Maintaining UPS/car batteries

[talhawaleed]

All the batteries manufactured starts to degrade in performance as soon as they leave the Factory. So normally once you buy a battery then prefer buying a battery which is Manufactured latest.

Best you can do is that you fully charge your batteries and then disconnect it from UPS. Voltage across each cell should never drop below 2.1 Volts which means that Open cell Voltage of Entire battery should not drop below 12.6 Volts otherwise insufficient charge induces sulfation which is an oxidation layer on Negative Plate which inhibits the current flow on Charge and discharge.

Normally you can test the Voltage Across the battery after every three weeks and if voltage drops then put it back on charging.

[juadjee]

Talha, what about my query:

@Experts: After the new electrolyte solution was put in, is it abnormal that my battery's been charging since yesterday and its still charging - 26.5 hours now. I had the UPS serviced and the guy set the charging voltage to 14.1. the battery is 150 AH.

I can also here effervescing from inside the cell and the battery is now a bit warm.

[sguls2]

Talha, what about my query:

Dude you shouldn't have listened to this guy in the first place. Your battery is fried! Stop charging it as batteries do tend to blow up as well.

[talhawaleed]

Heart attack:

This is a local term which I have heard many using it so I will also be using the same term here. The word means, if you had been careless about your batteries in past and has already faced circumstances which were undesirable and resulted in a dead cell then never expect to bring such a battery back to life. I have already explained this before so I will not go into the details again.
If none of above has happened then you can proceed for flush

My questions are

1) Did you fully charged the batteries before performing a flush
2) 5-6 times of flush should be ok, I hope you have not over done this
3) I hope you have used the simple tap water to perform the flush and if you have used hot water then I hope it was not boiling. If temperature was between 30 to 50 C then it should be ok.
4) How old were you batteries before you have performed the flush. What was its condition and I hope it did not had a bad cell.
5) By the way, you can look for a bad cell by testing the specific gravity of each cell.

Now I need following measurements

1) What is the Voltage across terminals of both the batteries.
2) If the Output of both the batteries reaches 28 Volts then UPS should stop the charging the batteries.
3) Do you have AMP meter to test the charging rate of batteries. Don’t trust your local electrician on this.
4) If your UPS is charging your batteries at slow rate then It would take more time
5) Have you used distilled water while preparing new electrolyte
6) Do you have hydrometer to test the gravity of UPS
7) If your UPS has been charging the batteries for 24 hours then you should measure the gravity of each cell and report the results. This would provide an idea about current gravity and give you an indication if one of the cells is bad with battery.
8) Also what is the terminal Voltages across each battery.
9) Also perform a connectivity test across the batteries and UPS by testing if

terminals are properly connected to the batteries by putting the entire load on UPS. If UPS is able to take the load then this means that UPS is able to deliver the charging current to the batteries. If you have a personal AMP meter then you can actually look for number of Amperes being delivered to the batteries.

See number of parameters needs to be calculated at this point. This could be either because of the following reasons if you have followed the correct procedure.

1) Very high CG of Electrolyte
2) Very low CG of electrolyte
3) UPS does stop charging the batteries once terminal voltage has reached 28 Volts across both the batteries.
4) Test the specific gravity of each cell one by one to look for a dead cell if any.
5) In case if any of your cell was dead before you went for a flush then obviously you can expect the same results
6) How old were your batteries and I hope they never had an heart attack before.

Keep the caps open, If electrolyte is hot then stop the charging process and resume it later after 4-5 hours.

[juadjee]

Heart attack:

This is a local term which I have heard many using it so I will also be using the same term here. The word means, if you had been careless about your batteries in past and has already faced circumstances which were undesirable and resulted in a dead cell then never expect to bring such a battery back to life. I have already explained this before so I will not go into the details again.
If none of above has happened then you can proceed for flush

My questions are

1) Did you fully charged the batteries before performing a flush
2) 5-6 times of flush should be ok, I hope you have not over done this
3) I hope you have used the simple tap water to perform the flush and if you have used hot water then I hope it was not boiling. If temperature was between 30 to 50 C then it should be ok.
4) How old were you batteries before you have performed the flush. What was its condition and I hope it did not had a bad cell.
5) By the way, you can look for a bad cell by testing the specific gravity of each cell.

