hello everyone. I am here to let you all know that i have some ni-fe batteries from 1968 manufactured by western electric. there are some i see that have some of the facts strait but others that have heard some things that are simply not true.
first off I acquired the batteries in question from a friend who had let them sit outside in without electrolyte in most and some had old electrolyte. I live in Colorado where in the winter most the time it gets to -20 avg. They had sat for at least 10 years in that state. without charging any of them there were some(the ones with electrolyte) that were still at at least 50% charge. after changing the electrolyte and charging them to full capacity they were installed in my dads house. he has a 400 watt passive solar tracker. now compared to the old "crap-tastic" lead acid batteries he can leave the inverter on all day and night even with cloud cover the battery bank hardly ever drops below 12 volts. some days when the refrigerator runs alot it drops to 11.6. but thats at least still 70% charge. the nickel iron battery can be run down to 90% depth of discharge, and repeated deep discharging does not reduce life significantly.
they have a life span of upwards of 100+ years. there are some remote stations in Canada and the us territories that still use nickel iron batteries from 1912 it is 2014. that is 102 years. and reportedly they are still running at optimal efficiency of 80%. that is way over what a lead acid battery can do without damage. and there is a extremely cheap way to get electrolyte. there is a soap making company that sells the specific lye. potassium hydroxide for $10 per 2lb bottle. the sight is called
www.brambleberry.com they have it in stock.
that 2 lb bottle will replace the electrolyte in 10 batteries with reservoirs of 3/4 gallon. the solution is supposed to be 21% potassium hydroxide with water. and you can use a plus 5% lithium hydroxide to up the efficiency of the batteries from 80% to 85-90%. past that they also do not discharge slowly. if one were to add a 100 kohm resistor to a length of solid nickel cable 4 gage strand. it would melt the cable without a doubt. i have tested this. and it also melted the resistor. but they do charge slow. it takes 10-14 hours on the first charge- the first charge should be done outside-.
another fact the first charge will produce alot of hydrogen but that is at a charge rate of c/5 at 1.8 volts per cell. normal charge on a solar system is c/15 without a controller. due to the specific open and closed circuit voltages of any given pv panel. yes a c/5 rate is more than a c/15 rate. it means they can charge to capacity in 5 hours rather than 15 hours.
another cool thing about the ni-fe batteries they do not... repeat do not need a charge controller they can withstand a overcharge voltage of 2 volts per cell at a rate of c/2 thats 10 times the amount of current you can pump into a lead acid battery. the downfall of that is that they can withstand it for a max of 30 mins. after that they go into thermal runaway. not a good thing. that is the only thing that will damage them. not cold not any specific charge rate, but over heating. past that a block of c-4 or a 50 cal.
some of the information is from my experience and other is from the original battery manual from Thomas Edison. also be careful not to cross the positive with the metal case of a old ni-fe battery. the case eventually becomes the negative. if the insulator is damaged, however this will actually not effect the discharge or charge of the battery, only the safety of it. any more questions should be taken up with ironedison. they are a us producer of nickel iron batteries. if they don't know no one does.
i have also found from albainia.. dont care if i didnt spell that right. but they sell some from china that are military grade ni-fe batteries from $5-$15 per cell. thats $150 dollars for a new 12 volt 400ah battery. the shipping isnt so bad either. it reportedly takes almost a month thou so prepare to wait. if you go through them. however if your willing to spend the extra buck you can buy them from ironedison.com they as said earlier a us manufacture of ni-fe batteries. a opinion from me if you do not use ni-fe or ni-cd batteries you have a sad excuse for a solar system. that is all