batteries, from UK I think. One lasted 13 years, the other around 20. Talking to a battery guy it seems that Lead acid batteries CAN be manufactured to last a very long time, its just that these companies nowadays want to get as many batteries from tiny bit of pure lead as they can. As a result batteries dont have good clean lead any more.
If you were to open up these batteries and make your own plates with just lead, they would last a very long time. In fact decades ago you could get batteries with removable covers, for plate replacement.
Even with lawn batteries, tge same group of batteries can weigh 15lb to 25lbs. In automotive terms double that, its like having a 30lb lead battery replace your aging 50lb one, touting higher cranking amps.
3yo Trojan golf cart batteries only run 3mi. I agree with you. Trojan six. Changing over to lithium.
12v or 6v?
@@DarkLinkAD 6x8v batteries in a Club Car Precedent. I have charged and checked with hydrometer and read perfect. Voltages start out good and then after 20min. the cart starts to hesitate to accelerate. I am replacing with lithium. They just shipped and I am looking forward to loosing 350 lbs. of weight(from the cart,not me). The new batteries are 66Ah so should have lots of range.
I was getting ready to buy 4 batteries from them for my new RV solar system. I will have to find a different company to go with.
He bought the WRONG type of battery!!! He bought a MOTIVE type battery = very low# cycles with only 12 month warranty. He did NOT buy a SOLAR Industrial battery rated at 3,600 cycles with a 10 year warranty.
I was thinking of creating out and getting 2 of these instead of paying tripple for the lithium iron batteries. From SOK. But I guess I'll stick to SOK. As far as capacity, when using old style it's always half capacity because your voltage drops and your amperage will skyroket and break the plates.
I’m glad I read far enough into this thread to see that people in the know could see the poor condition of the bank and heat abuse. And that the FUCK was way uncool.
AND ... he bought the WRONG type of battery!!! He bought a MOTIVE type battery = very low# of cycles with only a 12 month warranty. He did NOT buy a SOLAR Industrial battery rated at 3,600 cycles with a 10 year warranty.
@@vtorsi610 why does this matter? If it’s within spec it should last 1500 or whatever discharges.
That's very interesting. Especially since Trojan batteries are some of the MOST expensive. This is yet again more proof that a brand name and price tag does NOT mean better quality. It only means more greed.
I was just going to buy 6 Trojan batteries for my golf cart. Not now. I'm looking elsewhere.
You will never have good luck with any batteries if you don’t clean the batteries and keep them clean. That moisture on top is killing your batteries as you bitch about them. Watch Trogen’s video on “Cleaning Batteries”. I get seven years out of every battery no matter the manufacturer. Touch one test lead to a post and drag the other through the top moisture and watch the meter. Good luck in the future, keeps the batteries clean and watch your batteries last!
I hear ya. Don’t buy Trojan but what does the state of Georgia have to do with it. Just saying. I am not even from there but don’t want people to get the wrong idea that Georgia has anything to do with this issue.
When you purchased the original batteries did you check the manufacturing date on the batteries,compare the manufacturing date and the date of purchase, lead acid batteries degrade when sitting on the shelf or in a Warehouse, also common sense would state you are living in Arizona so common sense would be keeping the batteries cool during the summer and warm during the winter will extend the life of the batteries
Thanks- I’m thinking about replacing my batteries and I will not deal with a company that don’t have good customer service
I purchased Trojan L-16 REB Solar Batteries and 2 out of 8 in one bank failed very quickly and the company would not compensate or stand behind warranty....I WILL NEVER BUY TROJAN AGAIN! I've been off-grid since 2001 started with Interstate L-16 very good !...After 2nd Interstate replacement I purchased Trojan... have been the worst batteries I've ever had. Again using Interstate Battery back to happy. Operating two separate solar battery systems for a total of 16 batteries...
The batteries in this video only have a 12 Month Warranty. But your Trojan L-16 RE-B battery should have an 8 YEAR warranty. You need to explain how / why Trojan did not honor an 8 YEAR Warranty...
So much for solar power just more headaches and expensive to boot , i imagine wind power would be just as bad because of the batteries
We switched to Lithium and doubled the solar array. No problems now at all. Just good batteries make a difference.
There are too many variables. All your cables need to be checked out and cleaned regularly. I see corrosion from here! Checking resistance, individual cell voltage and specific gravity should be done monthly. I didn't hear you mention equalizing either. Good luck with your lithium adventure!
the charger that you are using its to small for the capacity of batteries you have. thats the issue. I have been using trojan without problems for more than 15 years.
I am from India and even I have heard about Trojan batteries, good things only. It's odd to see so many people saying their battery bank lasted exactly two years. Any chances they are doing this by design to boost sales? Companies have done that with light bulbs before.
My Flooded Lead Acid batteries lasted for 8 years even after significant abuse. Those were Exide 12V 150Ah. Point to be noted, the Indian Exide and American Exide are different companies. Probably the same name comes from same British origin.
The problem is ... He bought the WRONG type of battery!!! He bought a MOTIVE type battery = very low# of cycles with only a 12 month warranty. He did NOT buy a SOLAR Industrial battery rated at 3,600 cycles with a 10 year warranty.
@@vtorsi610 ahh..alright.
@@dexterroy It is a "Dual-Purpose" RV/Marine type of battery. It can do both ... Start an engine and act like a deep-cycle battery. It is a BAD compromise, the Motive L16H-AC is a poor deep-cycle battery. We do NOT use "Dual-Purpose" Marine/RV batteries in an Off-Grid home. Did you notice that it has CAR STARTING type of terminals on it ??? We need to use the Trojan "SOLAR" series deep-cycle battery for off-grid homes.
