Although stationary battery and dc systems were once limited to the telecommunications companies, electric utility companies and industrial facilities (e.g., petrochemical and mining), they have become commonplace in commercial buildings, health care facilities and financial institutions, just to name a few; however, there are no courses on stationary batteries readily available to engineers, electricians or technicians at schools or colleges, nor are there any modern textbooks that deal with the topic. For this reason, Marco Migliaro created a number of training programs starting with a two-day Stationary Battery Seminar, targeted at those individuals that are working with stationary battery and dc systems, more than twenty-five years ago. In the years since the seminar was initially developed, it has been continually updated to reflect state-of-the-art battery technology and the latest industry standards.

Additional, battery manufacturers introduced valve regulated batteries, initially referred to as "sealed" and "maintenance-free", in the marketplace in the early 1980’s. As industry has found out, these batteries are neither, and in fact, for lead-acid designs, are more sensitive to charge voltage and temperature, and require more maintenance checks than do equivalent vented or flooded, batteries. ESA added information on these batteries to its established training programs and also developed a specific seminar for users that changed all their battery installations to valve regulated.

Feedback from the participants at the seminars has resulted in continual improvement of the seminar, as well as, indicating that there was a desire for additional seminars addressing other topics or one with more "hands-on" activities. Additionally, many of the participants in the seminars wanted to broaden their knowledge of stationary batteries beyond the "basics" and so they indicated a desire for a more advanced course. This has resulted in the development of additional seminars such as dc system design, stationary battery and battery charger sizing, visual inspection and problem identification, system engineer qualification, receipt inspection and a battery workshop (to address hands-on training). Course outlines and training objectives for the most popular seminars are available for DOWNLOAD.

Because it is difficult to transport batteries and even more difficult to demonstrate the many types of battery problems, it is usually not practical to have a true hands-on course. However, it is possible to create real-life situations and place the participants in teams that will analyze and evaluate the workshop problem presented. This is the basis for the Stationary Battery Workshop consisting of 45 case studies in the areas of selection, sizing, installation design, installation, maintenance and testing. Each case study describes an actual event that has occurred in the field. The case studies are self-contained and include facts and data related to the issue to be addressed. Some case studies include color photocopies of the battery being examined. Those solving the case study are challenged to develop a solution and to provide a recommended course of action to the "owner."

The following statements taken from hundreds received are representative of What Past Participants Have Said About ESA Battery and DC System Seminars

“I should have taken this course 20 years ago”

“I’ll never look at a battery in the same way again”
“I thought I knew everything about batteries, but this course showed me how little I really knew”

“The photographs and real life experiences of the instructor really helped my understanding”

“The instructor explained things at a level that was easy to understand”

“The course materials will be a valuable reference to me in the future”