ESA has extensive experience in the failure analysis of electrical equipment and in particular, stationary batteries, and starting lighting and ignition (e.g., truck, automotive, motorcycle or recreational type) batteries. ESA staff have performed or witnessed hundreds of equipment examinations including lead-acid vented and valve regulated batteries. ESA has a partnering arrangement with world-class laboratories that can perform plastics evaluations, metallurgical analysis, aging evaluations, life testing and so forth.

In addition to batteries, other types of equipment ESA has examined include: relays, fuses, electric penetrations, thermocouples, motors, solenoid valves, and so forth. Most of these analyses have included root cause evaluations.

A number of the failure analyses performed have resulted in ESA's clients obtaining replacement equipment in instances where there has been a warranty issue with the equipment manufacturer. ESA has also used the results of some of the analysis including tests or experiments performed, to support pending litigation.

For additional information on experience, capabilities, or references contact
Marco W. Migliaro at ESA.

This 8D battery for an emergency engine-generator exploded when an attempt was made to start the engine	Positive plates are measured to determine plate growth during a destructive examination
A perforation in the separator resulted in a plate short in the cell	VRLA cell dryout is evidenced by the glass mat sticking to the plate