My 24 Aquion AHI batteries

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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

[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 $$$

[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.

[OffGridHawaiian]

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

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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