The integrity of any standby power system is reliant on the battery installed, if the battery is degraded then the system will not provide the necessary or expected back up power when required. This can be a serious issue for environments that are reliant on back up power from uninterruptible power supplies, and even critical when emergency lighting is considered. So what causes early life failure in VRLA battery systems and how can maximum service life be achieved? The following offers some of the main causes of life failure that should be understood.

Temperature is possibly the most common cause of life failure in lead acid battery systems, high ambient battery room temperature is a common issue that needs to be addressed within any battery installation environment. Most valve regulated lead acid battery manufacturers will specify a temperature range of 21 to 25 degrees celsius as necessary to achieve optimum service life. For an in depth look at how temperature affects lead acid battery life please refer to our previous blog post How Does Temperature Affect Lead Acid Batteries?.

Batteries that are exposed to over charging can experience excessive gassing, water consumption and grid corrosion causing the battery to fail in a very short amount of time. Sustained over charging can lead to destructive thermal runaway which can cause the battery to rupture and melt.

Not allowing for the battery to return to its charged state will cause the battery to form sulfate on on its lead plates and seriously compromise the batteries performance. Continued undercharging will inevitably lead to failure of the battery altogether. To avoid incorrect charging it is always best to make sure you are using the correct type of charger, rated correctly to suit your battery type.

For lead acid batteries, it is essential to recharge after use. This is because when a battery is discharge the electricity produced is created by the electrolyte converting to sulfate crystals on the plates of the battery. Initially this sulfate is soft and can be reconverted back to electrolyte when the battery is put on recharge. If this recharge is delated by any significant time period then the sulfate will harden and not convert back, this is known as battery sulfation.

All lead acid batteries have a finite number of discharge and recharge cycles, how many cycles a battery system will provide is dependent on the type of battery chemistry being used (for example AGM or Gel) and the depth of discharge of each cycle. The deeper the discharge of each cycle then the less cycles the battery will be able to provide.

For any battery system to operate properly it must first be correctly installed with careful handling and manufacturers installation instructions observed and followed. All manufacturers will issue manuals providing instruction for installation of batteries, it is important to ensure to carry out works using the information provided.

When connecting batteries in series and parallel it is essential to use torque settings as advised by the manufacturer and make this common for each battery connection. Failure to do this can lead to batteries significantly under performing and charging becoming inefficient.

Todays manufacturing processes are highly automated which has lead to genuine manufacturer faults becoming quite uncommon, however the types of deficiencies that can occur include faulty post seal design, paste irregularities (paste lumps causing shorts between plates), case weaknesses and internal connection issues.

Essential battery systems should be regularly checked and maintained to ensure integrity, this can include electrical measurements of each battery and environment observation to ensure ambient temperature, airflow and general battery room conditions are kept suitable and within the manufacturers recommended operating parameters.

We hope you have found the points of consideration raised within this blog article to be useful. As always, if there is any doubt of correct procedure please consult the manufacturers manual applicable to the battery type and range you are installing. The team at Blue Box Batteries are always available to provide this information upon request.

Power protection is essential for modern business, this can be achieved by installing a UPS to ensure building facilities and IT equipment remain online during mains power failure. But what is a UPS and how does it work?

UPS is an abbreviation of ‘uninterruptible power supply’ and is exactly that, a device that provides uninterrupted power in the event of mains failure. Equipment such as computers, servers and a range of IT infrastructure apparatus can be affected by power quality and failure, if a server is not properly shut down without warning then this can result in the loss of valuable data. If a business operates tills or similar equipment then a mains power fault without a UPS in place will result in an immediate shutdown of equipment needed to complete transactions and provide essential customer support.

It is not just business that rely on a back up power source such as a UPS, many public services such as hospitals, airports and train services all have UPS in place to provide clean reliable power even when mains power is not present.

UPS come in a huge range of sizes, with rating descriptions as follows:

VA (volts ampere) small range UPS, often for single computers, tills or small office environments.

kVA (kilo volt ampere) mid range and the most common UPS rating description used in various environments such medium offices, supermarkets and such like.

MVA (mega volt ampere) large range UPS systems, often found in datacentres and other large power environments.

