I had a very well vented automotive battery
explode. The cause was apparently an internal
short. The explosion broke the case and
splattered me with acid. I was lucky and not
injured. I think the internal short rapidly
vaporized the acid and the explosion was essentially due to steam pressure.
At 01:18 PM 12/15/2010, you wrote:
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: <mailto:al...@positiveenergysolar.com>Allan Sindelar
Sent: Wednesday, December 15, 2010 11:10 AM
To:
<mailto:re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org>re-wrenches@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
<mailto:al...@positiveenergysolar.com>al...@positiveenergysolar.com
NABCEP Certified Photovoltaic Installer
EE98J Journeyman Electrician
Positive Energy, Inc.
3201 Calle Marie
Santa Fe, New Mexico 87507
505 424-1112
<http://www.positiveenergysolar.com/>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:k...@coveoregon.com>mailto:k...@coveoregon.com wrote:
From: Kent Osterberg <mailto:k...@coveoregon.com>mailto:k...@coveoregon.com
Subject: Re: [RE-wrenches] Battery based hydrogen incidents
To: "RE-wrenches"
<mailto:re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org>mailto:re-wrenches@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. 2â output from the fan into a 4â
header with a matching 2.5â 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=d...@solarwork.com>wlmailhtml:/mc/compose?to=d...@solarwork.com
V - 970.626.5253
F - 970.626.4140
C - 970.209.4076
web - <http://www.solarwork.com>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-boun...@lists.re-wrenches.org>wlmailhtml:/mc/compose?to=re-wrenches-boun...@lists.re-wrenches.org
[<wlmailhtml:/mc/compose?to=re-wrenches-boun...@lists.re-wrenches.org>wlmailhtml:/mc/compose?to=re-wrenches-boun...@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,
<http://pocketengineer.design.officelive.com/battery_ventilation.aspx>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
_______________________________________________
List sponsored by Home Power magazine
List Address:
<mailto:RE-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org>RE-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org
Options & settings:
<http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org>http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org
List-Archive:
<http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org>http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org
List rules & etiquette:
<http://www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm>www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm
Check out participant bios:
<http://www.members.re-wrenches.org>www.members.re-wrenches.org
----------
_______________________________________________
List sponsored by Home Power magazine
List Address: RE-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org
Options & settings:
http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org
List-Archive:
http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org
List rules & etiquette:
www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm
Check out participant bios:
www.members.re-wrenches.org
Northern Arizona Wind & Sun - Electricity from the sun since 1979
--------------------------------------------------------------------
<http://store.solar-electric.com/>Online Solar Store
<http://www.wind-sun.com/ForumVB/>Free Solar Discussion Forum
--------------------------------------------------------------------
_______________________________________________
List sponsored by Home Power magazine
List Address: RE-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org
Options & settings:
http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org
List-Archive:
http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org
List rules & etiquette:
www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm
Check out participant bios:
www.members.re-wrenches.org
_______________________________________________
List sponsored by Home Power magazine
List Address: RE-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org
Options & settings:
http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org
List-Archive: http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org
List rules & etiquette:
www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm
Check out participant bios:
www.members.re-wrenches.org
