We often get asked, "If I have a solar system to recharge my batteries, then why do I need to have a battery conditioner to get the maximum life and performance out of my batteries?" So we went to Doug Keller, President of Innovative Energy Systems, the manufacturer of the Desulfator to get the answer.
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Photovoltaic power systems are undoubtedly the most reliable source of energy available. Most times people spend thousands of dollars in their renewable energy system. They buy the best of all equipment that is designed to last 20 plus years. After a few years of use owners are finding the batteries are taking a little longer to recharge and they don’t seem to be holding the energy that they once did when they were new. They are puzzled. "I don’t remember ever severely discharging my batteries and the solar system has worked flawlessly since it was installed, and I bought the best lead acid batteries I could afford. I wonder what is wrong?"
Well 9 times out of 10 what is happening to their expensive power system is that they are experiencing gradual, premature battery failure from SULFATION. In short sulfation is a normal process in the use of a lead acid battery. As the battery is asked for energy, an electro-chemical reaction takes place, energy is given off and there is a soft spongy material left on the battery plates know as sulfation. Sulfation (PbSO4) is a combination of the battery’s lead (Pb) in the plates and sulfuric acid (SO4) from the electrolyte. If the battery is completely recharged to 100% SOC (state of charge) the next day the newly formed sulfation is chemically reversed leaving no appreciable sulfation residue on the plates. When it is not brought back to 100% SOC quickly, the sulfation begins to harden on the plates and in effect locks away some available capacity. When this occurs, as it often does in RE systems and most all lead acid battery powered equipment, simply recharging the battery will not reverse the chemical process. The longer the sulfation remains the harder it gets.
Most PV systems operate at less than 100% SOC for 22-23 hours per day. No matter how large the battery bank, once energy is removed it is no longer at 100% SOC. Calculations show even systems designed with abundant PV output and a 0% loss of load probability operate with an average battery SOC of 90%. No matter how small the percentage of the battery’s capacity becomes sulfated, that energy is locked up in a chemical bond that results in reduced battery storage capacity, a lowered specific gravity and a higher internal resistance that makes recharging more difficult.
The daily demand for energy from your total RE system doesn’t change. The same modules and the same batteries have to do the same job after its installed As a matter of fact in many instances, the daily load goes up as new things are added. But because of sulfation your batteries capacity isn’t 100% so you end up taking the batteries deeper every day. The PV has to produce more energy to
keep up but you didn’t add any PV. So its harder to maintain the 100% SOC and the amount of sulfation left to harden increases at a faster rate. The more capacity that gets locked away the faster the process occurs. By the way, this is going on without you even being aware. That is until after you ask the system for more power and it’s not delivered.
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So how does this little black box stop this from happening you ask? Well, a little history first. Just as Krazy Glue and the Post-It Note were by- products of other inventions, so is the DeSulfator. One of the sharpest and most practical engineers I have come to know had just finished working on a new device. During its implementation we discovered that it had some pretty dramatic results when hooked up to the shops test batteries. Old batteries that were headed for the recycle started delivering the energy they did when they were new and nothing had been done to them except have our little innovative circuit attached. The engineer cracked the books and figured out what was going on. He did what engineers do, he tuned and re-tuned the circuit and then fine-tuned it to get it just right.and the DeSulfator was born.
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Now how does it work? To break a bond, any bond, energy needs to be introduced. In the case of lead acid battery sulfation, sulfation, PbSO4 is a bond of PB and SO4. Once allowed to stay together the bond hardens or crystallizes. Replacing the energy given up to make the original bond is not sufficient any longer to break the hardened bond and recharge the battery without a little extra help. The patented DeSulfator is an electronic circuit that introduces a most unique set of RF pulse’s of energy into the battery. As this energy is absorbed into the battery it’s frequencies precisely stimulate the various bonds of the hardened sulfation covering the plates. It’s easiest to relate it to the softening of the glue that is bonding the lead and sulfur atoms together. The properties of the glue change as the sulfation ages. The glue that bonds the two-month-old sulfation is different than the glue in the four-month-old sulfation. The variety of tuned frequencies emitted from the DeSulfator can be related to a concoction of solvents that soften the all types of sulfation glue. With the glue or bonds soft, the normal recharging process from the PV system or other charging source is sufficient to reverse the sulfating process and free up 100 % of the batteries capacity. The specific gravity of the acid goes back to normal as the sulfur migrates back to the SO4. The recharge time is shortened as the internal resistance caused from the presence of the hardened sulfation on the plates is removed.
Whether you have a brand new batteries, ones that have given you years of service or even ones you think are near the end of their normal life, the addition of a DeSulfator will add years to the life of your battery bank for less than the cost of a single battery. It is a sound investment that will pay for itself in the first months of use.