The vast majority of UPS will be reliant on back up power from a connected battery source, the most common type of battery used in UPS is lead acid technology. Small UPS will utilise sealed lead acid batteries and larger UPS will most commonly use valve regulated lead acid batteries to provide power. The battery is often the heaviest and largest component of a UPS, and it is not unusual for the battery to account for more than 40% of the cost. For further information on battery types, please refer to our previous blog post A Guide to Large Rechargeable And Industrial Battery Types.

As a basic description, a UPS will be incorporated between the mains power and the building load, providing filtered power to any equipment connected to the UPS. The main components of a UPS are as follows –

Rectifier – The rectifier will convert the AC power (alternating current) from the mains to DC power (direct current), this is necessary for the batteries, which operate only on DC power.

Battery – In the event of a power outage the batteries will provide the power to the electrical load connected to the UPS. This may be computer equipment, servers, or any other item being protected by the UPS.

Inverter – The inverter will convert the DC power from the batteries back to AC power required by the buildings electrical load. The inverter will switch to the batteries in the event of a power outage by means of a static switch.

The UPS will also incorporate power filtering to ensure the power supplied is ‘clean’ and free of surges, lags, spikes and any number of power issues which can effect sensitive IT equipment.

It is worth noting that not all UPS rely solely on batteries for backup power, some larger UPS will use a flywheel system rather than batteries, these types of UPS are known as ‘rotary’ UPS.

In the event of a mains failure, a UPS will provide power in what is effectively ‘zero time’ meaning the electrical load being supported will continue to operate without interruption. A generator will take much longer to start up and generate enough power to take over the load, as a guide around 5 – 10 minutes is common though this can vary depending on the system implemented.

Often a generator and UPS system will be incorporated together to provide power protection. Once the mains supply has failed, the UPS will initially take over the load using battery as the power source, when the generator is ready to support the load the UPS will then switch over and use the power from the generator instead of the battery.

Power provided by the generator will continue to run via the UPS as this will ensure a clean, filtered power supply as generator power can be unclean by comparison and not suitable for IT loads.

The UPS battery run time or ‘autonomy’ will depend on the battery installed, this can range from 5 minutes, enough time to start a generator or shutdown IT equipment safely, or several hours. Obviously the longer the autonomy required the larger the battery will need to be. Large installations can include numerous cabinets or racks dedicated to UPS batteries and will weigh many tonnes though small UPS may be no larger than a shoebox. A UPS supplier will tailor the battery design to suit client requirements.

Blue Box Batteries are specialists in providing battery systems for UPS ranging from small single phase units for home or small office use, to large systems protecting data centres, public services and large power environments.

For the best advice and assistance call us on 02381 789197.

It is well known that all lead-acid batteries will have a shorter life when operated at a higher temperature. This is the case no matter what type lead-acid battery it is and no matter who manufacturers them. The effect can be described as the ARRHENIUS EQUATION.

Svante Arrhenius, was a Swedish scientist who discovered the life of lead-acid batteries is affected by variations in temperature. He established that for every 10ºC increase in temperature the battery life would be halved. Therefore, as an example, it follows that if the life is 30 years at 15ºC then at 25ºC the life will be 15 years. The equation also suggests that at 5ºC the life will be 60 years but unfortunately other things come into play when batteries are very old, typically over 30 years, and the Arrhenius equation is only really valid between about 15ºC and 40ºC for operational batteries.

Why is the life reduced? There are many interacting electro-chemical effects but one of the main reasons is that for any given constant voltage that is applied to the battery by the float charger there will be a resultant float current. Lead-acid batteries will accept more current if the temperature is increased and if we accept that the normal end of life is due to corrosion of the grids then the life will be halved if the temperature increases by 10ºC because the current is double for every 10ºC increase in temperature. It has also been shown that evaporation of water through the container walls occurs and if the temperature is increased then evaporation will also increase. This may result in drying out of some batteries of the VRLA AGM and VRLA GEL type. However, this is a complex subject that cannot be easily calculated and applied to give a predicted life. In any case, good quality lead-acid batteries will not normally fail due to drying out. Drying out is not relevant to vented types and we can use the Arrhenius equation to give an estimate of the life when the operational temperature is different to the design temperature.

