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Nickel Iron Batteries

Sorry, like i said - you’re the only one i’ve seen to put the failures up in a forum i visit.
 
Little competition in the manufacturing of such cells. Huge problem. How good would lithium batteries be if we only had a couple small manufacturers? I still consider it a tragedy of sorts.

Make your own? How do you nickel plate the iron?

I looked at it and could not rationalize the investment. Right now there are great buys in lithium batteries.
 
I personally know the owners. Around 10 years ago when i was researching my off grid system i got in touch with a lot of others on the same situation.

A few of them chose NiFe (i almost went there too). None of them are still using Nife, and since then i have also been in contact with others who have had failed batteries.

I try to keep in contact with people that i have helped set-up their offgrid systems. The only way to see what really works is to monitor the systems over many years.

Forums are great, but the vast majority of people don’t post in forums.
 
Hi,

I personally know the owners. Around 10 years ago when i was researching my off grid system i got in touch with a lot of others on the same situation.

A few of them chose NiFe (i almost went there too). None of them are still using Nife, and since then i have also been in contact with others who have had failed batteries.

I try to keep in contact with people that i have helped set-up their offgrid systems. The only way to see what really works is to monitor the systems over many years.

Forums are great, but the vast majority of people don’t post in forums.

It's a shame they couldn't share their experiences.

dRdoS7
 
I agree. I have tried to get some to share but they don’t see the point.

What i’d like to see is documentation from people that have been using NiFe in a 10kwh/day+ system for the last decade to see how they are doing it.
 
I am new to this site, enjoying the thread.
I have just assembled an off grid system using 500ah 48v NiFe batteries. From reading the posts so far, the one theme I have heard is that NiFe batteries are expensive. I bought mine directly from CIYI battery company in China I found them to be easy to deal with and decent customer service.
Even with the import agent fees and the additional $2,000 tariff on goods from China (imposed two years ago) I was able to purchase these batteries for approximately %60 of what the retail price charged by the only US distributor for this chemistry battery I could find (their batteries are also manufactured in China.
I could be mistaken, but since Excide stopped making NiFe batteries in New Jersey a coup[le of decades ago, there are no US manufacturers.
I am a newbie to this system, I will attempt to share as time goes by.
 
When I've researched manufacturers of NiFe batteries I did find two in China and one in the US.
The CIYI Battery Company is also the one I've got mine from. They appear to have all the certification and in-house testing done and provide good customer care. Also I understand they supply the Chinese Navy with all their batteries.

In regards to experience: As mentioned in an earlier post the issue is with the voltage drop. I do not intentionally use just 20% of capacity but system will shut down if voltage drops below 20Volt. (24V system). However, if the batteries had a good charge recently (equalization charge) I can draw the batteries down to a lower level before the voltage drops below 20V. I think the lowest I managed was about 45% of capacity.
The catch is the batteries respond well to a good discharge here and there which seems to refresh them in conjunction of a good charge straight after. But in the real world this is difficult as system keeps shutting down before such low level can be achieved.

It's been now over 4 years and so far so good.
One annoying thing was the fact that I wanted to install a battery watering system but found no manufacturer of such system making a suitable valve system to suit. ....Ended up making my own in combination of commercial watering valves.

But to this day I'm getting surprised by those batteries as just last week system shut down at just 85% capacity due to low voltage. Yet about a month ago we had a few rainy days and system kept going and going for 3 days and down to about 55% before system shut down. Didn't expect to last that long given the small size / capacity ( 600Ah).
 
ADS in the Ukraine also make them.
And if you are handy with tools.
 
Nickel Iron may still have a future. These researchers are trying to turn the hydrogen off gassing problem into a benefit.
 
Hi,

Nickel Iron may still have a future. These researchers are trying to turn the hydrogen off gassing problem into a benefit.

One thing I didn't see mentioned was making distilled water. Lots of it. Also, refilling/topping up between cycles.

I saw >80% efficency, but only when charging to a lowish voltage, not when charging to a voltage which creates lots of hydrogen. Efficiency dropped to about 50%.

I guess the point is that it can do 2 jobs at once. The spent electrolyte (diluted) can be used as fertiliser.

dRdoS7
 
I am going to give a 24 volt 250 amp hour set a try. I bought them used for .30 cents on the dollar with enough material for 2 electrolyte swaps. I have always been interested in them and for this price I thought why not. They have almost 9 years of service on them and will probably need an electrolyte replacement in a year or so.
 