@@vtorsi610 If space or weight is not a constraint, I think deep cycle FLA are best for solar systems for home. Lithium iron phosphate only when you want to put solar panels on a vehicle.
@@dexterroy The price of LiFePO4 cells is dropping very fast. But now we need an extremely reliable BMS, otherwise we can destroy the entire LiFePO4 Battery pack overnight.
My trojan t105's have out lasted two sets of L16's I wont buy L16;s from any vendor any more. Ive read about the tallness of the battery and stratification seems to be more of a problem with the L16.
BUT ... he bought the WRONG type of battery!!! He bought a MOTIVE type battery = very low # of cycles with only a 12 month warranty. He did NOT buy a SOLAR Industrial battery rated at 3,600 cycles with a 10 year warranty.
I don't buy Trojan batteries any more for my golf cart and just replaced my batteries for $1300.00
Trojan Batteries for always the best for my offshore boat and Trojan Batteries work the best in golf cart
The F bomb was very unexpected.
The first F-bomb yes was unexpected, after that I did expect more and he obliged.
@@tiredowalkin The problem is ... He bought the WRONG type of battery!!! He bought a MOTIVE type battery = very low# of cycles with only a 12 month warranty. He did NOT buy a SOLAR Industrial battery rated at 3,600 cycles with a 10 year warranty.
Lead acid batteries should maintain at short period ,between six month we should put distril water exact amout no more not less. Over full distrill water may be harm batteries and cannot work good. you mean good maintain at a time but dealer couuld maintain with powerfull charger for pickup again for good working condition.i got exide lead acid 150 ampire batteries. I have also a problem before 2 year then dealer take my batteries for a week for high voltage charge and it working good now.
after watching this video i spent $700 on CROWN BATTERIES. THEY ARE AGM DEEP CYCLE. time for the consumer to get the respect we deserve and the appropriate customer service this country has ALWAYS HAVE. when i upgrade i will not BUY TROJANS.
But ... he bought the WRONG type of battery!!! He bought a MOTIVE type battery = rated at a very low # of cycles with only a 12 month warranty. He did NOT buy a SOLAR Industrial battery rated at 3,600 cycles with a 10 year warranty. Now, who's fault is that?
Smart choice, Crown makes excellent batteries at a very fair price...
Good to know I’ll stick with US battery Trojan is off the list
Ended up with some (10) L16H-AC batteries. Research shows me that "AC" is for floor operated machinery (mine came from an underground locomotive) and are designed to be fully recharged daily with a constant 120VAC to DC charger. Trojan makes an "RE" version that is supposed to be used for solar and wind applications where the recharge rate is slower and variable. I'm still going to use them in my off grid cabin (two at a time) because they were basically free, but the AC vs RE is probably why they aren't working very well in your application. Sucks that you had such a bad experience with them. If I get 2 years out of each battery, then change them out when they fail, I'll still get 10 years of use out of the free batteries. When they all eventually fail, I'm sure I'll upgrade to another type/brand.
so i have no experience with those exact batteries but their 6v 225 ah batteries seem to last on average 4-5years. I maintain 300~ scissor lifts which all had these batteries in them.
after this i bought the duracells for $1000 cheaper on entire bank.
WHAT model Duracell ? Teh problem is ... He bought the WRONG type of battery!!! He bought a MOTIVE type battery = very low# cycles with only a 12 month warranty. He did NOT buy a SOLAR Industrial battery rated at 3,600 cycles with a 10 year warranty.
@@vtorsi610 SLIGC110 Duracell Ultra BCI Group GC2 6V 215AH Deep Cycle Golf Cart. did i goof? should i be looking to go Lishen LiFePO4 202ah 3.2v asap?
Thank you I was thinking about buying Trojan Batteries not anymore thank you so much
He bought the WRONG type of battery!!! He bought a MOTIVE type battery = very low# cycles with only 12 month warranty. He did NOT buy a SOLAR Industrial battery rated at 3,600 cycles with a 10 year warranty.
10 years ago I bought my 6v Trojans and they are still going strong.
I do heard lots of complaints about them for real…
Charge discharge rate ? How many amps did you took out from them as peak ? Also charge amps ? Please let me know … I’m newby solar systems… I have a 4*12v amps lifepo 100amps but I need at least 15kw daily … so I need to check other solution with Gel or Lead-Acid … so I’m very interested any advice from your side
There are so many more battery options beside lead and lithium and nobody uses them.
Lead, flooded or gel are all the same, almost like primary cells. Use them a few times and down the chute they go.
Lithium is fine, kinda expensive but delivers.
But there is also NiCd, NiFe, NiMH. Flooded Nickel batteries can last a century!
I have Trojan T-105's in my Golf cart and they lasted about 8 years. I add only distilled water about every couple of months. Something is missing,but not sure and I understand your pissed,but calling Trojan and getting some guy who really does not give a shit,is probably not the answer. You need to get with other guys who are off grid and share information. Your main problems may be cycling at a higher rate than required. The range of recharging may need to have a delay put in place. I hear dealers who recommend recharging after each use,but I allow my batteries to go to 20% amps before I recharge because if you recharge too often, a memory can form on the battery. Remember : distilled water only! Good luck.
The problem is .... He bought the WRONG type of battery!!! He bought a MOTIVE type battery = very low# of cycles with only a 12 month warranty. He did NOT buy a SOLAR Industrial battery rated at 3,600 cycles with a 10 year warranty.
Lead acid batteries don't have memory. That was an issue with the old NiCad batteries.