Now I need following measurements

1) What is the Voltage across terminals of both the batteries.
2) If the Output of both the batteries reaches 28 Volts then UPS should stop the charging the batteries.
3) Do you have AMP meter to test the charging rate of batteries. Don’t trust your local electrician on this.
4) If your UPS is charging your batteries at slow rate then It would take more time
5) Have you used distilled water while preparing new electrolyte
6) Do you have hydrometer to test the gravity of UPS
7) If your UPS has been charging the batteries for 24 hours then you should measure the gravity of each cell and report the results. This would provide an idea about current gravity and give you an indication if one of the cells is bad with battery.
8) Also what is the terminal Voltages across each battery.
9) Also perform a connectivity test across the batteries and UPS by testing if

terminals are properly connected to the batteries by putting the entire load on UPS. If UPS is able to take the load then this means that UPS is able to deliver the charging current to the batteries. If you have a personal AMP meter then you can actually look for number of Amperes being delivered to the batteries.

See number of parameters needs to be calculated at this point. This could be either because of the following reasons if you have followed the correct procedure.

1) Very high CG of Electrolyte
2) Very low CG of electrolyte
3) UPS does stop charging the batteries once terminal voltage has reached 28 Volts across both the batteries.
4) Test the specific gravity of each cell one by one to look for a dead cell if any.
5) In case if any of your cell was dead before you went for a flush then obviously you can expect the same results
6) How old were your batteries and I hope they never had an heart attack before.

Keep the caps open, If electrolyte is hot then stop the charging process and resume it later after 4-5 hours.

There is only ONE battery of 150 AH connected to a 900 VA UPS
1. Yes, the battery was fully charged before i took it off and did the process
2. The sulphate deposits kept coming out so i did the flush a few more times than that to ensure as much can come out as possible.
3. The flush was performed with warm/hot water but not boiling
4. The battery was about a year old, but it was not giving a good backup time - however i don't reckon any of its cells had gone bad, the condition was perfect, and i would say it was the UPS charging/battery electrolyte that caused this. So i had the UPS serviced and the guy changed a few parts on it.
5. When i took the battery off before performing this, as i mentioned earlier the gravity in the cells was almost nill.

Measurements
1. I don't have an Ammeter/Volmeter so I can't tell you those readings - and as mentioned, i don't have 2 batteries, just one. The UPS guy confirmed with me that he had set charging rate at 14.1
2. Yes, i was waiting for the slow rate but the UPS kept charging for almost 48 hours. and the battery started getting warm after about 24 hours, naturally.
3. Yes distilled water which was procured from a lab supply place was used for this
4. Yes I have a hydrometer which i'm using for gravity testing - i first tested the gravity of the electrolyte before adding it to the battery
5. I have just performed a gravity check across all 6 cells and the gravity is good in all cells - 1270-1280 range. This is after being charged for almost 32 hours!

The battery never had a heart attack before and was never abused or overloaded on the UPS either.

I have now contacted the guy who repaired my UPS and will be asking him to inspect the UPS again for proper charging cut-off.

The only 2 things worrying me about the process:
1. I flushed the battery too many times
2. The concentration of H2SO4, as it was very dense. I bought 4 kgs which was barely 3 litres. The acid was expensive and the electrolyte solution also looked a bit more dense than water. But that shouldn't be a problem right since I had the gravity checked on it and all?

• Also one more thing: The first time i inspected the battery when it was charging for too long, i could see the electrolyte had a greyish colour and it was cloudy - like the colour of the deposits that came out during the flush, however today it had settled and it was transparent again - could that have to do with anything?

Any other check points you recommend for me to resolve this problem?

[talhawaleed]

your batteries are perfectly fine.

If gravity is same across all the cells.

Nothing to worry about.

Keep the caps open

Looks like your ups needs some adjustment

Right now disconnect your batteries and ups

Message me your cell number

I will talk to you in detail tomorrow

I am using my iPhone right now so I am facing difficulty in writing

[juadjee]

your batteries are perfectly fine.

If gravity is same across all the cells.

Nothing to worry about.

Keep the caps open

Looks like your ups needs some adjustment

Right now disconnect your batteries and ups

Message me your cell number

I will talk to you in detail tomorrow

I am using my iPhone right now so I am facing difficulty in writing

Okay great - my no. is 0321-2502120. And like i said, there's just ONE battery give me a text message or buzz, I will call you tomorrow.