My wife and I are building our retirement home in Maine and opted for "off grid" considering the federal tax rebate, the cost of connecting to commercial power and the bills going ahead.
When I looked at the different battery chemistries, I decided that either flow batteries or NiFe would be the direction that made the most sense to me.
The designer/salesman I dealt with did a wonderful job designing a system which he felt would serve our needs. He suggested a 7.6Kw solar array and a 400ah lithium ion 48V battery. I was told to expect a 7-to-9-year service life for the battery at a cost of $17,000. Best case, a couple of thousand dollars a year for power storage. I found that unacceptable.
I modified the system to a 10.4 Kw array with a 500ah 48V NiFe battery system. I liked the concept of the flow batteries, but at the time (three years ago) I could not find a vendor who would sell the product I was looking for into the US.
When I went looking for NiFe batteries, I found CIYI battery in China. From my "research" there are no longer any manufacturers of NiFe batteries in North America. There are a couple of companies selling NiFe batteries in the US, but they are buying them from China with a substantial mark-up.
These batteries are large and heavy (3,800# filled) and require watering with demineralized water (shopping for a batery watering system now), but even with the tariff imposed by the former resident of the White House (cost me an extra $2,000) I was able to acquire my batteries for around $13,000 including shipping, tariff and import agent fees. For the same batteries a distributor in Colorado wanted $22,000.
So far, I am really pleased with my decision. The batteries arrived already filled with electrolyte.
The fact that these batteries will outlast me is a major plus to me.
 
Best of luck with those.
Because guess what make my batteries are that started having problems just after 3 years and even much more trouble at the 5 year mark.
To make matter worse that manufacturer only provides ridiculous excuses when a problem arises rather than providing support or solution and then offers you to sell you replacement cells. - At regular price of course.
Further to that even if you have the technical skills to potentially repair a faulty cell, they are not willing to sell you any parts for it.

Been involved in solar / off grid technology for for over 30 years and and also installed solar systems for a few years. So knowing what is out there I'm really disappointed with those NiFe batteries.
But having said that I also wouldn't go with LiPo or lithium iron batteries either. To many safety issues and high fire risk.

My next lot of batteries won't be batteries at all, but rather a hydrogen fuel cell system and a hydrogen generator coupled to my solar panels.
--> No wear, no drop in performance, no nasty chemicals or acids. Only basic requirement is access to fresh and clean water.
 
There is a thread at Green Power Talk Forum that is about 9 years old. A member has been using and testing NIFE batteries and offers the most unbiased review of this battery chemistry that I have found. If interested in this battery might be worth reading as this is from an actual user of this battery. Not for everyone, but might be for some.
 
Karl S,
Excellent write up with your experience. How did you source parts for your damaged container (jar)? I also have a damaged jar, -22F took its toll.
For your voltage swings, some users have had luck with capacitor bank in parallel with the battery to offset voltage drop with sudden surge currents on the battery bank. Again, great write up.
 
There is a thread at Green Power Talk Forum that is about 9 years old. A member has been using and testing NIFE batteries and offers the most unbiased review of this battery chemistry that I have found. If interested in this battery might be worth reading as this is from an actual user of this battery. Not for everyone, but might be for some.
Do you have a link to the thread by chance?

I've gone over the pros & cons & think this may be a good choice for me.
 
@saggys
Thanks for your kind words.
In regards to parts: As mentioned factory wouldn't supply any parts so-
- Casing was plastic welded (Have years of experience with 3D printing and as such understand somewhat how plastic responds to heat and how to work with it.)
- The insulation panels are made of a certain type of plastic which can be sourced from commercial plastic suppliers (large sheet). As it happens I've got a LASER engraver / cutter which I then used to cut exact copies out of that sheet and replaced the damaged ones in the battery cells.
 
Do your cells only have potassium hydroxide or do they also contain lithium hydroxide? Sounds like you can fix almost all problems. Do you have a solution for the pockets that appear to be leaking? You are levels beyond me on this subject, thanks for sharing.
P.S. I just put my 48volt 200 amp hour NIFE system on line today.
I have a 12volt 770 amp hour lead acid system that I have been using as a back up just in case.
 
@saggys

What do you mean by leaking pockets ? Are you referring to the burst open sections on the plates ? - There is no simple fix for those. I suspect plates been pressed with excessively high pressure weakening the material. --> I just pressed them shut in order to prevent further leakage and also to avoid potential shorting across to other plates.

The lithium hydroxide is somewhat of a problem to source in my country. Only available in commercial quantities. (>1 tonne). But I can't see much benefit in using it anyway.
a) It behaves like butter / margarine --> Fatty like spots that sit on the surface of the electrolyte which only fully dissolve during hot days and/or long equalization charges. Once cool the spots return.
b) Thomas Edison wouldn't have had access to this chemical as I understand was only developed decades later. So if his original batteries been working fine without it,....,......
 
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