Lightning strike blew battery caps off

WaterWheel

Lighting storm….   Two panel circuits with multiple Midnight Solar SPDs on both.      One is ground mount and SPDs are lit so good.    A smaller set of panels facing West on the roof and both SPDs are blown.

48v battery bank with 3 of the caps blown off so hard that the plastic battery necks are ripped off the Rolls 5000 series batteries with plastic neck pieces blown 8’ away.       Acid fumes rolling out of 2 of the cells so garage is full of fumes.
Both charge controllers and inverter look good on Conext SCP.         Battery v is @ 58.4v so I don’t think I shorted any plates.

what the hell just happened?

WaterWheel

System has been running well for years.      Batteries are maintained every 2 months.      The blown cap cells are pretty much middle of the pack as far as SGs go.     Currently still powering the house off the batteries but will switch to Grid before we go to bed for safety.

BB.

I always wondered if Lead Acid batteries were among the best surge suppressors out there (lead plates close together, can shunt power from + bus to -/ground bus).

Our founder of the forum (Wind-Sun... Retired) once said that he saw (on average) more AC inverter outputs blown by lighting (and nearby strikes?) vs the DC side of the system--My two cents was the battery bank offered pretty good surge suppression.

Checked electrolyte levels?

If you have an IR heat gun--Might check the battery/cell temperatures to see if anything untold is happening (internal shorts, heat generated by charging/discharging current flow, etc.).

Electronic devices (diodes, transistors, etc.) are sensitive to over voltage (even static electric charges)--And if they don't fail right away, they can have an early life failure.

For the equipment... Just continue to run until something breakers (if it breaks). =

Might look into your spares/backup plans... You have grid--So that just may be the ability to bypass the main AC inverter with grid power until the inverter gets repaired (etc.).

-Bill

clockmanfran

During my 30 odd years of lead acid battery systems i have seen some rather odd occurences from the lead acid.

Firstly, lead acid gives out HYDROGEN,  and hydrogen  is very explosive.

Secondly, hydrogen gas can be absorbed by spider webs, organic string and the like, and a couple of times the main 250 amp battery to Inverter Midnite/Outback breaker that was also in with the open covered battery shed, when operated the brief instant surge illuminated all the spider webs in the building, very impressive but also very worrying.

Thirdly, I have seen on still Autumn evenings just after the sun has set Blue balls, the size of a soccer ball, of gently glowing gas riseing from the battery sheds and just hovering about 12 meters from the ground. I call them the BLUE MEANIES.

So, i now insist that the lead acid batteries are always kept in there own speicial well ventilated shed and with no switch gear in that shed/building. 

For you, I suspect that the lightning in that brief instant discharged all over the place and any hydrogen anywhere would instantly ignite,  and hay presto blow off your battery Miser caps.  And as long as the battery cases are good then there should be no issues, as the miser caps were the weak spot and took the hit.

I have also seen, during a thunder storm an electric cattle fence, about 50 yards away, start shorting out about a minute before a ground strike, with large sparks from the fence wire hitting the ground as the surrounding air starts to ionize charge, then BANG, everything back to normal. Again a suspect during certain Meto conditions the lightining strike around or near your batteries would begin ionization of the air, so hence those miser caps allowing the air inside them to ionize and except an electrical charge. 

So always allow that hydrogen to get away.

WaterWheel

Bill,      Everything on the DC side seems good with no hot spots in the batteries.        On the AC some the wireless modem which I had just replaced 2 hours earlier blew.      The previous modem was damaged by lightning 2 weeks ago.

WaterWheel

ClockMan,      The batteries are in an open box in the garage with a vent fan that comes on when the batteries charge.

