In the latest episode of DC Power Hour, Dave Neubert recaps the BATTCON conference in Miami with the Battery Blarney duo, George and Allen. Allen, a founder and Hall of Fame member, discusses the history of BATTCON, which began to address negative press around VRLA batteries by fostering dialogue among industry stakeholders. Despite Allen's absence this year, George highlights key presentations and international participation, underscoring BATTCON's importance as a leading stationary battery conference.Episode Highlights3:28 – It started off with the presentation by Curtis Ashton, the current chair of the committee, the job you held for many, many years Allen.11:30 – There was a lot of focus from the floor on battery safety.31:04 – In some of the very large telecommunications applications, particularly places like the cable companies, they were seeing instability on the 48 volt bus, and I mean real instability.37:27 – I know from my own training requirements here, a basic standard like PRC 005, there is a lack of understanding at the level with the people who are doing it.

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 Highlights3:14 – Hear about some of the different applications our Digital Hydrometers are used for6:11 – Our SG Ultra comes with the most features and it's at the best price point10:58 – That's going to give you your NERC compliance13:25 – 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 Highlights9:06 – 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.Episode Highlights02:24 – 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?

In this episode of the DC Power Hour David and Allen introduce Ed Rafter, a special guest on DC Power Hour, who is an expert in UPS batteries. They discuss the differences between ups and downs, voltage, discharge times, and other aspects of battery powering. Ed has a 40-year career in mission-critical applications, focusing on batteries. He first learned about batteries in the 1980s when he worked for an engineering firm in New Jersey and then worked for data centers for the New York and American Stock Exchange and securities industry. Allen shares his experience installing dry charge batteries in Saudi Arabia in the late 70s.Episode Highlights01:06 – UPSs are now probably one of the largest users of batteries in this country. But there's a lot of differences between UPSs and other types of powering, and we'll go into that, you know, differences in voltage, discharge times, whole slew of stuff.08:24 – When I first was introduced to the battery, we used to size them for 30 minutes. That was pretty common as part of that was if all hell broke loose, we wanna make sure that the UPS stays online so we can either recover, figure out what went wrong, and see if we couldn't recover or have enough time so that we might be able to quiesce the system.30:09 – I think it was the first time I heard somebody got killed. It was one of the manufacturers, one of their people working in a battery cabinet. I had known of people getting hurt working on the racks, the open racks.42:33 – Now we're talking about bidirectional inverters. So instead of having a very large substantial rectifier that's gotta not only serve its critical load, but keep the battery charged.

In this episode of the DC Power Hour David and Allen introduce the power solutions sales team, including Brian, Luke, and Andrew. They discuss the evolution of the utility market and customer issues. Luke emphasizes the growing adoption of permanent 24/7 monitoring and the importance of better understanding and interpreting data. Brian mentions that utilities are looking for more efficient solutions to manage fleets and improve asset efficiency. Andrew highlights the shift from manual data collectors to automated data collectors and renewable energy as a more mainstream form of power generation.Episode Highlights3:51 – Across the industry a lot of customers are dealing and grappling with the onboarding of TPL-001-515:34 – Remote locations have been challenging, but that's where we're coming in and creating a great value, showing them our easy reports and how they can connect.22:06 – You might have a ton of electric vehicles and high demand surges in LA or San Diego, but that's not where the renewable sites are and getting that power to those areas can also be a problem.44:37 – We're looking at putting on regional Eagle Eye University events where clients within a specific 700 mile range can come and get training at a location that's convenient to them in the local utility market and be tuned highly towards that specific market, whether it's in the west, the south, or the east.

In this episode the Battery Blarney Duo talk about a great topic once again, the Battcon 2023 recap. We've been waiting a few weeks to discuss this as George has been traveling, doing some training around North America. He's back and in studio with us along with Allen and Chris joining in so sit back and enjoy the conversation.1:53 – How Battcon began9:08 – Oh, they'll be back next year. They really enjoyed it. and found it really, really informational.13:06 – As a Battcon presenter for many years, George discusses the process and experience36:09 – Some companies say that they're installation experts and you look at pictures they proudly send out and I can pick about half a dozen problems with it. We're going to have to talk about installers and user safety as well.