[talhawaleed]

There is no harm is learning things as I know you are worried about your batteries and this is how people learn. In longer run, once you will be through with this process then you will be guiding many. If you cannot afford a AMP meter then at least you should have a good Multi meter as this is a very important tool in diagnosing problems. Every house should have one Multimeter and you can buy a good one for Rs 1000.

TEST CASE: 700 KVA UPS with one 140 AH battery.

I would move ahead by highlighting different scenarios

SENARIO 1:

If gravity of your batteries were nil before then may be your batteries already had some Acid inside it and batteries were already dead that why it could not generate the required gravity on Charging.
But since you told me that CG was nil in all the cells then most probably your batteries are fine and this flush would be very helpful.

SANARIO2:

Gravity was nil before because quantity of Sulphuric Acid was very low inside your batteries in all the cell. Since batteries were never dried in past so I can assume that they are still in tip top condition. Now since all the cells have the same gravity of 1270 so this indicates good news.

YOUR UPS NEEDS SOME ADJUSTMENT

Put your batteries back on charging with caps open as this is a precaution against building of gases inside the batteries. With charging rate 14.1 AMPS, it is abnormal for UPS to keep charging your batteries for 36 hours. Now call your UPS guy and ask him to test the following and note down the measurements.

I believe that while adjusting the charging rate he has disturbed many other parameters in UPS.

1) Check the terminal Voltage of the batteries as UPS should immediately stop charging the batteries once this reaches 14 Volts. This can only be verified once UPS has been charging the batteries for 6-7 hours and you expect that by now it should have been charged. Once your UPS guy adjusted the charging rate then he would not have inspected the Cut of Voltage. You can test this using Multimeter or Voltmeter.

2) Ask him that he can play around with charging rate which he can reduced it to 10 AMPS during adjustment if required. But should not exceed 14 AMPS.

3) Normally Adjustment of UPS require a BAD battery and GOOD battery

4) Against good battery, you look for a cut of Voltage during charging at 14 Volts. Also note the output Voltage of UPS at this instance.
5) Against Bad battery, you look for “Shut down of UPS” once terminal Voltage reaches 10.5 Volts. Also note the output voltage of UPS at this instance.
6) Tell him to perform a load testing on UPS if it shuts down once load is exceeded the capacity indicated in booklet. Very important
7) Tell him to perform a connectivity test if UPS is delivering the required charge to UPS.

I am repeating the same information

[talhawaleed]

This is how AMP meter looks like, If you will buy this one then you will not need to buy the Voltmeter as you can use the same to measure the A C and DC Voltage.

Once you buy this then make sure it has a feature to measure AC Amperes and DC Amperes. Try to buy a good quality AMP meter.

I bought a good quality AMP meter for Rs 2500.

[mmotors]

Yes, you are right that every battery has a life which at times is quoted in number of times it is charged and discharged.
But maximum number of these batteries dies much earlier before reaching this limit. In case of UPS batteries it is good to discharge these batteries once per week and then charge it again. There are number of other reasons why batteries they die earlier

1) If battery is left in discharged state for longer duration of time
2) Over charging of batteries either by increasing the terminal voltage or charging a battery with high amperes.
3) Loss of electrolyte in the battery
4) Improper gravity of Acid
5) Adding tap water inside the batteries
6) Dirty battery terminals where UPS and car is unable to deliver the
current required to charge a battery.
7) Short circuiting of one of the cells due to accumulation of deposits in between the cells because of all the above reasons.

You must be very luck and among 1 percent of people whose batteries if dead after completing its life specified by manufacturers.

So in winter we should off the UPS to maintain its life...In my point of view there should be a device in UPS for charging purpose(Like If UPS can cut the charging above to 12 Volts then It should be recharging when battery discharge up to 08 Volts..to reduce the charging cycle..Its my idea)
What you think..Has UPS same function or not..if not then why?

