WWW.MOTHEREARTHNEWS.COM PBwere originally designed for use in super-
market floor scrubbers — they were used
all night and charged from the grid the
next day. Like golf cart batteries, L16s have
been adapted from another application for
their manageable size, deep-cycle perfor-
mance, and relatively low cost. In the years
since, their size has become a standard, and
battery manufacturers build and market
them for PV use. L16s are more expensive
per amp-hour than golf cart batteries are,
and they don’t supply
substantially more cycle
life — about five to six
years is typical. They’re
well-sized for small-to-
medium systems, and at
120 pounds, they can be
moved by two people.
True industrial batter-
ies (pictured above) are
the final type of flooded
lead-acid batteries. They
no longer fit a dimen-
sional standard because
they’re not adapted from another industry.
Rather, the size and capacity of each cell
is determined by the number of plates of
active material. Industrial cells are more
expensive up front, but their substantially
greater cycle life — 15 to 20 years of good
performance is typical — has proven to be
the best long-term value.
For new off-grid homesteaders, a set of
L16s or even golf cart batteries will work as
a great training set. Some homesteaders are
simply better than others at maintenance
duties, and a ruined bank of industrial cells
is a bitter pill to swallow. An inexpensivefirst set is a smaller investment and allows
for several years of adjustment to a healthy
off-grid lifestyle.The Future of
Off-Grid Batteries
Battery options have been slow to
evolve because of a quandary unique to
batteries: Given that deep-cycle batter-
ies can last 15 to 20 years, learning by
experience can take decades. Few off-grid
installers have been se-
lecting, installing, and
maintaining batteries
long enough to learn
from entire battery life
cycles. Without much
long-term data, we tend
to use what has worked
previously, rather than
trying new and possibly
expensive approaches.
While tremendous
advances are taking
place in battery develop-
ment, most are based around increasing a
battery’s performance and energy density
per pound — that is, lightweight, high-
capacity batteries for electric vehicles
and portable applications. In homestead
systems, weight isn’t a key factor; a more
relevant figure has been energy density
per dollar. For most homesteaders, con-
ventional flooded lead-acid batteries still
fit this bill best.Sealed Batteries
A significant change is occurring in
the selection of batteries for off-grid ap-This 15-year-old battery set reached the end of its life and was replaced by the set pictured opposite.Stick to Stick to Stick to
tried-and-tried-and-tried-and-
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for dependable for dependable for dependable
success.success.success.
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p 61-64 Battery Power.indd 63 10/13/16 3:09 PM