[RE-wrenches] Battery based hydrogen incidents
Warren Lauzon
warren at wind-sun.com
Wed Dec 15 10:18:49 PST 2010
We have seen a few instances of the batteries themselves blowing, but not from hydrogen that we could tell. In one case a guy decided to fast charge his battery bank with a DC welding generator...
From: Allan Sindelar
Sent: Wednesday, December 15, 2010 11:10 AM
To: re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org
Subject: Re: [RE-wrenches] Battery based hydrogen incidents
Knowledge of two incidents - sort of.
About ten years ago a Hydrocap on an L16 blew apart. Not our installation; I suspect that it became plugged up or overheated, as the array had been recently enlarged. Explosion was contained within the battery enclosure; just made a mess.
About four years ago a small 12V automotive battery used only to start a 6.5 Onan generator blew up, causing modest permanent hearing damage to the homeowner. I wasn't there, and heard about it from her. This wasn't a venting issue, as the battery was on the floor in a ventilated room, but rather apparently a plugged cap in the battery itself.
Otherwise, nothing.
Allan
Allan Sindelar
Allan at positiveenergysolar.com
NABCEP Certified Photovoltaic Installer
EE98J Journeyman Electrician
Positive Energy, Inc.
3201 Calle Marie
Santa Fe, New Mexico 87507
505 424-1112
www.positiveenergysolar.com
On 12/15/2010 10:56 AM, Exeltech wrote:
38+ years in RE. Knowledge of one incident (an off-grid friend).
Very sunny day. Very windy. My friend had both PV and a wind generator (still does). He had just stepped out of the room where the batteries were located when (as he described it) he heard something like a loud gunshot. He went back inside to find one of the L16s exploded, top completely blown off, and case broken much of the way down one side.
Had the incident occurred only minutes earlier, injuries could have resulted. He has since relocated his batteries to a dedicated (and vented) battery space.
Dan
--- On Wed, 12/15/10, Kent Osterberg mailto:kent at coveoregon.com wrote:
From: Kent Osterberg mailto:kent at coveoregon.com
Subject: Re: [RE-wrenches] Battery based hydrogen incidents
To: "RE-wrenches" mailto:re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org
Date: Wednesday, December 15, 2010, 11:21 AM
Sounds like, in general, that the off-grid industry has been fortunate to not have hydrogen explosions. That's good. No explosions here either. But one shouldn't take that as evidence that it couldn't happen. I don't believe this is a circumstance where it is better to be lucky than good. That's why I recommend doing the calculations.
Kent Osterberg
Blue Mountain Solar
Dana wrote:
Ken –
To meet the flow have run 2 and 3 fans to meet the flow. 2” output from the fan into a 4” header with a matching 2.5” inlet as far away on the lowest portion of the battery box.
In 22+ years in off grid installations I have yet to see or even hear of one hydrogen explosion. I get repeatedly asked why we have to go to the efforts we go to for box and venting. I am not able to provide even one incident that I have heard rumor of.
Q - How many battery based hydrogen incidents have happened in our collective experience?
Dana Orzel
Great Solar Works, Inc
E - wlmailhtml:/mc/compose?to=dana at solarwork.com
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web - www.solarwork.com
"Responsible Technologies for Responsible People since 1988"
Do not ever belive anything, but seriously trust through action.
From: wlmailhtml:/mc/compose?to=re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org [wlmailhtml:/mc/compose?to=re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org] On Behalf Of Kent Osterberg
Sent: Tuesday, December 14, 2010 12:07 PM
To: Wrenches
Subject: [RE-wrenches] Battery Venting
Fellow Wrenches,
The discussion about battery venting reminds me of a useful and inexpensive program, BattMV, for determining ventilation requirements per EN-50272. EN-50272 is a European standard used to determine how much air flow is needed for a room, I don't know of a equivalent standard used in the U.S. It takes a surprising amount of ventilation. For a 400-AH 48-volt L16 bank charged at 57.6 volts and 24 amps, it's about 7 CFM just to keep the %H2 down to 4%. A 12-volt Zephyr vent is good for about 5 CFM! If you think you are venting enough, take some time and study this issue.
Kent Osterberg
Blue Mountain Solar
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