In Europe it is common for battery lives to be quoted when operating at a continuous temperature of 20ºC. If the temperature is 10ºC for 3 months, this will not reduce the overall life by half but only a percentage of the expected 20ºC life. However, operating at 21ºC and not at 20ºC for the entire life will reduce the life by almost 10%. We also have to be careful when we refer to life and separate “design life” and “real life”. A VRLA AGM battery may be quoted as having a design life of 10 years but the real life, even when operated continuously at 20ºC, will be nearer 8 years. Similarly, some have quoted high performance planté batteries as having a design life of 25 years, but there are many examples of this type of battery sill in service after over 30 years. What we do know is that operating at a higher temperature will reduce the life of lead-acid batteries.  

We should also consider the battery configuration and thermal management. If, for example, the battery is arranged on a 6 tier stand that could easily be over 2m high, it is not uncommon for there to be a 5ºC difference between the bottom and top of the battery. If the cells or monoblocs are all in the same string the aging will be more or less the same for those on the bottom tier as those on the top tier. This is because the float current will be the same throughout that battery. However, because only part of the battery is at a higher temperature, the float current will not follow the Arrhenius equation. Never the less, a reduction in life will result.

Thermal management is particularly important when the battery is in an enclosure. Ideally, the use of runners is preferred to shelves and if shelves are used they should be perforated to allow a vertical movement of air. The cells or monoblocs should be spaced to provide a minimum of 10mm gap between the units on all four sides. Slots or holes within an enclosure should be provided to give a sweeping action of the circulating air from the base of the enclosure over the battery and exiting at the top on the opposite side to the inlet point. This will also assist in the removal of explosive hydrogen gas which is produced. Where air conditioning is used within a battery room, sufficient air flow must be catered for to prevent a temperature gradient between the top of the battery and bottom. Under all circumstances and for all installations, there should be no more than a 2ºC difference in temperature of the units between the top and bottom of the battery.

If the battery is subjected to particularly high temperature or if thermal management is poor, the battery may go into thermal runaway. If this occurs, the complete battery will be destroyed. Thermal runaway can occur within a very short time and cases have been reported after only a few weeks of installing a new battery system.

The use of temperature compensated charging equipment is recommended to minimise the risk of thermal runaway. A reduction of the float voltage will to some extent mitigate the loss of live but it will not remove the effects completely. Users should consult the battery supplier for detailed information.

The graph below may be used to estimate the life when operated on float systems at different operating temperatures. The graph may be used to estimate the effect of different daily or monthly operating temperatures. EG, one day at 30ºC will have the effect of 2 days at 20ºC.

An example to estimate the life at different temperatures follows.

Example: A battery has a design life of 12 years in accordance with IEC 60896 and the typical operating temperature is as the chart below: Note: 12 years = 4380 days.

The above can be rationalised to an approximate monthly average as follows: - From the chart below we can see that for every year the battery has aged 437 days and not 365 days. Therefore the battery will last 4380 / 437 = 10years and not 12 years.

We hope this latest blog post has proven useful in further understanding the affect of temperature on lead acid batteries. The team at Blue Box Batteries has extensive experience in this field are always available to make sure you are provided the best possible information available to ensure optimum service life from your battery system.

Front terminal batteries have been in existence for quite some time now, originally designed for use in telecom cabinets the accessible design of these battery types has now been embraced by manufacturers and installers for use in many other standby power applications such as UPS and emergency lighting. This is due to the advantages given by utilising this type of solution, the benefits being hard to ignore.

The following is a breakdown of some of the features of front terminal batteries, together with how this option can often prove to be practical and cost saving over the life of the battery system.

All front terminals offer a strong power density and use their footprint with maximum power efficiency. This can solve on site issues where space is at a premium and fitment of batteries can be an issue, such as older office environments where building service and IT rooms can be limited but the requirement to support modern critical services remain. Space saving battery power solutions are a great advantage and can leave extra space for additional equipment which are an inevitable requirement as businesses expand within existing premises.

The image below shows front terminal batteries on an open rack as part of a major UPS installation, the efficient fitment capability of front terminal batteries provide a space conscious design. Notice that minimal clearance is needed over the top of the battery, whereas a top terminal battery would require space for cables and terminal access above each battery row.

Installation of front terminal batteries into cabinets or racks tends to be very simple compared to top terminal battery products as, of course, the battery terminals will be facing the front of the battery rack or cabinet. This means all the terminals are easily reached and are connected in a row using just a small solid interconnecting bar, rather than varying lengths of cable or long solid bar connectors required for top terminal batteries. Specific layout designs for top terminal batteries can be quite complicated depending on the type of installation required, this is much less in the case of front terminal batteries where inter battery connection requires just one common link type on most occasions.