In this episode, the Battery Blarney Duo of Alan and George and are joined by their longtime friend and colleague at times, Dan Lambert. These gentlemen definitely have their finger on the pulse of the industry and can shed some light on the really interesting topic of codes and standards.  Episode Highlights04:40 – Not only with the national Electrical code NFPA 70, but also with the fire codes and UL and the IEEE standards. We've got so many change that's going on. It's sometime really hard to keep up with. You think just about UL alone, they've had revisions in the last six months of UL 94, UL 1778, 1973, 9540 has been revised and the 95 48 test procedure has been revised.  14:41 – And the, the crux of it is, is that what they do is they take a battery and they subject it to a, a variety of test methods, overcharge over discharge, overheating it short circuit a nail penetration test where that's something that's conceivable. And all of these tests are designed to see what it takes to set that battery on fire, if in fact it will will burn.  42:49 – So, and we know that monitoring and management within lithium battery is critical from a safety point of view to make sure that it doesn't either overcharge or over discharge, and to identify potential thermal runaway conditions. We don't have the same problem with the newer technologies, do we, Dan? What are we looking at in the way of monitoring and controls within these new technologies?  52:53 – And then when you have to build a system out of those components into something that's commercially viable, and you have generally contract manufacturing doing the assembly and such as that with those systems, you've introduced several layers of potential miscommunication, let's just put it that way, and that miscommunication can be a real problem for the end user.

In this episode, the Battery Blarney Duo is back in action to discuss the important topic of battery monitoring for different types of stationary battery applications. What all does a BMS monitor and what doesn't it? They'll discuss IEEE 1491, which they've have both chaired committees on, and review all that's included in this vital standard while dispelling any myths in the process. For anyone who wants crucial insights on the history of battery monitoring, as well as some ideas as to where it's headed, tune in and get the facts from George and Allen.Episode Highlights9:35 – IEEE came up with the term omic resistance to cover all three methods of checking the omic path through a battery.16:59 – If we talk about true battery monitoring where you actually are going to monitor the battery on a 24/7 basis then it starts to become a lot more interesting because as you said, and I will totally reinforce there is no single parameter within that data collected by the monitor that indicates failure or loss of capacity.20:50 – As you get into the larger vented lead acid batteries which have a extremely small resistance of the metallic path. You have to be conscious of the fact that you’re going to have to pull a lot of current, or push a lot of current, push, a lot of signal through that battery to make it meaningful.35:35 – Besides the visual things you talk about George, that you can’t look at or see, a good battery monitor will be able to measure ripple, current, ripple voltage.44:58 – So if you have a battery in a cabinet, you need to be measuring the temperature of a battery unit that is surrounded by others where you’re gonna find the biggest contact temperature. How much temperature rise. So the other thing that I’m looking at here are some of the interpretations of battery monitoring with respect to 1491, and that’s the measurement of ground fault.

In this episode, George is joined by Lucas Berndt, modular switch-mode charger product expert, to talk about industrial battery chargers and redundancy. They discuss the benefits of having a modular charger – with hot-swappable power modules – for redundant functionality in case of an outage. They address how this satisfies NERC and TPL standards that aim to eliminate single points of failure – and instead of having to buy and make room for two chargers, just one of these chargers will do the trick. Tune in for an in-depth conversation about chargers that you don’t want to miss.6:10One of the things that I really like about the modular chargers is the fact that at a location, just by adding a small charger, we suddenly have full N+1 redundancy. 12:53Basically, what I look for when I’m looking for redundancy, in talking about plusses, that is also variant from utility to utility – what they view as redundancy. So, they may look at it from the standpoint of my redundancy in my equation is I need, if this charger fails, I need to have the exact same power it had available. Or is their term of redundancy, I can lose a little, but I still maintain.23:43Changing out a modular battery charger is so easy a salesman can do it. I can be done 100% safely. It is pretty safe and pretty fast.43:10With NERC and TPL standards aiming to address and eliminate single points of failure, and a lack of space to consider when configuring system updates, being able to use a single charger instead of two is a priority.

