Solar batteries. North Star

[A friend indeed]

I have a Northstar battery pack of 8 batteries, they are connected to an Outback system and fkexmaster controller.  They are 4 .5 years old.  I’ve always had enough power even though I place a high demand on them.  Three of the batteries are at about 40% capacity with the rest doing well.  

They had a 5 year warranty.  The person who inspected them said good luck in getting the manufacturer honoring the warranty (I did not purchase the set up from him, but he does sell replacement batteries.

So two questions…..

Should I pursue this with the original installer, manufacturer?

Can I just remove the 3 and try to survive on the five remaining?

Mahalo

[Durian Fiend]

Yes, you should remove the bad batteries because if left in the array their presence will weaken the good ones.
What do you use at night that creates such a high demand? If you could do your high energy work during the day when solar is working for you that would be ideal. The 5 batteries may not last much longer in any case if they are heavily taxed on an even greater basis now with less storage capacity.

Regarding the warranty, I'm afraid you will need to go straight to the manufacturer source for relief. At least that's my experience with inverter and charge controller issues purchased locally from Ultimate Off grid solar. Batteries could be different since they're not something that's easily shipped. Check with your installer.

[punikahakaiferret]

I may be wrong, but for some reason I thought there always needed to be an even number of batteries? At least for a series-type set-up?

Just my (maybe wrong) $.02...

[A friend indeed]

Yes, you should remove the bad batteries because if left in the array their presence will weaken the good ones. 
What do you use at night that creates such a high demand?  If you could do your high energy work during the day when solar is working for you that would be ideal.  The 5 batteries may not last much longer in any case if they are heavily taxed on an even greater basis now with less storage capacity.

Regarding the warranty, I'm afraid you will need to go straight to the manufacturer source for relief.  At least that's my experience with  inverter and charge controller issues purchased locally from Ultimate Off grid solar.  Batteries could be different since they're not something that's easily shipped.  Check with your installer.

  My overnight demand is primarily a large modern energy efficient refrigerator / freezer , a Tv and satilite, plus wireless router.  Yesterday i put the refer on a timer to reduce the load overnight.  I only run other high wattage things during mid morning.   My solar panels send 92 in ,  from 8 400 watt panels and by the late afternoon, the out is around  57, by sunrise its been around 48/49   The batteries are in absorb stage by early afternoon.

[Durian Fiend]

Yes, you should remove the bad batteries because if left in the array their presence will weaken the good ones. 
What do you use at night that creates such a high demand?  If you could do your high energy work during the day when solar is working for you that would be ideal.  The 5 batteries may not last much longer in any case if they are heavily taxed on an even greater basis now with less storage capacity.

Regarding the warranty, I'm afraid you will need to go straight to the manufacturer source for relief.  At least that's my experience with  inverter and charge controller issues purchased locally from Ultimate Off grid solar.  Batteries could be different since they're not something that's easily shipped.  Check with your installer.

  My overnight demand is primarily a large modern energy efficient refrigerator / freezer , a Tv and satilite, plus wireless router.  Yesterday i put the refer on a timer to reduce the load overnight.  I only run other high wattage things during mid morning.   My solar panels send 92 in ,  from 8 400 watt panels and by the late afternoon, the out is around  57, by sunrise its been around 48/49   The batteries are in absorb stage by early afternoon.

Yeah, that's not such a large demand.  How many Amp hours are the batteries?  I have less panels than you, only 5 for about 1800 watts, and have similar loads.  Smallish TV and efficient 12 volt fridge must be the difference.    My two batteries are in absorb stage by mid morning.

[terracore]

If you're 4.5 years into a 5 year warranty you need to act fast.

First step is to read the warranty. Many of them are written in such a manner they are nearly impossible to use them. On the other hand, some US-based companies have penalty clauses with their overseas manufacturers which make warranty replacements cheap for the brand name, and in such cases they'd rather replace bad batteries rather than have a couple of (or an army of) nutjobs like me spending 24/7 disparaging their batteries on every online forum and review site they can find for the rest of their lives. In some cases you may only need to have proof of purchase and warranty registration along with capacity test results.

Good luck, hopefully you can get this resolved and post a follow-up.

[Durian Fiend]

I may be wrong, but for some reason I thought there always needed to be an even number of batteries? At least for a series-type set-up?

Just my (maybe wrong) $.02...

This is a good point.  If they're all 12 volt batteries in parallel then not necessary to have an even number, although I doubt this is the case.  The charge controller would need a huge Amperage rating to work with a 12 volt system, given the size of the battery bank.  He probably has a 48 volt system in series, or at the minimum 24 volt.  In this case, absolutely need an even number.  
So he would need to ditch 4 batteries.

[terracore]

Based on what was learned in the other thread, I find it hard to believe that 3 are bad and 5 are good. At their age the bad ones would have already dragged the other 5 down with them. Unless there is something special about these batteries I'm not aware of, they are all likely due for replacement. There might be five that are "better" than the other 3, and maybe they can serve some other role for a little while longer, but they probably don't have enough useable capacity to run a house much longer.

I'm not a battery technician, or batteryologist or whatever they are called, so don't make any purchase or financial decisions based on my opinions.