DC solar trailer - forklift BATTERY CELL EXPLODED!
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Texas-Mark
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Couldn't the bar just be cut in the middle and then either welded again or drilled for a bolt (to a new bar)?
OzSolar
Whatever you did, that's what you planned.
I don't think drilling and tapping would work due to the softness of the material.
Many years ago, Surrette sent me some replacements parts to fix a damaged terminal and it just so happens I stumbled across them the other day.
It's more like soldering copper pipe with a propane torch than it is welding. You'd be best off to source the correct stock from the OEM before you tackled it.
First pic shows the remaining spare terminal and the solder bars they sent. 2nd shows the cell I fixed. Pretty easy to see my work vs the factory. That was 10 years ago, cell is still in daily use.
M.OzSolar
Whatever you did, that's what you planned.
With out regular "truing up" the SOC by comparing to Hydrometer this number is meaningless. Please get another hydrometer ASAP.
That is correct. Carefully study the cable coming the inverter box. Be looking for something like this. One end is coming from the inverters the other two in each plugged into a battery. Unplug the offending battery but be aware that those contacts on each connector are still "hot".
I think this chunk came from one I parted out a year ago but I'm old and forget things.
You may want to check your SMA AMP charge settings before you start your generator again. I'd try to not exceed 100 amps DC.
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OzSolar thank you for including the pic, now I'm at least know what I'm looking for. I just came back from Walmart and the auto parts store, neither had a hydrometer in stock, well truth be told Walmart had a little micro one that looked like somebody had already used so I passed on that.
I have to admit I know absolutely nothing in changing settings on the SMA.
I've rolled the dice big time, I've just fired up my generator and it's been running for about 25 minutes..... Both midnight classic and SMA are recording higher voltage and higher percentage. I am not seeing any off-gassing, I'm not smelling any hydrogen, and I'm not seeing any smoke.
You guys are the best. I will keep you updated as I find out more
I have to admit I know absolutely nothing in changing settings on the SMA.
I've rolled the dice big time, I've just fired up my generator and it's been running for about 25 minutes..... Both midnight classic and SMA are recording higher voltage and higher percentage. I am not seeing any off-gassing, I'm not smelling any hydrogen, and I'm not seeing any smoke.
You guys are the best. I will keep you updated as I find out more
I've now run the generator for well over an hour and then some without an issue. No smoking, no off gassing. Even if the midnight classic or the SMA is a reading true generator brought the overall charge up. Up from 53% when I started to now 64%.
I have found the cables that were mentioned with the Anderson connectors, just wondering before I isolate to only using a good battery, how I go about exactly changing the SMA?
Also is there anything I should do before I just yank the plug? Do I need to power down to go to master enslave SMA? Do I need to fully shut off the midnight classic? Should I yank the main cord that splits to the individual batteries and then reattach after disconnecting the bad one? Or can I just literally disconnect the bad one?
I have found the cables that were mentioned with the Anderson connectors, just wondering before I isolate to only using a good battery, how I go about exactly changing the SMA?
Also is there anything I should do before I just yank the plug? Do I need to power down to go to master enslave SMA? Do I need to fully shut off the midnight classic? Should I yank the main cord that splits to the individual batteries and then reattach after disconnecting the bad one? Or can I just literally disconnect the bad one?
OzSolar
Whatever you did, that's what you planned.
I'd want the system to be static - Not charging or discharging before I pulled that connector but they are rated to do that.
You should see the stuff I've seen with people pulling the plug on a 100A 3 Phase battery charger running wide open trying to put a bit of charge during their 15 min break. Battery is gassing so bad you can hardly breath in the middle of 5 other lifts doing the same thing. Never once a problem.
Are you familiar enough with you SI to find and interpret the meters screens?
GSXR1000
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1st what voltage and current are you charging at?
it would have to be serious amps to create steam...
2nd... have you measured each cell when at 90%+ charge to ensure each cell is the same voltage?
I would guess the cell was way over voltage
it would have to be serious amps to create steam...
2nd... have you measured each cell when at 90%+ charge to ensure each cell is the same voltage?
I would guess the cell was way over voltage
peakbagger
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When I bought my trailer, the seller had bought 6 of them and had gone through them. One of them had a bad cell and he had replaced it.
Wasn't there an option to take out a cell on the other battery and reset the Sunny Island and charge controller to lower voltage settings?
Wasn't there an option to take out a cell on the other battery and reset the Sunny Island and charge controller to lower voltage settings?
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Hedges
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You can shut everything down, press on the SI <Enter> button, press and hold to shut down. Probably a breaker for the Classic.
With no current flowing you can unplug the bad battery, leaving one "good" one.
You can configure SI to the new capacity, 50% of what it used to be.
With no current flowing you can unplug the bad battery, leaving one "good" one.
You can configure SI to the new capacity, 50% of what it used to be.
Oz, thank you and understood. Yeah the off gassing has been off and on between mild and pretty heavy for at least 3 months.
That's to what I'm charging to? Well here goes, I started with a harbor freight 4500 generator but it kept tripping the breaker. I upgraded, lol, do a different harbor freight 9500 and been using it for about a year and a half. The SMA while going through its cycles seems to indicate that total exterior power seems to usually run between 4.3 KW to 5 KW and I seem to get between 7% to 10% increase per hour when the batteries are down.
