The Address regarding Renewable Energy

Thoughts on the issue

After watching the Address on Wednesday 27, 2010 Streamed live on my iPhone via a handy official app called The White House I had better sense of where the country was heading. The majority of the issues had a positive overtone and reasonable solutions; all though, the company present at the Address seemed to have mixed emotions.

One particular issue struck a accord with BatteriesInAFlash. The comprehensive Energy and Climate Bill which would essentially reward people and companies for switching to alternative energies. Passed in 2009 by the House, The Energy and Climate Bill would give incentives that will make clean energy the profitable path of energy. It not only goes on to reward for the use of Renewable Energy but will also create jobs in America for the expansion and production of own resource at home.

This is the movement that we are long over due for The United States. Many countries are already ahead of us by creating, using and implementing clean and renewable energy in there everyday lives. To clarify my statement, yes The United States is ranked #1 for Renewable Energy; however, there are countries like Germany and Finland that are including solar, wind and geothermal into there buildings architecture to make a seamless integration of Renewable Energy. I hope, that although the speech was energetic and inspiring, that he holds true to his convictions.

Why you need to water your batteries.

The lead acid battery has been around for well over a hundred years, but it still remains the most commonly used and best suited battery for a variety of applications.  Though it’s an old (the oldest) chemistry it is finding wide usage in the field of renewable energy, batteries of the newer chemistry types such as lithium, Ni-MH etc  would cost a fortune to produce in the size and volume needed for RE applications.  Also lead acid batteries respond well to Deep Cycle uses and can recover well from a much lower charge than some other chemistry types.

During the process of recharging the batteries some of the water inside the batteries is broken down into its component Hydrogen and Oxygen elements and escapes the battery (this is why banks of lead acid batteries need ventilated areas).  Sulfuric acid isn’t lost in this process, just pure water.  This is why you need to water your batteries, the pure water needs to be refilled to maintain the chemical balance and also to keep the acid solution inside the battery at the right level.

Why use a watering system?

Filling a large bank (or multiple banks) of batteries can be a time consuming and somewhat dangerous process.  For larger applications you have to open, recap and fill each battery individually which can be time consuming when done over multiple banks.  Also as you are exposing yourself to raw battery acid, often in somewhat awkward positions there is the potential for overfilling or splashing of battery acid.

The HydroLink system takes care of this by allowing you to fill multiple batteries at once from a single water source.  The HydroLink System consists of the HydroLink unit which clips onto the top of your Trojan battery replacing the 3 filling caps, tubing and an end cap.  Installation of the hydrolink unit is simple, just remove the three plugs from on top of the battery and clip in the unit.  Once the unit is in place you clip on the tubing and attach it to a water source.

The tubing comes in two different models, the Snake model and the Clampless model. The clampless tubing can be cut to length whereas the Snake tubing has attachments at predetermined distances along its length. The way you attach your tubing will depend on the type and configuration of batteries that you are watering.

Water Supply

The HydroLink system can make use of three different types of water supplies:

• Deionizer – removes impurities from tap water before it enters the battery.
• Hand pump- one end connects to the system with the other end in a gallon of distilled water. The pump becomes hard when no more water is needed.
• Regulated hose supply – inexpensive option, attach it to any garden hose style bib connector.

The Trojan HydroLink system also has a non mechanical indicator that will show you when your batteries need to be watered. The indicator is simple to read, white indicates the battery needs watering and black means that all is well. The HydroLink indicator will not give a false reading like some products that use mechanical readers.

Availability

BatteriesInAFlash.com provides the Trojan Hydrolink battery watering system in a variety of configurations from 12v to 48v as well as kits for popular golf car models.

For more information Trojan has put together a short slide show on the HydroLink System which is well worth checking out.  Also you can download the Installation guides for the two system types below:

Trojan HydroLink installation guide – Snake Tubing
Trojan Hydrolink installation guide – Clampless Tubing