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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body bgcolor=white lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Century Gothic","sans-serif";color:windowtext'>Wow! and Thanks, for the honest stories everyone. I never imagined the span of history here.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Century Gothic","sans-serif";color:windowtext'>I am learning on how it could go very badly. I have much to share with my clients next time the topic arises.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Century Gothic","sans-serif";color:windowtext'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Century Gothic","sans-serif";color:windowtext'>I have had so many melted battery recombination caps melt down that I quit using them after the manufacturer told me we could not charge a 24 VDC system to 29.2VDC or even 28.4VDC & I had to remove the caps at a much lesser voltage[I have forgotten the voltage]. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Century Gothic","sans-serif";color:windowtext'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Century Gothic","sans-serif";color:windowtext'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Century Gothic","sans-serif";color:windowtext'>Dana Orzel<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Century Gothic","sans-serif";color:windowtext'>Great Solar Works, Inc<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Century Gothic","sans-serif";color:windowtext'>E - dana@solarwork.com<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Century Gothic","sans-serif";color:windowtext'>V - 970.626.5253<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Century Gothic","sans-serif";color:windowtext'>F - 970.626.4140<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Century Gothic","sans-serif";color:windowtext'>C - 970.209.4076<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Century Gothic","sans-serif";color:windowtext'>web - www.solarwork.com<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Century Gothic","sans-serif";color:windowtext'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Century Gothic","sans-serif";color:windowtext'>"Responsible Technologies for Responsible People since 1988"</span><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:windowtext'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Century Gothic","sans-serif";color:windowtext'>Do not ever belive anything, but seriously trust through action.<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Century Gothic","sans-serif";color:windowtext'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div><div style='border:none;border-top:solid #B5C4DF 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in'><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";color:windowtext'>From:</span></b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";color:windowtext'> re-wrenches-bounces@lists.re-wrenches.org [mailto:re-wrenches-bounces@lists.re-wrenches.org] <b>On Behalf Of </b>Starlight Solar, Larry Crutcher<br><b>Sent:</b> Wednesday, December 15, 2010 12:35 PM<br><b>To:</b> RE-wrenches<br><b>Subject:</b> Re: [RE-wrenches] Battery based hydrogen incidents<o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><o:p> </o:p></p><div><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>I was hesitant to reply because I surely will look foolish, but perhaps it may help someone in the future. I did something very stupid back in 2001 that caused an explosion. </span><o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'> <o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>The battery bank (12 volt, 660AH) was located in a metal cargo container next to the wall and set in a plastic container. The container had open doors on both ends. The battery was in the absorption cycle with heavy gassing. I noticed that the positive terminal was slightly loose. Fully aware of the danger of the task I was performing, I grabbed my socket wrench and began to carefully snug it down. Even though I carefully observed the location of the wrench, I did not think about the steel container wall as having a path back to battery negative. It did. I blew the top off a battery that I was standing over. Fortunately I was wearing safety glasses or I probably would not be here today typing this. There was a water hydrant near and I was able to flood my face and body for about 15 minutes. No facial scares but a lessen very well learned: Do NOT work on batteries that are off gassing. Gassing begins at about 2.3 volts per cell. If you are a battery novice, I encourage you to thoroughly educate yourself and do not neglect your safety gear when working on batteries.</span><o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'> <o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Another event I witnessed: In 2007 I was at a campground and heard an explosion. The owner of an RV a few spaces down from me was opening the battery compartment as I walked up. Inside he had un-vented batteries in the same compartment as the inverter and other switch gear. His batteries were obviously gassing when something sparked it off. The top was blown off a 6 volt battery and he had electrolyte everywhere and a damaged cargo door. We work on hundreds of RV's and sadly I see this kind of poor "workmanship" every week at our service center.</span><o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'> <o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Larry Crutcher</span><o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Starlight Solar Power Systems</span><o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>928-342-9103</span><o:p></o:p></p></div></div></body></html>