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BajaBlanca
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Registered: 10-28-2008
Location: La Bocana, BCS
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Question for Punta Chivatans
Where do you get your distilled water for solar systems?
thanks in advance
Blanca
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Pescador
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Batteries require distilled water and everyone hauls it down from the states. Some use treated water which tests out OK, but most haul water down
when they come down.
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Pompano
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Blanca, if you want to make your own, there are many easy ways to make distilled water at home.
Get the info from an Internet search...
http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Distilled-Water
...or the old-fashioned way like I did:
Run into Saul's Market and buy it by the gallon. Call first to see if he still stocks it, though.
P.S. I admit that years ago, I would bring a few gallons down from San Diego, but that was in a fifth wheel with lots of cargo room.
I do what the voices in my tackle box tell me.
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Russ
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Yep, Saul's has it ... on once in awhile.
Bahia Concepcion where life starts...given a chance!
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Bob H
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That's good Russ... it's like being almost always right! 
The SAME boiling water that softens the potato hardens the egg. It's about what you are made of NOT the circumstance.
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Russ
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Bahia Concepcion where life starts...given a chance!
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vandenberg
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I have used collected rainwater for years.
Works like a champ.
Also collected A/C condensation water for plants and batteries.
[Edited on 4-4-2015 by vandenberg]
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Pompano
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If Saul is out, he can get it for you on his next truck run up north.
I do what the voices in my tackle box tell me.
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ncampion
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Just my two cents on distilled water. According to the tech people at HUP Solar batteries, they recommend distilled water however they say that any
purified water with TDS (Total Dissolved Solids) below 20 ppm is fine. I have a TDS meter and periodically test the RO bottled water that I get from
the water place in Loreto and it consistently runs between 4 and 9 ppm. I have been using that in my HUP battery for three years with no ill effects.
HUP also said that they will honor their 10 yr warranty using this type of water. It would be hard to haul down enough distilled water to keep up
with the usage of this battery. In the summer it takes 18 - 20 liters every 6 weeks or so.
Living Large in Loreto. Off-grid and happy.
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larryC
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Distilled water is fairly easy to make, similar to making moonshine. Just put some sea water or any water into a cooking pot with a lid, pressure
cookers work really well for this, then out of the top run some copper tube through some cooling water and the outlet of the copper tube into a
container. Light a fire under the pressure cooker and bring your raw water to a boil. The steam will travel through the copper tube and cool as it
goes through the water and come out the end of the tube as distilled water. Or go to Sal's which ever is easier.
Larry
Off grid, 12-190 watt evergreen solar panels on solar trackers, 2-3648 stacked Outback inverters, 610ah LiFePo4 48v battery bank, FM 60 and MX60
Outback charge controllers, X-240 Outback transformer for 240v from inverters, 6500 watt Kubota diesel generator.
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carlosg
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Quote: Originally posted by larryC  | Distilled water is fairly easy to make, similar to making moonshine. Just put some sea water or any water into a cooking pot with a lid, pressure
cookers work really well for this, then out of the top run some copper tube through some cooling water and the outlet of the copper tube into a
container. Light a fire under the pressure cooker and bring your raw water to a boil. The steam will travel through the copper tube and cool as it
goes through the water and come out the end of the tube as distilled water. Or go to Sal's which ever is easier.
Larry |
...something like this...?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYWHkNb9p88
...my next project for camping out in Baja... this video explains how to and what you need to make this portable still...
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BajaBlanca
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thanks all - we recently ran out and thank goodness bajaandy was able to bring some down for us. I had no idea it was so hard to find down here....
where is Saul's?
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Pompano
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Easy to find. Just drive under the Mulege highway arch and keep going straight until you see it on the left. It's quite a few blocks...
Here's a photo of his sign that mi old amigo, Matt, made for him.
[Edited on 4-4-2015 by Pompano]
I do what the voices in my tackle box tell me.
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Fastbird
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Battery Water
ncampion is Correct, the issue is TDS ( total dissolved solids) , I had the RO water I buy in Mulege tested at a lab and the TDS were very low and
WAY below what US Battery specs. Check the US Battery web site, it say use distilled or treated water with less than 200 TDS. I have been using water
from the RO store in mulege for years successfully in my RE L16s. If you have a source for distilled water you might have it checked for TDS!
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BajaBlanca
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I will pass all this info onto Les. thanks all.
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Bob and Susan
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use ONLY distilled water in batteries...
they are too expensive to treat badly
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ncampion
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I guess you must know something that the battery manufacturers don't. How many sets of batteries have you been through?
Living Large in Loreto. Off-grid and happy.
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vandenberg
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| Quote: Originally posted by ncampion |
I guess you must know something that the battery manufacturers don't. How many sets of batteries have you been through? |
Bob has a habit of displaying some K.I.A. tendencies.  
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Bob and Susan
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do you think a battery manufacturer cares if you ruin your batteries...
he'll just sell you MORE!!!$$$
Baja water is really high in calcium...at least here
filtered water WILL work in batteries but it WILL cut the life of the battery
and who's doing your test for total dissolved solids for you...a pool store or a water store in mexico? : )
if you want to be "Gullible"...that's fine...
I want to see it in writing that a battery manufacturer says to use drinking water...
can you show me that..then i'll stand down
maybe next set of batteries for me will be AGM's...
things change...I can change
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Gulliver
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I've been installing energy systems since 1986. Mostly on boats but also in RV's and mountaintop radio relay systems. From 67 to 74 I took care of the
battery systems for Pacific N.W. Bell. These are 48 volt strings of 2 volt cells the size of washing machines that regularly last 40 years.
The moment we could get reverse osmosis water, we changed over from distilled. Mostly for convenience but with no qualms about purity. The number one
killer of lead acid cells is iron. Any conductivity is bad news. Biologically, nothing is going to thrive in sulfuric acid anyway.
R.O. does a great job of removing any conductive ions. So much so that you cannot have things like brass drain plugs in an R.O. system. The water is
so 'hungry' for ions that it will dissolve them.
I have been using the water from the Agua Purificada places in Baja since 1991 and my ordinary golf cart cells have been lasting longer than they
should given that they are in my sailboat or under the desk in my ham shack and when they do die, it is always from some bone headed stunt on my part
like over doing it on an equalizing charge or, worse, yet, letting the electrolyte level drop. Retarded.
If you monitor your cell temps and keep the plates submerged and try not to run them all the way down often, your batteries should hang in there for
years and years.
If you are seeing a lot of water consumption, you might keep an eye on your voltage limits. Shouldn't be bubbling under routine cycling.
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