Lightning strike blew battery caps off

Vic

Hi W W,

Just to touch on the obvious:

Because the jars of the individual cells have such thin and fexible walls,  check the electrolyte levels of the two remaining cells in the battery case of battery that had the cell removed.  Probably, first, check if the plates of those two cells are covered. If exposed,   add enough electrolyte to cover them,  do a full charge, and then add electrolyte to bring fill to the nominal levels of other cells in the bank.

If topping-up is needed, then use 1.265 SG electrolyte (preferably NOT from the removed cell).  AND, of course, when your new cell arrives,  you should check to see if some electrolyte needs to be removed (if you needed to add some).

FWIW,  IMO, etc.  Sounds like you are making good progress.   Vic

WaterWheel

Update, for learning purposes.

As previously posted after separately charging the 2 orphan 2v cells to an SG of about 2.70 to move my 21 cell bank to a 23 cell bank while I waited for a single replacement cell I had put the 2 cells back in the bank creating a 46v battery bank.     But the 2 cells after being added back were bubbling hard and the remaining 21 cells in the bank were undercharging.      

We had a death in the family, so I pulled the 2 orphan cells out of line, programmed everything back to a 21 cell (42v battery bank) and bailed on the project for a few weeks.

Started back a week ago and hooked the 2 orphan cells back inline with all 23 cells showing about a 2.45 SG charge.         Ran a low 25 amp charge at about 57.1 v for 3 hours before moving up to 57.4v to increase amperage for an additional 2 hours to help stir the electrolite. .     Before cutting the charge and allowing all cells to rest 4 hours.        The Orphan cells SG dropped to about 1.250 while the remaining 21 cells climbed, to about 1.270, same as I was seeing a few weeks ago. 

While those 2 cells didn't blow themselves dry after what I'm fairly sure was a lightning strike close to the roof panels they are obviously not  working properly.

'nuf said.    

Fagaro

If lightning had actually struck the house and traveled through the inside wiring, it would have caused significant damage, blown out the fuses or circuit breakers on the circuit and damaged any electronics plugged into it. If it had been present with enough voltage to break down the air gap between the outlet and your girlfriend, it would have killed or significantly injured her.

BB.

Fargaro,

It appears that the lighting struck the solar panels (roof of home?) and traveled down the DC circuit (solar) to the charge controller/battery bank. So the damage would have been (mostly?) on the DC side... Solar panels, charge controller, battery bank.

The strike (or nearby strike) did damage two surge protectors (i.e., need to be replaced). What happened to the battery itself--It sounds like strike energy was present on the + and - battery bus... And we typically suggest that the negative battery bus be connected to a ground rod (8-10 foot long driven in soil--Along with AC Neutral and AC green wire grounds).

If there is lightning energy inside the AC Wiring for the home, it appears that the next weakest link is the AC inverter's output--That is a typical lightning failure mode...

AC 120/240 VAC wiring (and components) are typically high pot tested at the factory at 1,800 VAC... The Lead Acid battery cells are running at ~2 VDC--So they are more than likely the "first thing" to "arc over/suppress surge" in an off grid power system.

Since the OP also had surge suppressors in the rest of the system, they mostly likely "tripped" at well under 300 Volts... Nowhere near the 1,800 VAC factory test for wiring/outlets/appliances with UL marks. I believe these are the suppressors that were used here:

https://www.midnitesolar.com/products.php?menuItem=products&productCat_ID=23&productCatName=Surge Protection Devices

-Bill

WaterWheel

Been a while since the lightning strike and replacement Rolls battery is still backordered so still trying to get things working with a 42v battery bank.

Dave had said that it may be several weeks or months before something failed.          I now think he's correct.

For several weeks I managed to reprogram the Conext 80-600 controller to correctly charge the now 42v battery bank but then battery SGs started rising no matter how low I set the charging voltage.      As mentioned in an earlier post I shut the whole thing down for a few weeks (very busy time for me) before restarting the system a few weeks ago.      While charging voltages are now set to 51.6v and the float level is set to 47.0v I'm still seeing SGs over 12.84.   
In addition, when I reset the battery monitor to 100% when battery SGs are close to 1.277  a week later the battery monitor says 92% but the SG's are up to 1.285.     Resetting the monitor results in the same "slippage" in charge percentage reading over the previous week.      The Battery monitor meter was always pretty accurate before.the probable lightning strike.
I've been checking SGs at least twice a week and the battery monitor most mornings and again at sundown.     

At this point I suspect that the 80-600 controller is failing to stop charge when the charge rate drops below 2% although I've watched the amperage drop as the batteries went further into absorb and seen it go into float several times.      I'm often home after dark so hard to see the whole charging process.         
Your thoughts please.,,,   

JRHill

This thread is classic. Esp the spider web thing.

I ranched for a number of years and learned that you keep a wide berth of pasture fencing during weather events.

Mentioning this to my biologist wife she mentioned dry lightning events that are originators of many PNW fires. Then really interesting one: mushroom hunters who head for the forest in stormy weather. Many mushrooms will illuminate from the flux. The color emmited is species dependent. What a hoot.

DDonger43

Wow, that's insane. I had no idea lightning would strike solar panels.

JRHill

DDonger43 said:

Wow, that's insane. I had no idea lightning would strike solar panels.

Why are you concerned?

