Alternative energy suppliers

What characteristics of Nickel-Iron batteries makes them preferable to the common lead acid battery. I haven't heard mention of Nickel-Iron batteries since I left school in the sixties and have forgotten whatever I learned about them.

Nickel-Iron are also known as Edison Batteries. They are perfect for storing energy

for solar/wind applications. Life span is as high as 40 yrs. They use an K hydroxide

as an electrolyte. There are much fewer safety hazards than lead acid, they have an

AH capacity equal to lead acid. I believe they might have a higher self-discharge

rate than lead acid, but not significant. But for some wierd reason they are only

made in China at ridulous (sp?)prices, when they should be relatively inexpense to

make. The best price I have found (and this is wholesale) is at $0.57 per AH at 1.2

volts. That means $0.57(200AH)12=$1368.00 for a 14.4 Volt 200AH battery without

shipping charges. There are probably better deals. This is really weird to me, anybody

out there have a battery business or battery manufacturing business/ Here's a good

market. They are not well known yet, but they will be!

Edisons invented it.... Has anyone notice that there is lots of old technology out

there that's being over looked?.

You should go back and double check exactly WHY these batteries are not used in most applications today. There is more to selecting a proper battery than total longevity. The battery needs to perform adequately in its intended use.

Alternative energy based power systems require batteries that can periodically surge to fairly high current levels- on the order of 1000 amps in some cases where you have a low voltage system powering a large inductive load like a well pump. It is not uncommon for a well pump to require 3-4 times its placarded power rating to start up. If you have a 2.5HP pump it could require as much as 600 amps *on top of whatever other loads are running* just to start. Nickel iron batteries can not supply this kind of current unless the battery bank is enormous -pushing 2500AH at a typical 48V. How heavy is the battery bank now? 7,000lbs? Do you have a reinforced concrete slab to put this thing on? Is it well insulated? Ni-Fe batts will not function adequately at low temperatures. Anything below 50 degrees F and you can forget about any significant output. If it is in someone's basement then have you analyzed the temperature-output curves and suggested doubling the size of the battery bank to make up for lower output? Furthermore, many Ni-Fe batteries do not have favorable charge/discharge efficiency (~65%) and most have high rates of self discharge (20-40%/month) which equates to MUCH more expensive generating hardware to make up for the inherent losses- especially when the battery bank is so huge to begin with. PV and even wind is not that cheap- at the very least they are much more expensive than the batteries.

Although Ni-Fe batts can last 20-30 years, putting an auto watering system on a properly sized, properly spec'ed true deep cycle lead acid battery bank will keep it functioning for well over 20 years. At a significantly lower initial cost. Without the current output and temperature limitations.

In short, Ni-Fe batteries are only good for small loads that can not be regularly serviced and where weight and bulk are not a problem and where it doesn't get that cold (ie- remote train signals, small data transmitters, etc). Regardless of what certain salespeople may think, these are NOT the batteries you want to use in an alternative energy based power system of any significant size (unless you are really cheap, know what you are doing and someone gives you a whole bunch of them for free).

As for your wind turbines, what do you mean by putting out the power advertised? Nearly all wind turbines on the market today "put out the power advertised" it is just that they do it at around 30MPH wind speed. If you want 500-1000W at say 10 MPH, then you are going to need to have a really impressive overspeed mechanism to keep the thing from blowing apart- literally- in high winds. Overlooking this important point is extremely dangerous as it is possible to throw a turbine blade well over 1/2 mile if it comes apart in high wind. Since the output of a wind turbine scales with the windspeed cubed you are going to have a very large turbine swept area which means large components and serious engineering. This is not something that is going to lend itself to "slapping a few components on a pancake motor and cobbling together a tower." There is no way around the swept area issue: more power = larger swept area. 1000W at low wind speeds means big components, big stresses, big noise and big engineering. And big lawsuits if someone gets killed when it flies apart.

I am sorry to disagree with you,. Nickel-Iron in large amp hours sizes manufactured in China have been used very successfully and are very desirable.

Surge capacity: Inverters are generally the weak link here. Surge capacity is not the main objective, it is to store large quantities of energy, cheaply, These (NiFe's) should be more cost effective but they are not right now, this is my point. Also, hybrids storage is useful here. Starting capacitors are typically in place for deep wells. I have a 750ft deep well and I a familiar with them The fact is that most installations are not so big that they are starting their well pump with it anyway. I am running 33% of my home on a system I built, including two wind turbines. I believe in trial by fire and real life testing than specs.

I am quite familiar with slapping wind generators together. I have been recieved recognitions for doing so, one was from the Office of a former VP of the USA.

I don't know how many windgenerators you own. To be specific, I am speaking of small units, from 0.5kw to 3kw. I have several, and will not mention the brand. But, NOT ONE comes close to spec, and I live in a class 5 wind zone. I have built several myself. Please email me one or two that you've tested, I'd love to know.

Solarwind; I emailed you off-line asking for details on your wind generators? Its a commercial query I'm interested please respond offline.

Elnav

Sir

Thank you for your information.

Please contact me on threezed@absamail.co.za regarding your products for the S.African market.

regards

Please tell us more about the wind generators and also about the Ni-FE batteries infomration. I heard that one of the 1910 edison electrics is owned by Jay Leno and the original Ni-FE batteries still work? amazing.

Also NI-MH is most desirable now (li-ion is coming around ) but NiMh are owned by TExaco and Chevron who have raised the prices so high that no one can afford them (from 50$ to 1000$ each for 85amphour 12 volt auto size) . if you can find them let me know.. i'll go in with you to buy some. Toyota and Honda both use NIMH in their hybrids because are the least trouble and last long long time (20year?) Toyota rav4 ev has them from 1998 reportedly still running strong on originals.

My patent can get DOUBLE miles from any type of battery but works best with certain types. Trying to get electric car now to prove it beyond the golf cart its already installed in. www.triplebatterylife.com