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stuart-houghton avatar image
stuart-houghton asked

Are my batteries past their best

I have obtained, at a sale 4 x Victron Gel 12-220 batteries connected to a Quattro 24 volt 5000 va inverter charger. I know for a fact that the batteries have not had a charge since August 2017. I tested the voltage before connecting them up and they were all showing 12 plus volts

I have connected it up and set it up correctly and left it charging from the grid for 24 hrs at max 10 amps AC, connected via a 13amp plug

I'm looking to sell the equipment so obviously want to know that its all working. The Quattro is working fine and I connected the output via a kWh meter to a 13amp socket and pluged in a 1kw fire. The meter registered 1.8 kWhs before the inverter shut down which I think sounds very low ?

Because the batteries haven't been charged for so long are they essentially only good for scrap ?

If the batteries are, as I suspect past it is there anyway that they can be refurbished ?

Thank you for any advice.



battery capacity
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2 Answers
ewalderasmus avatar image
ewalderasmus answered ·

Hi @Stuart Houghton


I am not sure if I understand your setup 100%, but from what I read you have 4x220Ah batteries. That gives you around 10kWh, but you need to check if the batteries are balanced. If you have one battery that is dead you will bring the whole array down. Which is what I suspect with the results you had.

After charging the batteries what were there voltages? (note leave them to sit for a few hours before measuring it, as that way you will get the most reliable SOC)

I would personally try and test each one individually, most battery shops have testers you can use.

Regarding repair, I cant help with that.


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stuart-houghton avatar image
stuart-houghton answered ·

Thank you for your help. I have tested the individual batteries and they are all showing the same voltage. I don't want to spend any more money on testers unless someone can advise me that it might be worth it. Remember the batteries have not been charged in three plus years, has this permanently damaged them ?

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