[RE-wrenches] Absolyte recovery

[Joel Davidson]

Chris,

Look for hair-like cracks around the cell terminals. The cracks are failure indicators caused by temperature swings. In Malibu California, a 75 kWh, 48-volt Absolyte battery bank failed after 4 years. Malibu has a very mild climate but temperature in the uninsulated equipment room ranged from 40 F in winter to 90 F in summer. The PV system is grid connected with battery backup. Absolytes were used to replace an IBE battery bank because no one was watering the IBE cells. Two years ago, the Absolytes were replaced with a new IBE battery bank that is inspected and watered every 6 months.

Joel Davidson

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: mac Lewis 
  To: RE-wrenches 
  Sent: Friday, February 17, 2012 7:08 AM
  Subject: Re: [RE-wrenches] Absolyte recovery


  Hi Chris,


  I suspect that the charger in the Apollo Inverter/Charger is undersized, especially since all of the loads are -48V.  Conversely, the array is very oversized and the controllers float most of the time.  The charge controllers were working fine last I checked.  It's difficult to access the site right now, it includes a 30 mile snow mobile ride.  We intended to put a comprehensive remote monitoring system but it didn't get put in before the snow came.  I want to get up there and help the system limp along until snow melt when we can do a thorough assessment.
  The generator guy went up there and someone had pulled the stop switch on the genset.  The battery voltage was around 5V on a 48V bank.  Yikes!


    Thanks for the contact info.


  On Thu, Feb 16, 2012 at 2:13 PM, Chris <chris at solarwindworks.com> wrote:

    Hi Mac,

    We had a cell failure on an Absolyte system we inherited and contacted;

    Jeff Lambert 
    Product Support and Warranty 
    East Penn Mfg. Co., Inc. - Unigy Battery Division 

    ( Office: (610) 682 – 6361 ext. 2848   | ÈCell: (484) 955 – 2899  |  ÇPage:  888-797-8039  (If no answer on Cell)  |  * Email: jlambert at eastpennunigy.com

    Jeff was very helpful.

    I do wonder if your charge controllers are getting the array power out to the battery bank, was there any damage to them too? Is the Apollo 4048 inverter/charger doing its job, is it undersized for the size of battery bank?



    Sincerely,

    Chris Worcester

    Solar Wind Works
    NABCEP Certified PV Installer
    Phone: 530-582-4503
    Fax: 530-582-4603
    www.solarwindworks.com
    chris at solarwindworks.com
    "Proven Energy Solutions"



    From: re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org [mailto:re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org] On Behalf Of mac Lewis
    Sent: Thursday, February 16, 2012 12:43 PM
    To: RE-wrenches
    Subject: Re: [RE-wrenches] Absolyte recovery



     Wrenches,



    We have inherited a Telecomm system in which the batteries have had a very hard life.  A lighting strike knocked the system off line for about 5 months, and ground fault dragged the batteries way down about a month ago.  Now, we are seeing about 10h of generator run time/day indicating to me that the batteries are not holding voltage at all.



      I am uncertain of the exact specs at this moment, but it is a 24 Absolyte IIP batteries (5 years old), with a 5 kW array, two Apollo T80HV charge controllers and an Apollo 4048 inverter charger.



    I don't have experience with these batteries.  Is there any way to try to recover these batteries?  Any good contacts with GNB would be useful.



    Thanks






      Wrenches,



      We have inherited a Telecomm system in which the batteries have had a very hard life.  




      -- 







      Mac Lewis

      "Yo solo sé que no sé nada." -Sócrates









    -- 







    Mac Lewis

    "Yo solo sé que no sé nada." -Sócrates




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  -- 







  Mac Lewis


  "Yo solo sé que no sé nada." -Sócrates





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