Weasel Posted April 4, 2016 Share Posted April 4, 2016 Hi Guys, New to the forum and i thought i'd do an interesting post, or at least try to. This is just a test setup I threw together so please excuse all violations, ideally you'd need balancing to connect them up in this way, also some proper earthing, fuses and oh yes, not a pile of wood next to an open inverter XD. It's interesting to try analyse what you see here but yeah, clearly there are dry cells and i presume sulfation for the hot spots, you can also see the electrolyte levels in some. The bank was in daily cycling use but i doubt it saw any real deep cycles (due to the setup). It was set for a daily equalization charge and too high of a float voltage so ultimately gassing killed it. But hey 8 years is still respectable for a semi deep cycle. Cheers Chris Hobson, superdiy, Carl and 1 other 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 4, 2016 Share Posted April 4, 2016 Welcome Weasel ... AWESOME!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Energy-Jason Posted April 4, 2016 Share Posted April 4, 2016 Awesome, Is that a FLIR add on for phone? Jason Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Weasel Posted April 4, 2016 Author Share Posted April 4, 2016 Hi Jason, It's a modified Flir E4 for 320x240 resolution. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 4, 2016 Share Posted April 4, 2016 I wonder if this is not a service that one can render for checking battery banks? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Hobson Posted April 4, 2016 Share Posted April 4, 2016 That is some of the cleverest use of technology I have seen recently. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Weasel Posted April 4, 2016 Author Share Posted April 4, 2016 1 hour ago, The Terrible Triplett said: I wonder if this is not a service that one can render for checking battery banks? I'm not above whoring myself out for some money ___ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 4, 2016 Share Posted April 4, 2016 And I am not above paying ... What could it cost, and how do you handle sites all over the country? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Weasel Posted April 5, 2016 Author Share Posted April 5, 2016 Hah, thinking big already, I like it But I recon costs would be quite high if you got some certified bloke to check your system. Me of course not having said certifications thinks its unnecessary :D Honestly though, i've ran some ads a while back and had zero interest, so i can only assume people don't know what it can do for them, maybe think of it as a gimmick. I think anyone's best bet is to get a flir one for your phone and charge your friends in beers. Speaking of which if anyone on the forum would like, id be happy to come over and lend it to you, provided of course you're not too far away. The price would be some beers and compulsory eskom smack talk. cheers Chris Hobson, superdiy and Carl 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 5, 2016 Share Posted April 5, 2016 Now let me guess ... even though I have the beers, you are too far away? Checked the prices of the camera's ,,, eina! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Weasel Posted April 5, 2016 Author Share Posted April 5, 2016 Murphy you Ba$#rd Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
viper_za Posted April 5, 2016 Share Posted April 5, 2016 I'll be first Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carl Posted April 5, 2016 Share Posted April 5, 2016 Hey TTT, i can pop over sometime with my camera, if you cover transport costs. Its not quite the same resolution as Weasel but still good at 240 by 180 (Fluke Ti27) and thermal sensitivity at 0.05 degrees C. I also don't have any certification but it's fun to play around with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Hobson Posted April 5, 2016 Share Posted April 5, 2016 I'll provide accommodation when you come to Nieu-Bethesda bring your camera along . Carl 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 5, 2016 Share Posted April 5, 2016 Lekker spanner in the works, you all living elsewhere and not voting right!!! BUT, another idea has now been planted ... busy germinating, from CPT. Now to find a camera in CPT, with someone who wants to make the effort earning a few rands to screen batts so that we can learn and see if we can find problems this way, BEFORE the banks are destroyed. I would imagine it may take a while to learn the caveats on what to do with the information presented, to then check regularly that the batts are now happy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carl Posted April 5, 2016 Share Posted April 5, 2016 Hey Chris, i am going to take you up on that offer. Hey TTT i am keen on screening batteries, maybe a joint venture? Wonder if it is possible to scan PV panels for defects? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Weasel Posted April 5, 2016 Author Share Posted April 5, 2016 1 minute ago, Carl said: Hey Chris, i am going to take you up on that offer. Hey TTT i am keen on screening batteries, maybe a joint venture? Wonder if it is possible to scan PV panels for defects? yep you can certainly check panels, its a bit tricky with the emissivity and reflectivity of glass so its better to check them on the back which is of course a problem once they've been mounted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Weasel Posted April 5, 2016 Author Share Posted April 5, 2016 1 hour ago, viper_za said: I'll be first cool Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 5, 2016 Share Posted April 5, 2016 5 minutes ago, Carl said: Hey TTT i am keen on screening batteries, maybe a joint venture? Panels and batts ... what do you propose for a JV for I have 2 people in mind that can maybe handle it in CPT, being either in solar industry OR supplying batteries. The camera's ... that is a costly problem, not? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carl Posted April 5, 2016 Share Posted April 5, 2016 Well i have 1 camera and time but bad at marketing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 5, 2016 Share Posted April 5, 2016 Why do you not have a chat to solar installers, and do that as a service to THEM, and they to their clients? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carl Posted April 5, 2016 Share Posted April 5, 2016 I chatted to two solar companies / installers and they did not seem to think that the client would want to pay the extra costs. Needless to say i am not the best at marketing myself. Also the training is very expensive at about R20 000 / level (3 levels available in Jhb nothing in CT) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carl Posted April 5, 2016 Share Posted April 5, 2016 1 hour ago, Weasel said: yep you can certainly check panels, its a bit tricky with the emissivity and reflectivity of glass so its better to check them on the back which is of course a problem once they've been mounted. That's interesting thanks. Will have to investigate further. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
superdiy Posted April 5, 2016 Share Posted April 5, 2016 5 hours ago, The Terrible Triplett said: Now let me guess ... even though I have the beers, you are too far away? Checked the prices of the camera's ,,, eina! The cameras are quite expensive, but the phone attachment (FLIR One) goes for about R5000 - 640 x 480 and 0.1°C resolution. I'm just waiting for supported device confirmation... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 5, 2016 Share Posted April 5, 2016 1 hour ago, superdiy said: ... , but the phone attachment (FLIR One) goes for about R5000 - ... You can buy another Axpert for that price. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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