FIAMMSoNick

Change doesn’t come from laggards

 

Change doesn’t come from Laggards – it will come when more people care enough about climate change to hold those laggards to account.

Vote for leaders who will fight climate change by

– Ending fossil fuel subsidies

– Investing in renewables

– Leaving fossil fuels in the ground

– Supporting a price on carbon

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SoNick battery BMS or Battery Management System

Some Energy storage batteries have a built-in BMS or Battery Management or Monitoring System to monitor how a battery operates and how it talks to the grid. This is an electronic system that manages a batteries function by protecting the battery from operating outside its “Safe Operating Area” both for the batteries health and to prevent any accidents that the battery could cause by malfunctioning.

The internal BMS monitors and controls all charging and safety aspects of the battery. The BMS will also keep you informed of the state of the battery so you can monitor the batteries health.

When integrated with other SoNick batteries the SoNick BMS synchronises the operation of the battery bank so that all batteries work together as one large battery.

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How freezing temperatures affect batteries

 

 

Recent sub zero temperatures in Victoria have caused problems with liquid in solar panels and batteries freezing.

Plumbers and solar installers say they have struggled to keep up with unprecedented demand for help as temperatures plummet. Cold weather can cause water in solar panels to freeze and expand, resulting in snapped and split panels and broken frost valves. Naturally this problem is worse in cheaper products or products that aren’t installed properly to allow for temperature extremes.

We have also heard of several instances of batteries freezing as well. Most lead acid and lithium ion batteries only operate effectively between around 5 – 35 to 40 °C which is problematic on days when the temperature gets very cold or even is below freezing as we experienced in Melbourne recently.

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So much conflicting information on battery storage

 

When consumers go online to compare different batteries there is so much conflicting information available it is very difficult to get a clear picture of what is available and to understand what is happening in the industry. What is important is you compare similar products and don’t just listen to what salespeople are telling you.

If a product has been in use for a number of years the quoted figures are more likely to be reliable than if a product is new and hasn’t yet been tested in real life conditions. Generally batteries are tested in factories at 25 degrees. This can produce different results than are experienced in real life when temperatures vary widely.

Currently there are no relevant battery standards in Australia

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Battery Drawdown power

 

Energy storage batteries come in a variety of different sizes and weights and each have different characteristics.  Here is a comparison of the 2 safe, recyclable batteries currently available in Australia, FIAMM sodium nickel chloride (SoNick) or molten salt battery and Aquion salt water battery, with comparisons of size for a similar sized system from some other battery technologies.

Another thing to consider is how much power you can actually draw from the battery at any point in time. Our SoNick battery can draw 150 amps for 4 hours continuously but some other batteries are very limited in the amount of power that can be used, maybe only with enough to boil a kettle and little more.

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