How Does Standby Battery Power WorkIn this episode, George of The Battery Blarney Duo answers questions about the basic concept and workings of battery backup for electric substations and their critical components. He touches on topics including ensuring the stability and reliability of the electricity grid, reducing the risk of equipment damage, keeping communications systems powered and preventing costly power outages.The session highlights that battery monitoring systems are critical components of battery backup systems in electric substations. They provide real-time information on the battery's state of charge, voltage, and health, enabling timely maintenance and ensuring that the battery is always ready to provide emergency power when needed.Episode Highlight2:43 - When there is an outage and substation stand-by power is engaged, how does that work?8:00 - Substation communications systems are a key part of the system and depend on having a properly maintained battery back up system.10:12 - Learn what happens when the power flickers out for a moment and what to expect if it happens more than once.15:01 - George explains how power is shifted around through the system and touches on the failings that led to the 2021 electrical crisis in Texas.17:56 - Technicians play a critical role in maintaining the safety and reliability of electrical power systems, and having both field experience and mission critical training is essential. Training with real-world equipment, problem solving, and seeing the consequences of their actions in a safe and controlled environment are invaluable.Eagle Eye E-mail

The discussion about the chemistry and applications of batteries continues in this episode with David, Al Warner and Dan Lambert, and The Battery Blarney Duo. They are comparing flow and lead acid batteries in terms of their reliability and need for maintenance. They examine the problem if you have an energy-storage battery, such as a zinc manganese battery, as well as the benefit of nickel zinc batteries in which electrodes interact with electrolytes. They also mention that a hybrid system using both nickel zinc and manganese dioxide batteries might be very efficient, and that if manufacturers collaborate, third-party integrators will find it easy to connect these products together into a cohesive unit.Tune in to hear about the various codes and standards affecting stationary batteries plus comments about systems integrators and how they can fail when integrating different types of energy storage.Episode Highlights06:33 - There are a lot of things about different systems that most people are not aware of and they think, "Oh, fuel cell, that's the answer to everything." It's not. It can never be the answer to everything. A lead acid battery is not going to oxygen starve the environment that's surrounding it. Fuel cells definitely can do that. A large system can starve the oxygen in the inside of a facility. Lesson is learned the hard way. 15:40 - I'm glad you brought up the idea of the hybrid battery system. Problem is that you end up, for instance, working with two different manufacturers, obviously competing for business, who don't always want to cooperate as well as they could. So, you end up with a third party having to do it.24:42 - Integrators are probably the short end of the circuit. You have to have people that are qualified and there seemed to be very few of them. It's interesting to me that you gain wisdom by knowledge. You gain wisdom by failing. There's no two ways around it. Experience counts for an awful lot in this game. The powers that be seem to want to push us towards an electrified world without adequate thought, without any experience. It's up to us in the industry, basically, to educate those that are coming into the industry. Contact InformationEagle Eye E-mail

The Battery Blarney Duo are joined by industry experts Al Warner and Dan Lambert to discuss lead acid, lithium, nickel cadmium and other prominent battery chemistries and their proper applications. They discuss the pros and cons of these popular chemistries as well as the prospect of other interesting options, like that of zinc manganese. The discussion revolves around selecting the best battery for a given application and how some outdated technology might be reimagined to better suit present-day requirements. With roughly 150 years of industry experience on this epsiode alone, it's safe to say there are a lot of insights to gain from listenting to these four battery veterans.Episode Highlights16:47 - Most of these lithium battery fires have occurred because people did not have good fire suppression to take care of the external flame source.30:42 - The problem we have with most people is they think lithium is a one size fits all. It's not. It cannot fit all of the applications. 33:59 - Through the years, there have literally been millions of dollars invested into the development of the nickel zinc technology.35:41 - The other technology I was alluding to is zinc manganese dioxide. It's kind of the other end of the scale. It's a zinc battery, very similar to the zinc manganese primary cells.46:18 - The real key here to energy storage as we move forward is going to be, and is rapidly becoming kind of a focal point for everybody, is the sustainability of the technology. And some of these old technologies – yeah, they're old. They weren't really, shall we say, manipulated or commercialized, basically, because the technology at the time of the invention was, to our way of looking at it, very rudimentary. We have much better technology now and as modern science looks at these things, they can see massive improvements that can be made.Contact InformationEagle Eye E-mail