Edison Batteries

Mar 31, 2025 09:59:54

While rummaging through a junk shop in Kentucky, I bumped into a retired railroad worker who said he uses Edison batteries for solar on his homestead. Can anyone tell me what these are?

Mar 31, 2025 10:10:39

Probably referring to nickel-iron batteries such as those made by the Iron Edison company (now out of business I think) . Low voltage compared to modern car batteries, but extremely long lasting. Think tens of thousands of cycles. I think there are some still in use from the turn of the century. Google Iron-nickel batteries and you can get all the info you want.

Mar 31, 2025 10:13:07

Looks like there was some good earlier discussion here on Permies. https://permies.com/t/36069/permaculture-projects/Nickel-Iron-Edison-Batteries

Battery tech keeps moving so fast, mostly due to the car industry. I check in on this Aussie guy's videos frequently due to the content [ https://www.youtube.com/@electricviking ], but also because the American car/battery market is only a small part of his content focus. So there are developments that we may not see in the US immediately due to various politico-economic factors, but still interesting to see what is happening more globally. So hard to say if it's better to go back to higher maintenance Edisons which nevertheless have an enduring positive track record or go with the more modern battery tech.

Mar 31, 2025 11:57:15

John F Dean wrote:While rummaging through a junk shop in Kentucky, I bumped into a retired railroad worker who said he uses Edison batteries for solar on his homestead. Can anyone tell me what these are?

Nickel iron batteries are long lasting batteries and were really popular about 10 to 20 years. They are known for being long lived but also expensive and burning through large amounts of water. Their popularity has dropped due to high price and how cheap lithium has become. Honestly lifespan was their big draw when they were competing against lead but lithium has a similar lifespan and cheaper.

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