Battery choice...

[alan_fincher]

Snibble

 

Nife was/is a brand name, but they mainly made Ni/cad's, but they also did some Lead Acid.

I don't believe that's correct. It come from Ni (Nickel) and Fe (Iron). I don't think it's any more a brand name than "Lead Acid".

 

From what I can remember of my school electrical education, the disadvantages are that as well as having a low voltage per cell, they can only take a charge much slower than lead acid, and equally can only give it up relatively slowly.

 

That said they are virtually indestructible, and the school had some dating from WW2 that still gave good service.

 

Alan

 

Edit:

 

I see Allan got there first! - (At least we agree!).

Edited May 8, 2008 by alan_fincher

[Gibbo]

Nife cells are, as others pointed out, a type of battery not a make.

 

The biggest problem with them is the difference between the discharge voltage and the charge voltage. A 12 volt (nominal) lead acid battery can be charged at (say) 14.4 volts so you can still use all the equipment while they are being charged. A 12 volt (nominal) Nife bank needs to be charged at about 16 volts or more so all your equipment has to be disconnected.

 

They are great for equipment that isn't used during charging but useless if you need to charge them at the same time as using loads.

 

Also, getting hold of chargers is a bit of a problem.

 

Gibbo

[Sir Nibble]

This is interesting. When I was a bus electrician about 1/3 of the busses had Nife batteries and charging systems etc were the same as for lead acid.

[Gibbo]

This is interesting. When I was a bus electrician about 1/3 of the busses had Nife batteries and charging systems etc were the same as for lead acid.

 

They won't have been charged properly then. However (apart form the reduced capacity) it isn't such a problem as it is with lead acids because sulphation simply doesn't exist.

 

We used to pull a trick with the old Heart Interface EMS series of combis when used with that type of battery. They had a manually triggered equalisation cycle on the charger started by presseng down a "push to make" toggle switch. We took a signal from the charge/transfer system and used it to close a relay across that switch thus forcing the charger into equalise mode (16.3 volts) every time the charger started and also to disconnect all the loads. That got the batteries fully charged.

 

Gibbo

[Gibbo]

Just found this.........

 

http://www.beutilityfree.com/batterynife/F...FE.html#install

 

"They have a nominal voltage of 1.2 volts per cell. A battery is made up of a group of cells to get the desired end voltage. For example a 12 Volt system usually requires 10 cells. A 24 volt system requires 20 cells and so on. With higher voltages one can usually drop one cell to obtain a better charge of the battery. In contrast a lead acid battery has a nominal cell voltage of 2 Volts thus for the same battery violate (sic)less cells are needed in a lead acid battery."

 

"You can use the built in battery charger from your inverter or use a separate battery charger. The cells like to be charged at about 1.6 volts per cell."

 

ergo 16 volts for a 12 volt bank.

 

I have no idea why the word "violate" is in there!

 

Gibbo

[Keeping Up]

I have no idea why the word "violate" is in there!

"Spell-checker-itis from the word "Voltage" perhaps?

[Gibbo]

"Spell-checker-itis from the word "Voltage" perhaps?

 

Obvious when you think about it!

 

Well spotted.

 

Gibbo

[sueanddaren]

Nife cells are, as others pointed out, a type of battery not a make.

Gibbo

Try googling Nife batteries and you will find at least 3 manufacturers with Nife in the title eg Saft-nife. Yes Nickle iron is a type of battery also called an Eddison cell but I haven't see one for at least 20 years, when Alcad bought out Nife then Chloride bought out Alcad. Can you still get them? If I remember they used a lot of Mercuric oxide in them and that has been baned a few years back. I bet they are only avalable in China.

 

Daren