Questions tagged [batteries]

storage devices for electrical energy. Use this tag for questions about selecting and using the (most sustainable) various battery technologies for a particular application as well as questions about the number, size, and wiring of batteries into an electrical system. The later is also on topic on electrical engineering SE

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Can I recondition the batteries from a mobile phone or a bike light?

My family uses lots of bicycle lights and I need to buy some more now because they break or get lost or stolen. I'm trying to work out whether it is better to buy the bike lights that use AA or AAA ...
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How to switch to battery-invertor supply immediately when electricity is turned off?

I tried to do it with the relay: when relay supply is dissapeared, it switches to battery power. When relay supply is appeared, it swithes back to the city grid. The problem, that relay is not working ...
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3 answers
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Is it possible to make 12V to 48V boost dc-dc converter of 6kW power?

I have 12V battery that can output 500A (LiFePO4). But all 220V invertors that I found need 48V input to work with high power (6kW). Is it possible to make boost DC-DC converter that will allow to use ...
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How to check the AGM 12V-battery continuus discharging current?

I have an AGM 12V battery which has capacity 100Ah and max peak discharging current 700A. How can I check the maximum continuus discharging current? I want to use four of this batteries serial ...
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How to connect 12v inverter to 24v two batteries system?

I have two 545 solar panels and 50 amps mppt charge controller feeding two 12v batteries and I have a 12v 1000 watt inverter, how do I connect the inverter to the batteries? Should I connect the ...
1 vote
1 answer
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Is it safe to use EV de-charging cables?

My friend told me that an EV is a huge self-driving powerbank and that with proper cable I can charge my mobile phone, make a barbeque or work on my laptop outdoor. After quite intensively searching ...
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2 votes
1 answer
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Can I connect ten 100W invertors (each with separate battery) parallel to power one 1kW consumer?

Can I connect ten 100W invertors (each with separate battery) parallel to power one 1kW consumer? Will it work? Is it safe? Should all invertors be equivalent or can be different?
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Is there enough total Lithium in the Earth's crust to make sufficient grid storage to meet total global Winter energy demand?

I'm fact checking the statement: "There isn't enough Lithium in the planet (Earth) to store enough energy to make it 4 months through the Winter" here: https://youtu.be/fzzWVLSPgK4?t=192 ...
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Could I connect parallel USB outputs of two 5V 1A power banks to get 5V 2A power supply?

Will it work? Will it damage the power banks? What if I connect 10 banks or 100? Is it safe?
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How to detect LiFePO14 12V battery capacity and charge/discharge current?

I have no-name 12V LiFePO4 battery from Aliexpress and I don't know it capacity and charge/discharge current (I don't believe in params that Chinese seller wrote). How can I detect it?
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What will happen if person accidentally touches the + and - terminal simultaneously of a few parallel connnected 30A 18650 batteries?

Will a person get electrocuted? Is it possible to protect against this? Some rules set or protection devices? For i.e. we have a power bank of 16 18650 3400mAh 30A batteries. What if it's case will be ...
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How to protect LiFePO4 battery from too big discharge current (auto turn off on big current)?

I have a 4kW 220V inverter which I want to connect to 12V 50Ah battery with maximum discharge current 30A. I calculated maximum current that inverter will take by 4kW / 12V = 333A which is much bigger ...
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Technical details The Rockefeller Foundation provides to justify a projected 15 cents/kWh for rural solar mini- and micro-grid solutions at scale?

In CNN's April 25, 2022 Hear bold new idea to bring clean energy to billions journalist Fareed Zakaria interviews Dr. Rajiv Shah, the President of The Rockefeller Foundation. Here is a bit of the ...
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Renewable energy gravity storage

How would you calculate the gravimetric & volumetric energy density of a gravity based system like Energy Vault ?
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1 answer
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Does battery state-of-charge affect regenerative braking in electric vehicles?

Most battery-electric vehicles support regenerative braking, where energy is sent back into the battery. Does the battery state-of-charge (percentage charged) affect how much energy is recovered in ...
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1 answer
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What is the most economical and convenient house battery type?

