When you have a battery backup system for your commercial or industrial facility, you want the assurance that these systems will function reliably in case there is a power outage on your property. The one way to ensure that these systems function as they should is to monitor and manage them with regularity. Before we look at how this can be done, let’s understand what causes batteries to fail prematurely.

Premature Battery Failure – The Causes

Lead acid batteries have a specific useful life; and while there will be a certain amount of normal wear and tear, the other reasons that cause premature battery failure in large-scale backup systems, are:

• Excessive cycling
• Post seal leakage
• Low float voltage/High float voltage
• Low temperature/High temperature
• Over-discharge
• Electrochemical resistance increase
• Metallic resistance increase

Why Monitoring?

The one way to ensure that these systems stay in peak working condition for a longer period of time and that they provide glitch-free service is to monitor them on a regular basis. Some of the most obvious reasons for doing this are:

Increased System Reliability

When the battery life is optimised; it increases the reliability of the system and reduces the chances of a downtime.

Cost Savings

When the systems are monitored regularly, it provides cost savings in four ways – it offsets the initial cost of buying that monitoring system, reduces maintenance time, optimises battery life and reduces test costs.

Reduce Maintenance Time

The amount of time required to maintain these batteries are dependent on the size and capacity of the installation. It’s possible to save a lot of these hours if you install and use a monitoring system. In fact, the number of hours you save when you use a monitor, pay for a top-of-the-line battery monitor in 2-4 years.

Optimise Battery Life

Most users generally obtain only 50-80% of the projected life of the batteries. The life of your battery gets impacted by factors such as excessive cycling, ambient temperature as well as float voltage. The system monitor helps the user take corrective action against various conditions that prevent the batteries from aging prematurely.

Reduces Test Costs

Each new battery system should be tested via capacity tests to determine whether it’s able to perform when necessary. The costs to perform these tests run into thousands of dollars and the set-up time required is also quite high. When you have a permanently installed monitor that logs data at specific times, it helps reduce the overall expense on testing too.

Safety

A battery monitor that’s permanently connected reduces the requirement for the maintenance technicians to come directly in contact with the high voltages that exist in most battery systems. If the monitoring system identifies a problem, the battery might have to be accessed by the technicians. However, in case there is a problem, the battery will first be disconnected from both the charger and the load and this reduces the exposure.

Parameters that are measured

The monitoring system measures a number of parameters including:

• Overall string voltage
• Cell voltages
• Ambient temperature
• Internal cell resistance
• Intercell resistance
• Load cycles
• Load current. Float current.

In addition to the in-built monitoring system, the maintenance staff will also check all the related systems to ensure they are operating in the manner they should. These regular checks help improve the efficiency of the system.

We at KaRaTec Power Supply Pty can provide excellent customised UPS systems for various commercial and industrial settings. If you want any information about our power products and services, don’t hesitate to contact us at this number – 612 9808 1127. You can also fill in this contact us form and we’ll reply as soon as possible.

Thanks for reading,
Karatec Power Supply Pty
612 9808 1127