[RE-wrenches] Exploding LFP battery

Fri Jun 18 12:29:04 EDT 2021

Hey Jay,

So at the 4:35 mark of this quick review of available LFP batteries on 
the market at the time (2019) - Will Prowess states that "they (Relion) 
are the only battery that has a built-in battery heater (I think he was 
implying as standard equipment and not an option).

Is it possible the battery heater circuit stuck on?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOqQp2Xjr6U&t=372s

Just a thought - not sure how you would go back and check that out though!

Best,

Jeff C.
Village Power Design

> Dave Angelini Offgrid Solar <mailto:offgridsolar at sti.net>
> June 17, 2021 at 5:01 PM
>
> I thought of a few more ways this could have happened. The installer 
> over torqued the battery terminals. There was not SPD protection in 
> the system and it got zapped and escalated. Working on SPD's now for a 
> guy. He does not see the value and knows everything!  Pretty hot out 
> here in the West!  5PM !  Take care! Cheers!
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Maybe the BMS was never tested by Relion for all of the possible failure
> modes? Maybe it was tested and it got thru QC.
> I know very little about
> this company. Do they meet the standards like,
>
> manufacturing facilities
> are fully certified to ISO 9001/14001 and OSHA 18001 standards.
>
> Meets UL
> 9540
>
> CERTIFICATION STANDARDS
>
> * IEC 62133
> * UL 1973
> * UL 2271
> *
> CE
> * UN 38.3
>
> Not trying to be a pain either Jay. You know the LFP I use!
> Good Luck!
>
> *Dave Angelini Offgrid Solar
> "we go where powerlines don't"
> http://members.sti.net/offgridsolar/
> e-mail offgridsolar at sti.net <mailto:offgridsolar at sti.net>
> text 209 813 0060*
>
> On Thu, 17 Jun 2021 11:55:35 -0600, jay <jay.peltz at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>
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> jay <mailto:jay.peltz at gmail.com>
> June 17, 2021 at 10:55 AM
> HI All,
>
> The cover never got all the way off before it was blown off, it was 
> just started to be opened, so no way there was an external ignition 
> source.  If it was an explosion it was all from internal components 
> except for possibly some O2 coming from the outside.
>
> My other question still hasn’t been answered.
> If the BMS isn’t taking care of over/under voltage and over current 
> what is it doing to prevent damage to the battery?
> ( this system was within the input PV or output inverter watts/amps of 
> the battery specifications) And I just found out that on the day of 
> failure, no one has been living there for months and only a grundfos 
> SQFlex and a few lights were on, no big loads.
>
> Now maybe I’ve been under the false understanding that this is the 
> primary job of the BMS?
> Yes I know that there is also cell balancing, % monitoring, blue 
> tooth, wifi etc that can be included in the BMS but to me thats all 
> secondary.
>
> Hopefully someone can clear this up for me.
>
> jay
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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> Dave Angelini Offgrid Solar <mailto:offgridsolar at sti.net>
> June 17, 2021 at 7:01 AM
>
> My .02 on this, and just a guess, the open loop charging parameters 
> were not set right or charge limits for the battery were too high. The 
> other way to kill LFP is large loads exceeding the battery max 
> discharge current.
>
> Closing the loop eliminates just about all of those issues. It brings 
> the battery into the safety area of LA batteries that are still hard 
> to beat offgrid. I am not saying you can't blow the top off a LA 
> battery eitherWink
>
> *Dave Angelini Offgrid Solar
> "we go where powerlines don't"
> http://members.sti.net/offgridsolar/
> e-mail offgridsolar at sti.net <mailto:offgridsolar at sti.net>
> text 209 813 0060*
>
> On Thu, 17 Jun 2021 07:23:07 -0400, John Blittersdorf 
> <john.blittersdorf at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>
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> John Blittersdorf <mailto:john.blittersdorf at gmail.com>
> June 17, 2021 at 4:23 AM
> This just proves the weak link is the BMS.
> I had the honor of replacing the BMS in that exact model in a stack of 
> 3 batteries.  Luckily it was on the bottom shelf so I could pull the 
> monster out onto the floor to get access to the lid.  The lid is 
> sealed shut but with persistence it opened.  I was working with their 
> tech support and following their instructions.  I disconnected it from 
> the other two that were in a parallel configuration before opening. 
> Battery voltage was zero at the terminals. I did voltage checks at 
> various checkpoints to confirm it was the BMS at fault. Relion sent a 
> new BMS which I carefully installed and it has worked fine since.  Had 
> I seen this photo first, I may have not been so eager to see the 
> inside of that battery.
>
> John Blittersdorf
>
>
>
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> jay <mailto:jay.peltz at gmail.com>
> June 16, 2021 at 12:22 PM
> Hi Jeff,
>
> I don’t know if you saw the photo.  No cutting involved.
> The top is removed with roughly 14 fasteners.
> No tools or prying was involved in the removal of the top cover.
>
> jay
>
>

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