I suppose a 5kWh storage would be more than enough for a minimalist house with solar energy system. Lithium-Ion electric car batteries would do the job, but they are too expensive and I am not sure ...
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2 votes
1 answer
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Charging only one battery at a time, automatically

Sometimes I have multiple batteries I want to charge, but I don't want to charge them all simultaneously. There are three scenarios for this: My power source isn't strong enough to charge all the ...
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1 vote
1 answer
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Difference in Solar wattage between 24V and 48V system

[Cross-posted on Victron's community https://community.victronenergy.com/questions/85929/difference-in-solar-wattage-between-24v-and-48v-sy.html ] Background: I'm on a boat with a 48V system and a 24V ...
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How to ensure you are using efficient chargers for cell phones, laptop computers, and other electronic devices?

I recently asked a question regarding a sustainable way to generate white noise. I received a wonderfully helpful comment from Móż (thank you!) in which Móż recommended ensuring that the power source ...
3 votes
1 answer
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How to create a sustainable white noise generation box?

I would like to create a white noise generation box. I want it to be as sustainable as possible (within reason), as it will likely be used 24/7. My thinking so far is to use an old, unused smartphone,...
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How much of EV car batteries are reused/recycled? [duplicate]

If you buy an EV then the batteries last for a certain amount of years. But what happens after that? Are they recycled 100%? Are the car companies like Tesla collecting those batteries to recycle? If ...
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How exactly do the impacts of lithium mining compare to oil extraction over a vehicle's lifetime?

There's been a lot of discussion about the impacts of lithium mining vs oil extraction (here for example). I'd like to quantify this. How do the impacts of mining lithium for one electric vehicle (EV) ...
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1 answer
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Callibrate a battery monitor for a ~5yr old 360Ah solar panel installation

I am looking to calibrate a new battery monitor for an off-grid battery bank that's ~5 years old, since the previous battery monitor stopped working recently. I'm not sure how to go about it given the ...
6 votes
1 answer
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How to account for second life usage of lithium ion batteries in a life cycle analysis?

I am looking to conduct a life cycle analysis (LCA) to investigate the total greenhouse gas (GHG) emission contributions from lithium ion (Li-ion) batteries. The first part of their lifecycle is ...
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5 votes
1 answer
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Any electric vehicle that can be used as a home energy storage?

I have a house with a solar array on top currently tied to the grid. I would love to be able to use an EV as a battery for my house, and after it charges up in the day be nice to use it for the ...
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Creating a string of six 2V batteries in series to power an inverter

Background: I have a Magnum Energy MSH3012RV 3kw inverter-charger that runs on 12VDC and I'd like to be able to discharge around 250 to 300 AH between recharges (from 120VAC input) without the ...
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Why is the usage factor for utility-scale storage declining in the U.S.?

This chart from the U.S. Energy Information Agency was published last week in the article "EIA expands data on capacity and usage of power plants, electricity storage systems": The text of the ...
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8 votes
2 answers
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Is Lithium mining any better for the environment than fossil fuel extraction?

A friend of mine is adamant that the extraction of lithium for batteries (and the creation of battery cells themselves) is a very environmentally-damaging procedure, potentially even more-so than oil (...
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2 answers
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Is it ok to mix battery brands in a solar battery bank?

I plan on installing 12V 100 Ah LiFePO4 batteries, but since they are so expensive, I might buy from different vendors. The batteries have the same chemistry, voltage, and amperage, but are from ...
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1 answer
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Is charging Tesla Model 3 at 110v/15amp less energy efficient than at 220v/30amp?

I have a rudimentary understanding of volts and amps. (Volts is like pressure and Amps are like the bandwidth of that pressure.) So just reasoning about it, I imagine charging to be an event where the ...
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Solar setup for well pump [closed]

The electricity where I live is pretty expensive at about almost 30 cents a KWh, so I'm considering setting up a solar system. I got 3 100 Watt Polycrystalline solar panels a while ago, pretty cheap. ...
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3 votes
1 answer
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Will I damage batteries by charging them directly with solar outputs?

I recently picked up a few cheap, mini photovoltaics. I'm planning to wire three in parallel for a 2V, 900mA max output. I'm not well versed in battery mechanisms, and I was wondering if I would ...
3 votes
1 answer
438 views

With two 50W panels best to wire in series or parallel?

