My 24 Aquion AHI batteries

[OffGridHawaiian]

Aloha jflory2,
I believe SOC at that time was around 33%. We have since replaced the S-10's with the 3rd gen Aspens and have had SOC down to 15% @ 52v. Our installer mentioned that our inverters don't really have a setting for our type of battery so we are using some custom settings. Have to say that there is a difference since switching to the new batteries. Same 24 stacks of 8 with more capacity. SOC has only been down to 15% once. We stay in the 75% to 65% most of the time even with a full house. I'm in Germany now freezing my butt off and will return the end of the month. I have a graph I can post that shows DOC, DC voltage, And PV used. Will post that. Aloha from Germany, Almost off grid Hawaiian

[jflorey2]

We did have one day when batteries went down to 40V and our system shut down.

What was the state-of-charge reported when that happened? From what I have seen those batteries have a very wide voltage range during discharge.

[Off Grid in Hawaii]

There is nothing you can do about it. It indicates you just have too much panel wattage. It is not so much about wasting energy in as much as you are not utilizing energy. Unfortunately any off grid system is not capable of utilizing all the potential energy it could produce. They have to be over sized especially in months with long Solar Hour Days. Otherwise if you had a cloudy day with no charging you would never be able to get caught up.

Only thing you can really do is once the batteries are fully charged start turning stuff on and use the excess for something like run the dishwasher, washing machine, irrigation, ect.. It just requires you change your daily routine and lifestyle.

Agree. We start laundry mid-morning on sunny days, then load up the electric dryer when we're at 100% SOC and the panels are cranking out excess energy. Great time to start a roast in the oven, too.

[SunEagle]

Aloha, Our system up and running again. Replaced 2 Schneider XW+ 6848 Inverters and so far have not had any problems. Got a check for $12000 from the insurance company for damaged equipment and labor. $9000 for equipment and $3000 for labor, $2200 was for installing reinstalling the inverters, but my installer told me to keep it since they are responsible for keeping my system running. Getting a check from the insurance company for the Utility Power we used when our system was down. Hey Sunking, our 24 stacks of POS S-10s are still working . We did have one day when batteries went down to 40V and our system shut down. Our guest left the range hood fan running and we were doing some dehydrating and 4 cloudy days in a row. Other than that still happy with our system. Lucky we live Hawaii.

Great to hear you were able to resolve the issue and your system is back up and running. Thanks for keeping us up to date on it.

Hope you get to enjoy the nice weather now that those hurricanes have left the islands.

[OffGridHawaiian]

Aloha again, Forgot to mention our atmospheric water generator was running and we have 12 guests.

[OffGridHawaiian]

Aloha, Our system up and running again. Replaced 2 Schneider XW+ 6848 Inverters and so far have not had any problems. Got a check for $12000 from the insurance company for damaged equipment and labor. $9000 for equipment and $3000 for labor, $2200 was for installing reinstalling the inverters, but my installer told me to keep it since they are responsible for keeping my system running. Getting a check from the insurance company for the Utility Power we used when our system was down. Hey Sunking, our 24 stacks of POS S-10s are still working . We did have one day when batteries went down to 40V and our system shut down. Our guest left the range hood fan running and we were doing some dehydrating and 4 cloudy days in a row. Other than that still happy with our system. Lucky we live Hawaii.

[Mike90250]

The Aquion batteries have been performing very well in all four installations.
All the advantages of Nickel Iron, without any of the disadvantages. Depending on how you compare to lead acid, it does have three distinct disadvantages for certain applications.
1. Investment.
2. Weight
3. Size (space required)
Have not been able to find any further disadvantages thus far

High internal resistance, requires over-sizing the bank, more $$$

[B-17]

The Aquion batteries have been performing very well in all four installations.
All the advantages of Nickel Iron, without any of the disadvantages. Depending on how you compare to lead acid, it does have three distinct disadvantages for certain applications.
1. Investment.
2. Weight
3. Size (space required)

Have not been able to find any further disadvantages thus far

[Sunking]

The AHI chemistry is changing as the research team at Aquion tweak the chemistry to get great throughput - lower resistance - and greater capacity.

