Maintaining UPS/car batteries

[whiteangel]

Shaking is not harmful as long as you don't shake it like Arnold Schwarzenegger It is just to allow the electrolyte to mix thoroughly before you take a reading. You don't need to remove the caps, and the bubbles are hydrogen so don't be smoking while doing this, unless you like fireworks

Normally you only need to add distilled water, but in your case if battery is 100% charged but electrolyte SG is not up to mark then there is no harm in adding more electrolyte to maintain accurate SG. If the SG still goes down after a few weeks then you might have a problem with some cells.

[unstopabl3]

Shaking is not harmful as long as you don't shake it like Arnold Schwarzenegger It is just to allow the electrolyte to mix thoroughly before you take a reading. You don't need to remove the caps, and the bubbles are hydrogen so don't be smoking while doing this, unless you like fireworks

Normally you only need to add distilled water, but in your case if battery is 100% charged but electrolyte SG is not up to mark then there is no harm in adding more electrolyte to maintain accurate SG. If the SG still goes down after a few weeks then you might have a problem with some cells.

So it's a good practice to shake the batteries a bit after sometime to allow the gases to escape and mix the electrolyte?

I will do as you have suggested and check if any improvements in a couple of days.

Thanks

[siraj_7]

@talhawaleed @whiteangel Guys I was down for many days with viral fever. A bit better and back now. My Pyro electrolyte (pre-mixed 1250 gravity acid) will be arriving from Lahore in about 2 to 3 days. I will buy "sookhi/unprepared" batteries on coming Monday. Can any of you please inbox me your number and just shortly tell me the proper way to prepare batteries and charge them fully the first time?

[siraj_7]

@unstopabl3 @whiteangel @talhawaleed

Is pyro good? I heard a lot of good about it in this forum and ordered it but now I hear @unstopabl3 says his cells are not holding gravity (probably dying) and he is using pyro since day 1. What could be the reason ?

[unstopabl3]

@unstopabl3 @whiteangel @talhawaleed

Is pyro good? I heard a lot of good about it in this forum and ordered it but now I hear @unstopabl3 says his cells are not holding gravity (probably dying) and he is using pyro since day 1. What could be the reason ?

I'd like to know this as well from @whiteangel @talhawaleed as the signs are telling me my batteries might be in trouble in just 3 months, similar to when I used to use electrolytes filled by the battery shops.

[siraj_7]

@unstopabl3

Please give more details:

What is the charge cutoff for your batteries? is it more than 29.2V or less than 28 or around 27 or even lower?

What is the charging amperes when the batteries are charging? Since these are UGS 175, so they are 135AMP batteries according to Phoenix.com.pk then 2x135 batteries should be optimally charged at 13.5 amp @ 24volts

What is the drain cutoff of your batteries ? Do you take them too low such as 16 amp or do you cut them off at 21 to 22 volts?

How do you top them off? Which water you choose? if branded battery water then which brand?

When you initially charged them? How much did you charge them? You should have charged them @13.5 amperes and should have taken them to at least 29.2 volts for the initial charge although I saw a poster by AGS where they say to take 12v battery to 15v (so 30v for 2 batteries) initial charge but I think that's controversial.

I'd like to know this as well from @whiteangel @talhawaleed as the signs are telling me my batteries might be in trouble in just 3 months, similar to when I used to use electrolytes filled by the battery shops.

[siraj_7]

@unstopabl3 Also let us know the manufacturing date on the batteries?

[whiteangel]

@talhawaleed @whiteangel Guys I was down for many days with viral fever. A bit better and back now. My Pyro electrolyte (pre-mixed 1250 gravity acid) will be arriving from Lahore in about 2 to 3 days. I will buy "sookhi/unprepared" batteries on coming Monday. Can any of you please inbox me your number and just shortly tell me the proper way to prepare batteries and charge them fully the first time?

Pour electrolyte into the batteries and let them sit for an hour. If the batteries are hot, let them cool down for a few hours until they are at room temperature. Then connect the UPS (without load) and let it charge the batteries completely. Make sure maximum UPS charging current does not exceed the maximum current for your batteries. Once the batteries are fully charged, double check the electrolyte level and SG in each cell. Finally connect load to UPS.

[ZAZTEK]

Ups is giving backup but not as per the exact requirements...... I think old ups also gives up its full potential....

[ZAZTEK]

I changed the battery recently.....

[siraj_7]

@whiteangel Thanks bro. The AGS pamphlet recommends to initial charge a 12V battery to 15V at Battery Amp-hour/10 charging rate. Is this correct?

Also after charging is complete I should open all caps and let the gas escape and then check electrolyte with sucker if not correct then pour more electrolyte other wise just top up with distilled water?

Pour electrolyte into the batteries and let them sit for an hour. If the batteries are hot, let them cool down for a few hours until they are at room temperature. Then connect the UPS (without load) and let it charge the batteries completely. Make sure maximum UPS charging current does not exceed the maximum current for your batteries. Once the batteries are fully charged, double check the electrolyte level and SG in each cell. Finally connect load to UPS.

[whiteangel]

I think they are talking about the initial charge, but most batteries arrive from the factory with this initial charge. The initial charge procedure charges batteries at a lower constant charging current about 6% of AH rating for an extended time till the desired cell voltage is reached. That means a 100AH battery is charged at a constant rate of 6AH. The initial charge procedure is listed in this link. Exide Industries Limited | Lead Acid Battery Service Tips You need a constant current charger for this, it is not possible to do an initial charge with an automatic charger. Battery dealers have this kind of charger. You could provide the dealer with the batteries filled with electrolyte and ask him to do the initial charge procedure. But dealers cannot be trusted, most of them don't want to go through the hassle of doing a battery charge by the book. They try to get it over with as soon as possible.