Dave Angelini

"At this point I suspect that the 80-600 controller is failing to stop charge when the charge rate drops below 2% although I've watched the amperage drop as the batteries went further into absorb and seen it go into float several times.      I'm often home after dark so hard to see the whole charging process.         
Your thoughts please.,,,"   

Hey Waterwheel ! This is a 2 week old thread, Have you solved it? 

 There are 2 things that one must keep in mind with all of the Schneider chargers. The 2% battery capacity algorithm that goes to float at either the absorb time or the programmed battery capacity, and whatever comes first.

The other is the programmed capacity in the charger. If the capacity is programmed lower that what you really have,
like 100AH, the charger will run the max time that is programmed for Absorb no matter what end amps are.

Since all of this is networked, and has been since 2005, all devices with work with the same settings, if enabled.

boB

Waterwheel...   Make sure you send those SPDs back into MidNite Solar for repair or replacement or whatever if you haven't already done that.   Tell them boB sent you.

I would love to see what happened to those !   Rarely do we see any break.  Wonder how close this strike was ?

Where were these SPDs placed in the circuit ?  Were they on the solar plus and minus lines coming into the power shed ?

boB

Dave Angelini

Really hardly?  I have several that all that is left is the metal nut and some small solid wires.  Not much left on those man.

They work great BTW! Doing just what they should do for a strike that is not close. I have clients that are on some bad mountains.
Many do fail when it is really too close for anything but prayer.

Some of the Telecom guy's keep spare electronics in a grounded cage.

DDonger43

JRHill said:

DDonger43 said:

Wow, that's insane. I had no idea lightning would strike solar panels.

Why are you concerned?

hahah, a tiny bit

NANOcontrol

I watched a This Old House episode where they demonstrated how to install a SPD. They just coiled up the excess wire making a nice inductor. Couldn't believe it.

Dave Angelini

NANOcontrol said:

I watched a This Old House episode where they demonstrated how to install a SPD. They just coiled up the excess wire making a nice inductor. Couldn't believe it.

YouTube is also a fine place to get really bad information. Due diligence is always the way to go. It does take some time also to get up to speed.

karaye91

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.

WaterWheel

Dave Angelini said:

Hey Waterwheel ! This is a 2 week old thread, Have you solved it? 

 There are 2 things that one must keep in mind with all of the Schneider chargers. The 2% battery capacity algorithm that goes to float at either the absorb time or the programmed battery capacity, and whatever comes first.

Since all of this is networked, and has been since 2005, all devices with work with the same settings, if enabled.

Hi Dave,     I eventually got a reliable charge going with the 42v battery bank and managed to replace the blown batteries last winter.       Everything is working well but as expected the new cells run a higher SG by about 10 points than the 4 1/2 year old old cells

WaterWheel

boB said:

Waterwheel...   Make sure you send those SPDs back into MidNite Solar for repair or replacement or whatever if you haven't already done that.   Tell them boB sent you.

I would love to see what happened to those !   Rarely do we see any break.  Wonder how close this strike was ?

Where were these SPDs placed in the circuit ?  Were they on the solar plus and minus lines coming into the power shed ?

boB

boB,     That's the strange part.      None of the SPDs show any damage and all the little blue lights are still working.

Dave Angelini

The SPD was on the 600v mppt, the 150v, or one each?  You still using the old SPDs ? Best practice is out at the arrays minimum.

WaterWheel

Dave,     I'm using two 600v surge protectors on the main ground mounted array that feed the 60-180 controller..       One of the surge  protectors is connected to the ground mounted panel frames and ground mount using the combiner box and has its own ground rod with insulation between the breaker box body under the panel rack and the wires leading into the house 100' away from the original house ground rod.

The second 600v surge protector for that panel set surge protector is inside the garage where the primary panels 360v comes into the Conext breaker box. and feeds to the original house ground rod 100' from the ground mounted panel rack.    

The smaller 900 watt west facing panels   (Conext 60 amp controller) also feeds through that same original house ground rod with a 3rd SPD that feeds to the original house ground.       The panels are mounted on a metal roof.
 I've always suspected that the high current fed through the smaller 900 watt solar panel array but see no burn marks.

All SPDs little blue lights that show that they are working are still glowing.

In addition to the 3 DC surge protecters there are 2 AC SPDs.      One where the power comes into the Conext breaker box from the grid.     The second in the primary solar powered breaker box that the inverter/ grid feeds.       Both of these AC SPDs feed into the original house ground rod.

I hope this helps...

Dave Angelini

I think I would send them to Midnite and have them tested or just replace them.  Why was one SPD not lit and then it was  in 1st post?  Daylight deprived?
Usually this surge comes in on the grid or a genset line left connected. Whole house panel SPD right? DSL modem blew?

 Failure analysis requires an open mind. There are other things that can blow battery caps off including the 100' distance between grounds. I have seen plug up caps go flying at a clients home.

I would think you would find some other latent evidence/damage.   Just have to eliminate the obvious. Good Luck!

Trygves

Add the MidNite Solar Surge Protector MNSPD-300-AC and another one for the solar cells as the protector comes for high voltage and DC power!

WaterWheel

Trygves,        Sorry so long on the reply but I don't read this forum too often.
All lines except the phone line have Midnight Solar SPDs.        The panel frames and ground stand are on 1 grounding rod.       Everything else is on the original house grounding rod so I've tried to make as straight of a line for the grounding rod as I can but as I understand it with GFI built into the controllers it's best to not have too many ground lines.

We recently installed StarLink internet which recommends a separate ground rod.          I'll install it but I do worry about tripping the GFI  on the charge controller .