Well at least you admitted the batteries are a POS.

[SunEagle]

Hello Markemark and welcome to Solar Panel Talk

While we appreciate any input you may bring to this forum concerning new battery technology.

I will warn you that even though you do not work for Aquion being a distributor does align you with being in the position of making a profit of selling that product. So please be careful not to advertise that product here.

You may provide answers to questions that may come up concerning its performance and abilities. Thank you.

[Markemark]

I have been reading the posts here and take note that no one here is actually connected to any dealer of the Aquion battery or the Aquion factory. I have been working with Aquion batteries since April 2015. I have been to the factory. 2 colleagues from our company have also been to the factory for training. We are one of the oldest distributors of the AHI battery. I would be happy to field any enquiries you may have. To put a few points straight here I will begin with:
The AHI chemistry is changing as the research team at Aquion tweak the chemistry to get great throughput - lower resistance - and greater capacity.

[Sundetective]

Looks like Northern Arizona Wind & Sun is now selling the S30 Stacks, the M110 Modules and some other Aquion Energy goodies.

They downgraded the kWh of the Stacks by 23% from 2.6 to 2 kWh. NOW 42.3 Ah at the 20 hour rate.

While day was at it they changed the 3,000 cycles from 100% DOD to

30% Depth Of Discharge.

The devils

The word from Hawaii is that the new Aquion Energy Aspen 48S Stack is the old S30 Stack with a new name.

Aquion Energy downgraded it over 15% from 2.6 to 2.2 kWh.

It no wonder old Bill's questions got discombobulated a tad.

Can see right now dat to get some truth I MUST start to creep around after MidNite a bit.

Sent an email in the middle of the night that was answered near immediately to start the process.

What can I say ?

[Sundetective]

Wow your battery bank graph really demonstrates the very high internal resistance of the batteries and extremely steep discharge curve.

King,

What kind of Peak Charging Amps does this system see ?

Does the Watts Meter Max seem to fluctuate a lot ? Does it Lie

You have pointed out that the AHI Batteries have a 'Sliding Capacity' based on the Discharge Rate and I would imagine the Charge Rate as well.

Wonder how much Capacity they lose by getting charged faster than they like.

Aquion talks about going to 70% Total Battery Capacity after the Lovin is done some day.

How slow or how fast that Loss happens will probably affect the total cost per kWh a good bit over time. Lot's of people miss that.

That's why the old timers changed the Electrolyte so often in their Edison Nickel Iron Batteries.

Rumor has it that a couple of famous old timers also had their own ideas about changing the Electrolyte in Lead Acid Batteries but I never looked into it.

My main man just talked to the first man to install AHI Batteries in the State of Hawaii yesterday, The devil

The fellow works for the main Aquion Energy Distributor in Hawaii and had a lot to say for the Investigation.


Bill Blake

[SunRa]

Kokua - Ohana style

Told my uncle, who lives adjacent to our property, to bring his extension cord over during the day

Da Kine for sure! Roll it back over to uncle's at sunset and get some ono grinds from auntie.

Sunking talks EROI like the only cost of grid-delivered electricity is your bill at the end of the month. This neatly ignores the total cost to the aina for producing and delivering that power. Nowhere is this more clearly shown than in Hawaii where every drop of fossil fuel used to produce electricity has to be hauled in from a long way away, leaving an oily carbon footprint 3000 miles long.

Sure, even with that, it's still a lot cheaper to buy juice than make it off-grid - if the only cost you care about is your electric bill. Factor in the cost of leaving a livable world to the keiki and EROI misses the big picture almost entirely.

I applaud those willing to shoulder the extra cost that the consumer society assiduously ignores in order to leave a little clean spot in this carbon-smudged world.

[inetdog]

Ok thanks. I know next to nothing about communicating in forums. I've read them for years but rarely interact.

This is not a bad place to learn, as long as you have a reasonably thick skin.