The max charging rate is amp hour/10. Now amp hour ratings of batteries are very misleading. A battery that says 150 might only be 130AH. So you need to ask the dealer about the actual AH rating of the battery you are buying. The dealer will have a specification for all batteries listing down their AH rating, just divide this number by 10 to get maximum charging current. If your UPS is adjustable, adjust it so that it does not exceed the maximum current. If the maximum charge current is not adjustable, then unfortunately you will need to get batteries of a higher AH rating to match or exceed the maximum charging current of the UPS.

[Vaqas1]

Well. Guys need an urgent help. I am going to buy battery for my UPS Inverex today. I was using NS 175 of Volta but that thing died in around 8 months. Due to load we put on it like 4 fans and around 5 lights. A lot of proper deep discharges and now on 3 Fan it gives up in 35 Mins.

I have used a lot of batteries in the past 6 years ( Volta, Exide. AGS, FB, Phoenix). But the one that lasted the longest was Phoenix UGS 175. ( 2 Years)

I am thinking of going for it again or new Volta Tublar battery 150 Amp one.

So suggest which one should i go for today?

Phoenix UGS 175 or Volta Tublar 150. for ( 3 Fans + 4 Lights power cut for one hour every 3 hours).

[unstopabl3]

Phoenix UGS 175 is meant for UPS as it has thicker plates, so go for it. Your own experience tells you that as well.

[metalhead]

Volta IT-series also has thicker plates. I have bought IT-1250 this year.

[siraj_7]

Phoenix UGS 175 is meant for UPS as it has thicker plates, so go for it. Your own experience tells you that as well.

@unstopabl3 What is the update to your problem on UGS 175? Are the cells still dropping SG below 1150 on few cells as you mentioned few days back?

[unstopabl3]

@unstopabl3 What is the update to your problem on UGS 175? Are the cells still dropping SG below 1150 on few cells as you mentioned few days back?

Will check in a couple of days.

[talhawaleed]

Yes I know what you mean by that, that's called deep discharge and a battery has only a certain number of these discharges after which it dies.
@talhawaleed need your advice bro

By discharging the lead acid batteries fully, if we mean that we will discharge it to 80% of its capacity which is to its low cut off voltage variable (10.3Volts) then this is good for batteries. lead acid batteries should not be discharged below 10.3Volts otherwise you will end up damaging the unit.

That?s why UPS are tuned to trip off once voltage on battery terminal reaches 10.3 Volts, discharging to this value and then recharging it back is good for batteries.

Sorry, had been away on a vacation trip to Gilgit areas so could not reply earlier.

[talhawaleed]

Bro today I checked the new Phoenix UGS 175 batteries I got in April 2015 as per your recommendation. The UPS was charging them since 5 hours so I got suspicious. When I checked the amps, UPS was charging at 1.5-2.0Amps although the batteries showed 27.30Volts across them.

There has been an issue with Wapda not sending proper voltage since a few days ranging from 200-210Volts and when I checked it showed 213Volts, so I thought maybe that's why it's charging so slowly and at only 2Amps.

Then I removed the caps and checked the electrolyte level, it was just a little low in a few cells. I took S.G gravity and it showed around 1250 in a few cells only, mostly were 1200-1230 and some were 1150-1200. Although the batteries run the whole house just fine during 1 hour of loadshedding, they are taking too long to charge fully. Could be due to low voltages from Wapda, but can't be sure!

So I'm a bit worried now that I've used Pyro Electrolyte since the beginning in these batteries and the batteries are showing signs of death in just 3 months.

What should I do? Should I take them back to the battery guy and have them checked again? Or should I run some more tests (such as discharging the batteries fully to see the total hours of backup) myself to confirm???

If I could tune your UPS then I would set the cutoff voltage to 28.5 Volts and would adjust the charging rate such that it switches to 2Amperes of charging once voltage on battery terminal reaches 28 Volts. Remember, cutoff voltage for lead acid batteries are kept between range 28-28.8Volts. normally once voltage on battery terminal reaches 28 Volts then we say that we are ready for next cycle of load shedding.

Here if UPS switches over to 2 Amperes of charging at 27 volts then it will take ages to hit 28 Volts which would mean that batteries will never be ready for next cycle of load shedding and you will never be able to harvest a good backup time.

Slow charging is good for batteries but trickle charging should be adjusted such that it switches over to its slowest charging rate once voltage on battery terminals have least reached 28 volts. For rest till 28.5 Volts, its charges the battery on 2 or 1 amperes.

[talhawaleed]

Is shaking the battery not harmful for the battery life?

Is it not harmful to add electrolyte, I thought we always add distilled water no matter if sg is low or high?

To shake the battery should I remove the caps of the batteries, this way it usually releases bubbles

This is right that sulfuric acid contents needs to mix with distilled water in-order to show good C.G. if you are experiencing a low C.G in few cells then first you should try to adjust the charging rate to its perfection in accordance to your situation. then check the C.G after few days, even after a week or two, its shows the same trend, then try to guess your next course of action based on date you bought the batteries, plan your activity by buying a good electrolyte etc. flush, can be very useful in restoring the bad cells if C.G on those cells is not below 1120 -1150. I have never heard about shaking the batteries so I would recommend that you should also not try that, least not shake like a wrestler.