Electronics > Power/Renewable Energy/EV's

Best value battery tech for home energy storage.

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Red Squirrel:
I'd say flooded lead acid is probably the best bang for the buck.  If buying new, I hear golf cart batteries are pretty good.  AGM and Gel are generally more expensive per amp hour, and cannot as easily be maintained.  Good old school flooded you can open the caps and check electrolyte levels and add more distilled water as needed.  VRLA, Gel, AGM etc DO vent sometimes, except when they do, you can't easily refill them.  They tend to have a shorter life span because of this.

If you setup a good flooded acid battery bank and take good care of it, it should last 10+ years.  The telco ones tend to last 20+ years.  They do lose charge capacity over time but if you oversize from the get go and avoid discharging them too much they will last longer.

They are also simpler to charge, because you can float charge them while the load is also connected.  Lithium ion is probably going to get to a point where it will be cheaper than lead acid and their higher density means more capacity per square foot of space, but they are much more complex to charge because they need to be balance charged and at very specific voltage/current. This gets complex if you are also drawing energy from them while they are also being charged, such as a renewable energy setup.

eas:

--- Quote from: dorin on September 05, 2017, 06:20:59 am ---Lithium is already a scarce resource considering the demand for cars and other mobile devices.

--- End quote ---

Maybe. It's less an issue of absolute scarcity, and more of ramping up capacity.

The supply of Cobalt, on the other hand can be a real concern.

NiHaoMike:

--- Quote from: Red Squirrel on September 12, 2017, 05:48:57 pm ---Lithium ion is probably going to get to a point where it will be cheaper than lead acid and their higher density means more capacity per square foot of space, but they are much more complex to charge because they need to be balance charged and at very specific voltage/current. This gets complex if you are also drawing energy from them while they are also being charged, such as a renewable energy setup.

--- End quote ---
The point where lithium batteries are as cheap as lead acid is surprisingly close. Decent quality LiFePO4 batteries are now available for just a bit more per Wh than conventional deep cycle lead acid and actually cheaper than AGM.

Lead acid should also ideally be balanced but that's not possible in most cases.

--- Quote from: eas on September 12, 2017, 06:43:17 pm ---
--- Quote from: dorin on September 05, 2017, 06:20:59 am ---Lithium is already a scarce resource considering the demand for cars and other mobile devices.

--- End quote ---

Maybe. It's less an issue of absolute scarcity, and more of ramping up capacity.

The supply of Cobalt, on the other hand can be a real concern.

--- End quote ---
Lithium cobalt batteries were to blame for the 787 fiasco. LiFePO4 or lithium manganese would be safer alternatives for large batteries. Tesla is using a proprietary chemistry that uses cobalt but is far less flammable.

David Hess:

--- Quote from: NiHaoMike on September 15, 2017, 01:58:49 pm ---Lead acid should also ideally be balanced but that's not possible in most cases.
--- End quote ---

Flooded lead-acid cells are balanced using a controlled overcharge which should be periodically done anyway to prevent stratification in stationary applications.

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