Interesting idea about hydrogen gasses igniting inside the cells blowing the caps off.        The damage I see and the hydrogen gas coming out of a few cells match your explanation 

littleharbor2

Lightning is some strange stuff. You can have tons of protection and still sustain losses in your equipment from even relatively distant strikes. I have minimal protection here on the Sea of Cortez coast of Baja. There has been a lot of lightning lately with the hot water surface of the sea this time of year. Every night is a light show. Yesterday the show was up close and personal. There's very few people here now but as they return in the fall I'm sure there will be plenty of equipment that needs to be replaced. Personally, so far (9 years now) so good.. I do have replacement equipment in case I lose anything.  

WaterWheel

As I mentioned last night the 2 SPDs coming off my west facing panels were out (leds not lit) but this morning before sunrise the leds are lit indicating that they are now working.

NANOcontrol

Check your array voltages and currents, if parallel strings. It may not drop enough to notice at first. I was hit by lightning had had a number of shorted diodes. These diodes are generally rated at no more than 45V making them cheap protection for the panels.

Dave Angelini

In weeks or a few months is when latent damage often shows up. In systems like yours that is still working, I would do load tests to prove that the system is still "there". Open the right side of XW and give it a good sniff. You might have got lucky.

How close were the strikes?  Good Luck !

WaterWheel

Came home early from work today and following Dave’s advice opened up the XW. No unusual odors, circuit boards look spotless, I see no bulged capacitors or diodes.     Maybe the damage was minimal.

One of the battery cells blew the top so I will call Surette tomorrow and see if I can order just the one cell instead of having to buy a very expensive battery.    But that 3 cell battery is reading 6.34 V so I guess in a pinch I could use it for testing but I may just hold off until I get the battery fixed.

WaterWheel

Nano,     I’ll check the panel voltages this weekend, but my diode’s are buried in silicone making replacement quite tricky

WaterWheel

The only electric device I lost in the house was the Internet modem.

Dave Angelini

curious, was it a cable modem or DSL?  Either way, they are one of the first things to unplug, or protect. Helps if you are home

The thing you are looking for inside XW is small black pieces of MOSFET.

Dave Angelini

How is the waterwheel business. I still have the pix you sent me.

WaterWheel

Since it could be quite a while before I can get that battery replaced and the inverter says it can work on a 40- 64V battery input range I need to figure out if my Connext 80–600 controller can run lower output voltages to protect 42v  battery bank.

WaterWheel

As a temporary solution to my blown up battery I have bypassed the bad battery and created a 42 V battery bank. This required me to first change all the charging parameters of my 80-600 controller and then changing the parameters of the XW to reflect the lower battery voltages.     At this point I’m leaving the smaller controller off-line.

The no load start showed no problems except that the controller was throwing a code 71 (high v) which would be expected after lightning in the system. Since i’ve learned that quite often controller codes do not go away until they get Sunshine the next day for the moment I’m ignoring that code and praying that when I do a soft start on Saturday they charge controller will function correctly for a 42V battery bank.

I then switched from grid power to solar power pulling 1Kw with good results and no unusual odors.

For now the entire system is shut down and we are running grid power only. I hope to play more with it on Saturday to catch a gentle power Increase on the panels.

Wish me luck!

WaterWheel

Dave,     I did not see any small black pieces of plastic from the Mofsets
dsl line

WaterWheel

The Conext 80-600 controller is throwing a code F-56 Ground Flt 1 code.       The panels on that array are putting out good voltage.     A bit of online research and the controller manual aren't helping me eliminate that code.       Any help would be appreciated. 

BB.

Measure the voltage between the battery negative bus and safety ground (I. E. The chassis ground of the charge controller).

If not near zero volts, then, at the very least, the Ground Fault Detection fuse(s) are probably blown.

I'm general, many systems use the 1 amp fuse between the negative bus and the green wire/ safety ground. A lighting surge can easily blow that fuse.

If the fuse blows, (I believe) the charge controller sees non-zero voltage and logs a ground fault.