As for understanding the SI meter readings I'm assuming you mean the SMA as in the Sunny island pair? I've tried cycling through them when there's been a little exclamation point On occasion or when the unit is shut down unexpectedly. Under the failure events there's a lot of codes and abbreviations that I've tried looking up mostly to no avail.... Or better said, the description it gives I have no clue it seems utter greek to me. Tell me which meter to read and I will post a pic of what I see
That's to what I'm charging to? Well here goes, I started with a harbor freight 4500 generator but it kept tripping the breaker. I upgraded, lol, do a different harbor freight 9500 and been using it for about a year and a half. The SMA while going through its cycles seems to indicate that total exterior power seems to usually run between 4.3 KW to 5 KW and I seem to get between 7% to 10% increase per hour when the batteries are down.
As for understanding the SI meter readings I'm assuming you mean the SMA as in the Sunny island pair? I've tried cycling through them when there's been a little exclamation point On occasion or when the unit is shut down unexpectedly. Under the failure events there's a lot of codes and abbreviations that I've tried looking up mostly to no avail.... Or better said, the description it gives I have no clue it seems utter greek to me. Tell me which meter to read and I will post a pic of what I see
Hedges, thank you for that description, that makes sense and I do know how to shut the unit down, though a noob I'd like to Hope that I've been shutting it down right.
When you say two configure the battery, just exactly how do I do that? Can you walk me through the steps? And would it be on the midnight classic or on the Sunny Island?
When you say two configure the battery, just exactly how do I do that? Can you walk me through the steps? And would it be on the midnight classic or on the Sunny Island?
GSXR, I wish I had answers for you, when I bought this I assumed it to be pretty much plug and play with very little maintenance. Quickly found out just how wrong I was. But I'm not been able to find much online regarding DC solar trailers other than they are stated by many to be woefully underpowered solar panel wise.
Removing or just simply bypassing the cell seems straightforward at least theoretically, but I have no idea, let alone the tools, to bypass one cell to another....
Removing or just simply bypassing the cell seems straightforward at least theoretically, but I have no idea, let alone the tools, to bypass one cell to another....
Truly the only thing that has changed in the last two months or so I posted about on a different thread and no one responded to. Never before had I ever seen the midnight classic read over voltage. But it started reading that a while ago, it would start happening when the midnight classic was reading about 61.2 v..,... Which I thought was okay from reading other people's ventures into charging these units.
Is or was the over voltage reading from the midnight classic possibly the early indicator that this was going to happen?
Is or was the over voltage reading from the midnight classic possibly the early indicator that this was going to happen?
Hedges
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Get the Sunny Island manual and read about quick start configuration.
Go through the configuration of yours, without changing settings just writing them down.
Go though again, and when you get to battery capacity, change it to your new capacity (probably half of the old value.)
Then look into charge current, decide if that should be cut in half too. Obviously PV is too little, but it may have AC input or generator charge inputs suitable for both batteries at once. I'd expect target charge current to be 0.13C for FLA.
Go through the configuration of yours, without changing settings just writing them down.
Go though again, and when you get to battery capacity, change it to your new capacity (probably half of the old value.)
Then look into charge current, decide if that should be cut in half too. Obviously PV is too little, but it may have AC input or generator charge inputs suitable for both batteries at once. I'd expect target charge current to be 0.13C for FLA.
fromport
Solar Addict
Reminder: the metal box is grounded. If you have fluid (rain water/residue from filling) that is conductive, you will get a current flow.
Even if you have distilled water, but some residue electrolyte from cooking off the cells is on top of the cells, water added (rain) and suddenly you have gas forming (and bad to inhale).
Even if you have distilled water, but some residue electrolyte from cooking off the cells is on top of the cells, water added (rain) and suddenly you have gas forming (and bad to inhale).
Sorry for the delay folks, been a couple crazy days between Christmas and today. I've been tearing apart everything looking for my dang hydrometer, can't find it to save my life.
I guess my biggest question at this moment comes from me midnight classic when it reads battery over voltage. Is it safe to continue using the generator to back up the batteries when the midnight classic controller is reading "battery over V"??????
I guess my biggest question at this moment comes from me midnight classic when it reads battery over voltage. Is it safe to continue using the generator to back up the batteries when the midnight classic controller is reading "battery over V"??????
rodrick
Free energy enthusiast
I would stop and get some voltage readings you have already had a battery blow
Hedges
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Manual, "Quick Configuration Guide"
"
1. Switch the Sunny Island's DC circuit breaker to the ”ON” position.
☑ The Sunny Island initiates the start-up phase. The
notifications shown here are displayed. The last
notification is displayed as soon as the start-up
phase is completed.
2. Press and hold down <Enter> until the Sunny Island beeps three times.
☑ The QCG is started.
"
Pressing buttons to walk through the setup, skip over everything else until you reach battery capacity.
"Nominal capacity of the battery (100 Ah - 10,000 Ah), default setting: ”100 Ah”"
See if it names the Ah you had with two batteries, and cut the number in half for one.
There are other parameters regarding charge current, but unless you have a large source I think this should auto-set OK.
"
1. Switch the Sunny Island's DC circuit breaker to the ”ON” position.
☑ The Sunny Island initiates the start-up phase. The
notifications shown here are displayed. The last
notification is displayed as soon as the start-up
phase is completed.
2. Press and hold down <Enter> until the Sunny Island beeps three times.
☑ The QCG is started.
"
Pressing buttons to walk through the setup, skip over everything else until you reach battery capacity.
"Nominal capacity of the battery (100 Ah - 10,000 Ah), default setting: ”100 Ah”"
See if it names the Ah you had with two batteries, and cut the number in half for one.
There are other parameters regarding charge current, but unless you have a large source I think this should auto-set OK.
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