[RE-wrenches] Absolyte recovery

Fri Feb 17 11:07:16 PST 2012

Hi again wrenches,

I wanted to clarify a couple of things regarding this discussion in the
interest of not tarnishing any reputations undeservedly.  Apollo had
nothing to do with the design of this system, other than showing me how to
hook their equipment up with a positive ground.  For that matter, we didn't
either, we were replacing what was there and working, previous to a
catastrophic lightning strike.  The client had no interest in replacing the
batteries at that time, and after some unsophisticated testing, we had no
reason to believe that they had been damaged in the lightning strike.  The
Apollo equipment has worked flawlessly since the installation.  The trouble
has been with starting faults at the generator itself, once because it was
vandalized, and a ground fault in the telecom equipment itself, which took
our solar equipment off-line.  No complaints whatsoever with the Apollo
gear or their tech support.

I am still waiting to hear back from GNB and will post when I learn
anything about the Absolytes.

Thanks

On Fri, Feb 17, 2012 at 9:27 AM, Joel Davidson
<joel.davidson at sbcglobal.net>wrote:

> **
> 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 <maclewis1 at gmail.com>
> *To:* RE-wrenches <re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org>
> *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   | *È*Cell: (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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-- 

Mac Lewis

*

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