DC Power Hour

In this episode of DC Power Hour, the Battery Blarney duo of George and Allen, along with our resident load bank technician and engineer Josh Fox, delve into the intricacies of load testing and load banks. They emphasize the critical importance of load testing in assessing battery capacity and highlight challenges faced by utilities in allocating manpower for comprehensive testing. The conversation explores IEEE and NERC standards for load testing, including acceptance tests and modified performance tests, and offers practical insights from field experiences. The hosts conclude by discussing strategies like cell jumping and the necessity of adjusting charger voltages, providing valuable tips for professionals in battery maintenance.

Episode Highlights:

4:59 – A common question I get is "why do we have to do a test for eight hours?"

9:41 – When you're recharging the battery, you're shoving maximum current in into it. Depending on the design of the power system, you could be shoving two or three hundred amps into that battery.

20:23 – There's also a couple of excellent papers on load testing itself. One by, I'll give a plug here, one by an old friend of mine and yours, Rick Tresler. And Another one by I believe it was Steve Clark on rate adjusted method.

22:11 – You're putting yourself at risk because you're working on 120 volts with a lot of current around, and you're putting the system at risk if you get it wrong.

49:14 – Are there certain pitfalls or certain things that people need to worry about in order to do a discharge test correctly?

For this episode of DC Power Hour, we brought in another expert who’s powerful in his field, Marketing Guru Jay Schwedelson. Jay joins one of the Battery Blarney brothers, Allen Byrne, for a conversation across industries on generating demand by offering authentic and FREE thought leadership. Comparing the value of being a source of authoritative content in Marketing vs. the DC Power industry, we discuss the importance of providing our audiences educational information. We also have some fun discussing the inherent need for reliable power across all industries as well as the value of mindless reality television to decompress at the end of the day and make us all feel better our lives.

Episode Highlights:

4:59 – The path to success is not having an agenda. Sharing your industry knowledge, whatever industry that you're in, putting it out there and not saying, hey, do this.

9:35 – When the powers out, you can still use your cell phone. Do you ever think why?

13:17 – So Jay, we wanted to have a little fun here and we've got this subject line challenge that we've been incorporating and wanted to see if you could weigh in.

17:49 – It's good that you guys are testing all this stuff. A lot of people, especially in the business to business marketing world, they're afraid to go as far as you guys are going but it's great to see that you are! 

25:52 – I was thinking about what question do I have? I guess what I'm curious about, I'm always curious about this in any business.  I want to know what is, what's a bad day in your industry?

In this episode of DC Power Hour, the Battery Blarney Duo delve into the topic of ground fault testing, welcoming special guest Ron who shares his experiences with ground faults on his installations. They discuss the nuances of ground faults, distinguishing them from short circuits, and explore techniques to mitigate issues such as corrosion in the telecom industry.

Episode Highlights:

8:03 – One of the big benefits of an ungrounded system and, or a floating system is the safety aspect of we can work on the batteries safely or work on instrumentation in the field without worry about getting shocked unless the system is in a ground fault.

13:14 – You have a short sleeved shirt on, your elbow catches the ground when you're touching the wrong piece of the battery, I speak from experience on that one.

21:28 – We assumed that the the ground fault was someplace along the cable, which was not a happy thing to think about, trying to trace that, which whereabouts in the cable would it be?

24:53 – What happens if you can't find the ground fault?

33:40 – We're in a commercial world and the battery is not a revenue generator so tends to get overlooked.

In this episode, the Battery Blarney Duo chats with charger specialist Lucas Berndt on the history and advantages of switch mode, convection-cooled rectifier technology. They discuss its benefits across applications and the importance of chargers regarding overall battery and DC system performance. Finally, they discuss the redundancy and continuity testing required for NERC TPL-001-5 compliance and how Eagle Eye's BC-2500 meets this important standard.

Episode Highlights:

2:54 – How did switch mode rectifiers come about?

9:30 – Those were kind of the initial drivers of it, looking for not only more compact technology, but the one that that steps out.

16:16 – The other thing was to do with another mandate, TPL, 001, not only monthly, but they have to have built in redundancy.

18:22 – PRC 005, which is the first of the mandates that come out really just established a defined level of maintenance that was required.

44:26 – I'll ask the question. We've got where we are now, good chargers, good batteries, what's the biggest challenge?

Listen in this episode of DC Power Hour as our battery Blarney duo of George and Allen welcome George Turner, another industry veteran who recently joined Eagle Eye as an advisor/EEU instructor. They discuss and recollect the evolution of batteries over the span of their careers.