Charge controller (Renogy Wanderer 10A PWM) can handle the combined voltage when wired in series. From the spec sheet, it has a max PV input voltage of 50VDC. Panels connect to a charge controller ...
1 vote
0 answers
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Adding solar to a small van.. just need steady 12v source not a battery bank.. question about switches and isolators? [closed]

I have a 2018 Ram Promaster city cargo van with OEM 12v 70AH 120RC Sealed Led acid battery and a 160a alternator. Sitting on top of the battery I have a 1200 Watt pure sine 100v inverter connected ...
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3 votes
2 answers
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Rough cost-benefit of stopping car to recycle batteries

I use up batteries (both recyclable and not) at an exceedingly slow rate. Stockpiling batteries for proper disposal is not realistic as I will do so for years, if not decades. All the more so, since I ...
2 votes
1 answer
90 views

How to size an PV array?

Due to limitations on the street fuse we are going to make a new house ( 50 m2 ) a hybrid off-grid solution that is at the rear of an existing house which is on the grid. So, this means we can charge ...
2 votes
0 answers
140 views

Lead nano carbon batteries over Lithium?

The person quoting me on an off grid solution is suggesting lead nano carbon batteries instead of Lithium Ion or ordinary lead acid. Is this technology mature enough yet? And is this now the way to ...
11 votes
6 answers
429 views

To what extent (if any) are electric vehicle batteries recyclable?

Are there any existing procedures for the recycling of electric vehicle car batteries, and if so what are they? In particular I'm interested in those used in the Volkswagen E-Golf, though general ...
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Will customer preference drive adoption of energy storage the same way as EVs and solar power?

A recent blog post lampooned the fact that the International Energy Agency has under-estimated the growth of solar energy in every single one of their predictions from 1994 to 2016. In the electric ...
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3 answers
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How long to charge 12v deep cycle battery?

How long would it take to charge this deep cycle battery (Amazon link) with a regular household electricity plug? Thanks.
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1 answer
1k views

How long will a 12V Koolatron compact cooler last with 12Ah battery?

I'm thinking of purchasing a Koolatron P20 compact cooler and this ExpertPower 12200 battery How long will cooler last with this battery at full charge? Is this the correct battery to use for this? ...
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4 votes
1 answer
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How to store rechargeable batteries

I like using rechargeable NiMH batteries (AA and AAA) rather than buying single-use ones, for obvious reasons. The issue is, I often have to prematurely discard them because they leak. I suspect it ...
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1 answer
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Battery Positive Terminal Growth

I'm living in an off-grid house with battery power storage. Batteries are one of the most expensive and problem prone aspects of off-grid power. I have a battery bank in which some of the batteries ...
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2 votes
1 answer
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What are lead crystal batteries?

I recently read about 'Lead Crystal' batteries on the Internet and am wondering if they are suitable for a solar-powered house. Does anyone know what these are? How old is this technology? Is it ...
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4 votes
2 answers
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Two solar regulators to one battery bank?

I wish to connect four 250w panels to a battery bank. Each panel is rated at 15A, yet my MPPT* regulator warns against exceeding 30A. Could I add a second regulator, running two panels to each, but ...
6 votes
2 answers
102 views

The more miles a car drives, the more economical battery packs become?

I was reading here: Here’s How Electric Cars Will Cause the Next Oil Crisis, that the more miles an EV drives, the more economical battery packs become. I don't understand this assertion. I see ...
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3 answers
2k views

How feasible would a gas-powered electric-engine based car be?

Would an electric motorized vehicle work if there was a small gas-powered generator to power it instead of batteries? EDIT: The original Chevy Volt was going to have a gas generator to charge the ...
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How to make a controlled discharge of batteries connected to the grid? [closed]

I currently have 1600 W wind turbine with grid tie inverters of 12-24 volt 1600 W and I now want to add batteries to my system with a controlled discharge, Adjustable from 10-20 amps without ...
5 votes
3 answers
5k views

Can I use Ni-MH batteries in my garden solar lights?

The solar light batteries in my garden are dead. Upon replacing them, I realized they were the old Ni-Cd rechargeable batteries. I have heard that these batteries are not so good for the environment ...
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1 answer
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Are rechargeable batteries better for the environment than disposables even if the batteries are recycled?

I try to use NiMH rechargeables in place of regular disposables. The obvious benefit of rechargeables is that not as many wind up in a landfill, but what if you recycle all your batteries anyway? Are ...