Bill

WaterWheel

Thanks Bill, I'd forgotten about that fuse and replacing it did the trick.        But that charge controller had been unhooked from all power sources for 12 hours.    All breakers thrown and fuses from the panels pulled and it still had a 299 v charge at the fuse holding clamps.     Got a nasty shock off it.

Maybe a capacitor in the charge controller holding a charge?

I spoke with the battery distributor and they are going to see about getting me a single 2v cell for the blown battery.        The distributor said they had shipped single cells before.

Vic

W W,

You have probably thought of this, or, already done it,  but,  as you know the Surrette 5000-series batteries have each cell of the battery bolted together.

It is fairly "easy", to carefully unbolt the blown up cell, remove it, and jumper between the neighboring cells of your 6V battery, to create, a 46 V battery.  This should give you more DC voltage operating range.

It is probably best to ask for a replacement cell to be shipped, Dry,  unless the battery distributor can have a wet cell shipped,  strapped to other batteries on a pallet of similar  batteries.

The Jars of these batteries are thin,  so, dry is often best, and you can Activate the dry cell, fairly easily.

FWIW, Good Luck!   Vic

WaterWheel

First let me say that the system is running properly now at 42 V. After charging today I saw I got the cells a tad over SG so made minor charging adjustments this evening.     Thanks for the assist and helping me get this problem straightened out. As I already mentioned I have already got a replacement cell on order so hopefully we can go back 48 volts soon.

Vic,    I already have the bad cell Unbolted from the other cells with a nylon strap slung so when someone comes over to help me we can drag the 110 pound beast out of that hole. At that time I may move the two outer cells together and create the 46 V battery bank you suggested.

Ralph Day

I had to replace a 2v cell in a surrette block.  Plan on using a chain hoist or the like to pull the cell out of the block if it's an internal one.  Not just the weight, but some swelling of the cell due to sulfation (inevitable) will make it a tight fit.  The cell will be about 150 pounds.

WaterWheel

Yea,    I already gave the battery a serious tug and can see that it's pretty tight in the red outer casing.      The cell should weigh about 115 lbs  but it didn't budge.     The garage door is a few inches too low to get the tractor in to lift the cell so I'm going to get my seriously strong 23 yr old boy over to jerk the cell out.

I ordered a single replacement cell instead of a complete 6v battery partially to minimize the price and partially to avoid the weight of dealing with a 345 lb battery which was a chore to install 4 years ago.

Ralph Day

Can you borrow an engine hoist/lift/crane to pull the cell?  My corner garage has one, might be one close by...local motorhead or garage.

littleharbor2

If yanking the cell free proves difficult I was wondering if draining the electrolyte would help? If the case is crusted in by whatever debris may have fallen in over the years It would be hard to break it free at first. Also, is there any way to get under the cell and try to add some upward  prying force? Just concerned that lifting by the posts/flags alone might bust the top of the battery, possibly spraying acid on your son. of course protective gear should be worn.

WaterWheel

Yes, I have an engine lift although it probably not not reach out far enough since the legs would not be able to stretch out over the battery box.

there is no way to get under the cell so that is not a viable option. We will give it it a good old heave ho tomorrow night and will see

Ralph Day

Can you move the battery out of the bank and get a better position with the lift?  I dragged my battery out of the bank and had a chain hoist  on a ceiling joist for lifting.  I the basement.

WaterWheel

No need.      Had a strong young neighbor come over a few minutes ago and it took us about 5 minutes to get the bad cell out.

A picture of my battery box is in post #27 of this thread.     Cooling the batteries — northernarizona-windandsun (solar-electric.com)
As you can see the box is water tight to allow me to cool the batteries down in the hot garage.       I'd rather lift a single 115 lb cell than the entire 340 lb battery out of the box.

WaterWheel

Just heard from my battery distributor. It’ll be about a month before the new cell comes in so I’ve Connected the two remaining single cells, reprogrammed everything, and I’m now running a 46 V battery bank.

Gotta love the wide programming range Schneider equipment has.