The Fiamm FIT range of front terminal batteries each come supplied with an inter-connection link and 'clip on cover' as shown in this image.

Another considerable benefit to front terminal batteries is post installation maintenance. With this type of layout the accessibility of the live terminals is paramount for taking measurements from the system such as voltage and impedance required to ascertain the health of the installation. Taking these readings from easy to reach terminals is a great advantage and a major time saving feature when compared to top terminal batteries.

In the event a battery should fail within a system and require replacement, then the front terminal battery offers a modular ‘slide out, slide in’ simplistic fitting as all batteries are situated at the front. Whereas if the same situation arises within a top terminal battery cabinet, then several batteries may have to be removed to reach the failed battery should it be locate at the rear of a cabinet.

Reaching over the top of connected batteries within a cabinet to take measurements is not ideal. Front terminal batteries eliminate this disadvantage with the location of all inter connecting parts and terminals being easily and practically in reach. VRLA front terminal batteries are non spillable, non hazardous and generally safe for transport. The next image shows a system of UPS12-700MRXF from the C&D Technologies MRXF Range which demonstrates the accessibility of the terminals which are situated directly behind the clip on covers.

The majority of this battery type employs traditional valve regulated lead acid technology (VRLA) with absorbed glass mat (AGM) separators. This is a long proven and highly reliable solution and is the most common battery chemistry used in industrial batteries for standby use, benefiting from many years of research and development to ensure an optimum, 'fit for purpose' product.

Blue Box Batteries offer front terminal battery solutions from all major manufacturers such as Exide GNB, Fiamm, Yuasa and Enersys and have advocated using them in many applications which have proven this type to be the best option. To discuss the benefits of front terminal solutions further please contact our support team, we pride ourselves on our service, experience, technical knowledge and trusted position as a UK industrial battery distributor.

If you're looking to protect your business' information, data and content no matter what the situation, then an Uninterruptible Power Supply is the ideal solution.

Take a look at our latest informative infographic to find out how a UPS can save your business admin, time and money.

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Source: Blue Box Batteries

Retaining information, content and data is hugely important for the success of any business, regardless of its size.

With this in mind, consider a scenario whereby your company was no longer able to gain access to this critical information. Whilst the primary job of a data centre is to house this type of content, the effects of losing power can be extremely detrimental to your business.

Let’s take a look at five of these potential risks in greater detail.

First and foremost, limited or restricted access to your data and content can put a halt to business operations.

The knock-on effect of this means that even simple day-to-day tasks will be compromised, as you can no longer provide an optimum service. This can result in your company suffering financially until the problem is resolved.

As the saying goes, time is money, and this is even more relevant where business is concerned, so you’ll want to ensure you avoid this situation occurring at all costs.

Another fundamental aspect of a successful business is a productive and efficient workplace. Losing data centre power can restrict staff access to the information they need in order to do their job properly.

In this scenario, it’s likely that productivity will decrease, which again can have a damaging effect on generating new business and increasing revenue.

This is where you need to make sure you have a sufficient back-up plan to deal with these risks and restore business operations back to normal.

Losing information even for a short period of time isn’t an ideal situation, so imagine if you couldn’t access this data ever again.

Without a sufficient back-up plan in place (such as the installation of UPS batteries), when the power fails, you run the risk of losing data for good.

If this information is un-retrievable, then your staff will have no option other than to accept that the data is gone, or alternatively spend additional time recreating the content they need.

This puts added pressure on your business, as resources aren’t being used to maximise efficiency.

If you lose data centre power then you will experience downtime across your business until the problem is fixed. This of course will be a different scenario if you have a back-up plan in operation.

Downtime can affect IT devices and technologies, which can lead to further issues for your company. When it comes to business, don’t compromise, or put yourself in a position where these risks can affect the day-to-day running of your organisation.

Instead, speak to a professional battery supplier to eliminate or reduce the risk factor of any of the above.

Blue Box Batteries supply a range of UPS batteries to ensure that you never lose power and your data centres run smoothly at all times.

For more information on how to protect your company’s power and data, contact us today on 02381 789197 or get in touch with us via our website

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