Battery backup failed on a job in Phoenix last July

Said I didn't need to replace the old lead acid cells. House was 110 inside, system went down at 3pm. Customer was pissed. Anyone still trust gel batteries for main panels?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_lily25d ago

Oh man @jesse_green55, right? That Tucson story is basically identical to my Phoenix nightmare except I had a customer crying on the phone while her AC was chugging off a dead gel bank at 3pm. I felt like such a hack, never again.

jesse_green5525d ago

Man, that "system went down at 3pm" part hits hard. I used to be one of those guys who thought gel batteries were fine for main panels, especially in smaller setups or backup stuff. I figured they were cheap enough and lasted okay if you kept them cool. But after a job in Tucson last summer where we lost power for four hours and the gel bank was dead before the sun even went down, I completely changed my mind. That customer lost freezers full of food and was ready to sue, not worth it. Now I only spec lithium or good flooded cells for anything tied to a main load, no exceptions. You just can't trust gel for anything critical in that heat, right?