[talhawaleed]

Normally if you will let the batteries connected to UPS then I think there is no harm as few UPS ensures that if terminal Voltage drops below certain limit then it starts to charge the batteries again.
Lead Acid batteries once discharged to 80% should be put back onto charging. UPS should stop charging the batteries once terminal Voltage reaches 12.8 Volts and 80 % of this is 10.24 volts. If you will take your batteries below this limit then they will die very early and there is nothing you would be able to do about it. This is the maximum which you can drain from your system during load shedding not for storage purpose.
For storage purpose the Voltage across each cell should not drop below 2.1 Volts which for 6 cell battery becomes 12.6 Volts. As soon as the Voltage drops below this limit then few UPS have functions to detect this and start charging the batteries again.
You must have noticed that during times there is no load shedding for few months and then the day load shedding starts then you may not get a good back up time then correspondingly Back time will improve after few charge and discharge cycles in days ahead. If you are not worried about Readily available good backup time then you don’t have to discharge and recharge the batteries after every week and can wait for a month.

[juadjee]

Talhawaleed: Many thanks for your detailed call today explaining and guiding me with this. All of the above points are well noted, and at the moment the UPS has gone back to check the adjustments of cut off. Once it comes back iA, I would be getting myself an ammeter and will performs the check myself.

Thanks again for your invaluable help and service to all of us. I will definitely be guiding many who are willing to make the effort, but i hate it when people say 'choro na yaar' - they deserve to get their batteries replaced every so often

Regards,
Jawad

[speedster_101]

Can anyone tell me that hydrometer is used to measure specific gravity only or there are other things also which are measured by hydrometer. And whats the price of good quality hydrometer?

[muhd86]

hi , i need some information .

i have 2 volta - 200amps battery which i installed in october 2010 , i regurarly check the water level which to date has not diminished that much.

i used nestle water as some one said its the purest form , anyway regarding the battery gravity mixture.

i also have 2 other 180 amp batter which were installed in march 2010 and have so far caused no issues but i was thinking that i fill it up with gravity mixture as allready mentioned

can i go to a regular batter shop and tell them to make me a mixture for gravity which i can then pour in to the battery .

pls advise as its quite expensive buying new battery.

a detailed process would be advises as i am new to this .

[juadjee]

Can anyone tell me that hydrometer is used to measure specific gravity only or there are other things also which are measured by hydrometer. And whats the price of good quality hydrometer?

The specific lab tool is called a 'Battery Hydrometer' and as the name suggests, it allows you to measure gravity in electrolyte solutions of the battery. Well, the hydrometers made in China are cheap and do the job really well. I tried looking for a good quality one but couldnt find it.

[juadjee]

hi , i need some information .

i have 2 volta - 200amps battery which i installed in october 2010 , i regurarly check the water level which to date has not diminished that much.

i used nestle water as some one said its the purest form , anyway regarding the battery gravity mixture.

i also have 2 other 180 amp batter which were installed in march 2010 and have so far caused no issues but i was thinking that i fill it up with gravity mixture as allready mentioned

can i go to a regular batter shop and tell them to make me a mixture for gravity which i can then pour in to the battery .

pls advise as its quite expensive buying new battery.

a detailed process would be advises as i am new to this .

Nestle is MINERAL water, so it's definitely not distilled. And pure is a wrongly used term here - Pure Life actually - marketing.

I would suggest you go through the whole thread again, all of the issues that are of a concern to you are discussed in quite detail and it would be repetition. I learnt from this thread and did this maintenance procedure, so you can look at my questions also.

[smijaz]

Can anyone tell me that hydrometer is used to measure specific gravity only or there are other things also which are measured by hydrometer. And whats the price of good quality hydrometer?

Hydrometers are for measuring specific gravity of liquid or solution in liquid form.

The hydrometers scale has different ranges depending on the usage. For battery electrolyte it is normally scaled from 1.100 to 1.300 SG.

[speedster_101]

Today I have bought battery hydrometer from a battery shop (Opposite to Jahangir Balti Murgh) Saddar Rawalpindi.
Its Chinese and its price is 200 Rs. Its marked between 1100 to 1300

[speedster_101]

I used this newly bought hydrometer to check the specific gravity of my UPS battery. Its a Phoenix battery, 150A, bought in March 2010.
The battery was fully charged as there is no load shedding in my area for the last two days.
Here is the result.

The specific gravity of all the six cells ranges from 1250 to 1290.
Is it Ok?
When I checked the battery solution, the glass bulb in hydrometer was neither touching the top of tube nor touching its base. It was floating. Is it the right method?

[smijaz]

@speedster

I have the same hydrometer , just be careful inner tube is very fragile. if broken u will have to buy the whole thing.

About the method for test and the results , they are both accurate. Your battery and UPS are in top notch condition.

congrats.