Episode Highlights:

0:59 – I (George Turner) started in the battery industry in 1985 with Johnson controls and at that time they they manufactured flooded batteries.

4:28 – It was pretty rapid change for a stoic industry like ours. There were a couple of drivers, I think that one was the development of control ferro rectifiers, which were replacing the the SCR.

9:07 – There's another concern we had as well. That was the regulation and filtering had to be much better, but it didn't have that great big capacitor sitting at the end of the rectifier, acting basically as a battery eliminator.

17:13 – One of the shortfalls of AGM is that there's not good contact between the electrolyte and the case. So it causes problems with heat dissipation, but with the gelled AGM the gel was in contact with the case and made for greater heat dissipation.

49:31 – So the battery evolution over the last 50 years has improved dramatically. Quality levels are much better than what they were. Valve regulated is the way of the future, but there will always be a flooded battery systems as well.

Listen in this episode of DC Power Hour as our battery Blarney duo of George and Allen field questions from Doug on our sales team. They discuss topics ranging from seismic racking to spill containment and neutralization to chargers.

Episode Highlights:

1:57 – What are the seismic and UBC zones and how have they changed over time?

7:40 – If you put the spacers in, you've just got rid of half the airflow that's necessary to keep the battery cool.

9:46 – What are the pros and cons of Stevrofoam sheets vs corrugated PVCs in regards to airflow for the racks?

14:10 – Spill containment, is it recommended for VRLA purviews?

19:35 – Does the spill containment count as a neutralization kit?

Listen in this episode of DC Power Hour as our battery Blarney duo of George and Allen field questions from a few members of our sales team. We've got Patrick, Andrew, and Doug taking part in our round table discussion looking for feedback and answers to client questions and demands that they are asked to overcome.

Episode Highlights:

1:34 – Is there a time when either a SAN or fire retardant (FR) jar options should be recommended for usage over the other?

5:08 – If you recommend the FR material type, even when the customer doesn't specify it, how do you differentiate that into a quote for a customer and against competitors?

11:34 – Where does the battery monitoring system vendor fall in the responsibility of ensuring that a customer actually installs or ties the system into their network and SCADA systems in a way that actually makes them compliant?

17:10 – What is the purpose of humidity monitoring included in a BMS and would you find that to be something that's totally necessary in a battery monitoring system?

26:28 – In 2023, is there really any reason for a customer to buy a flooded battery anymore?  Isn't VRLA just far superior as far as footprint, flame retardant jars, everything about them just seems to be superior.

So, welcome back to another episode of DC Power Hour with one of our internal subject matter experts, Patrick McElwee from our Portable Testing inside sales division. Pat talks about some of the handheld battery testing products that he works with on a daily basis and sells to customers and what customers are looking for. From digital hydrometers and the IBEX-Series of portable battery resistance testers to ground fault locators, hear what Pat has to say.

Episode Highlights

3:14 – Hear about some of the different applications our Digital Hydrometers are used for

6:11 – Our SG Ultra comes with the most features and it's at the best price point

10:58 – That's going to give you your NERC compliance

13:25 – We have a good RMA process and the average turnaround time, I would say, is 7 to 10 days

The Battery Blarney duo is back together again after a few months with a very special guest, Jeff Donato from H2Scan, author of the article, "A Primer on the Codes and Standards Governing Battery Safety and Compliance". One of the subjects of this podcast is one that's often overlooked, and that's hydrogen detection and ventilation in the battery room. We will also talk about some other things in the battery room such as spill containment and more.

Episode Highlights

9:06 – Some even claim that depending on the composition of concrete, that hydrogen can actually mitigate through the concrete.

20:52 – If you're calibrating, then you have a working sensor. If you're not calibrating, it's gonna drift off at some point.

39:01 – If the pillow has contamination or has signs of contamination, then that has to be treated as hazardous material.

43:44 – As a battery manufacturer, you have to decide how does your design meet that SDS requirement

Meet Chad, the load bank killer Teichmiller, our inside sales load bank guru. He's been on board here at Eagle Eye Power Solutions for a couple of years now. He's up to speed with all the technical aspects of load bank testing. There's a lot to these load banks and a lot of technical information but he's absorbing it and he's on the front lines every day working with customers to provide solutions.

02:24 – What are the, the range of models and things that we offer?

10:33 – What's a D A C?

13:54 – What is a general lead time?

20:55 – Where do you see the market going with EVs?

25:10 – What type of load bank would you be and why?