egger Battery testing guide Me are Be ee em te tsa aay a Meatball | Mere alah alist __ Megger products ove!Contents Stationary battery testing Why perform impedance testing? Why perform discharge testing? Why backup batteries are needed Why test battery systems Why batteries fail Battery types Lead-acid overview Nickel-Cadmium Overview Battery construction and nomenclature Configurations Single post batteries Multiple post batteries Failure modes we eee erin aananuae Lead-acid (flooded) failure modes Lead-acid (VRLA) failure modes 9 Nickel-cadmium failure modes 10 Maintenance philosophies " How to maintain the battery " Standards and common practices " IEEE 450 " Inspections u Capacity test (discharge test) should be done 11 IEE 1188 2 Inspections R Capacity test (capacity test) should be done 12. Battery replacement criteria 2 IEEE 1106 2 Inspections 2 Capacity test (discharge test) should be done 12, ‘Summary of best way to test and evaluate your battery 2 i 2 Practical battery testing 3 2 Battery Tasting Guide woww.megger.comCapacity test 2B Battery testing matrix IEEE recommended practices 3 Procedure for capacity test of vented lead acid battery 1“ Impedance test 15 Impedance theory 6 Intercell connection resistance 16 Testing and electrical paths ” voltage ” specific gravity 7 Float current 8 Ripple current 18 Temperature 18 Data analysis 19 Locating ground faults on DC systems without sectionalizing 2 overview 2 Current test methods 2 Abetter test method 2 Frequently asked questions 23 Battery technology summary 23 Megger products overview 24 Impedance test equipment 24 ares 2 BITE®2 and BITE@2P 24 BITE® accessories 2s BITE®3 Accessories 25 BITE*2 and BITEOZP Accessories 2s TORKEL 860 26 vm 26 TORKEL 900 2 Contents Ground fault tracing equipment Battery Ground Fault Tracer (86FT) Battery Ground-fault Locator (B61) Digital Low Resistance Ohmmeters (DLRO®) and. Microhmmeters (MOM) DLRO200 and DLRO6OO DLRO 247000 series DLRO10 and DLRO1OX MIOLNER 200 and MJOLNER 600 MOM200A and MOM6O0A Momeso Insulation Resistance Test Equipment MIT400?2 series insulation resistance testers PowerDB™ Acceptance & Maintenance Test Data Management Software Test forms 27 27 28 28 28 28 29 2» 29 29 30 30 31 Hn xn wuaw.megger.comStationary battery testing The stationary backup batteries are the life line in any safety system, a life line that simply cannot fail. In order to ensure safe operation it is recommended to implement 2 sound and solid battery maintenance program. Each of the various standards (IEEE 450, EEE 1188, IEEE 1106) have their own best practices for battery maintenance, which we have summarized into the following |= Perform a capacity test when the battery is new as part of the acceptance test. |= Perform an impedance test at the same time to establish baseline values for the battery. |= Repeat the above within 2 years for warranty purposes. |= Perform an impedance test every year on flooded cells and quarterly on VRLA cells. |= Perform capacity tests at least for every 25% of expected service life. ‘= Perform a capacity test annually when the battery has reached 85% of expected service life or ifthe capacity has dropped more than 10% since the previous test or is below. 90% of the manufacturer's rating. = Perform a capacity test if the Impedance value has changed significantly. |= Follow a given practice (preferably from the IEEE standard) {or all temperature, voltage, gravity measurements etc. and fill in a report. This will bea great help for trending and fault tracing. This is an example of the tests included in a good maintenance program for stationary batteries. However, some critical locations might need more attention, and some rural environments les, the Condition of the environment of the battery and the condition of the battery itself are important parameters to set up a suitable and solid maintenance program. Why perform impedance testing? Batteries can fail between discharge tess. This quick easy tst wil increase reliability for your citical loads, Not only will this inform you about chemical changes in your batteries but it will also tost your inter-cell connections, the battery charge balance as well as the state of health of the charger. ELECTROLYTE @ ome @ ‘The AC impedance measurement has a distinct advantage over the DC resistive measurement. Batteries are not resistors. They have capacitance due to a double layer effect that occurs when liquids come in contact with solids (plates and electrolyte). This value changes earlier in the battery ‘aging process. DC testing ignores this parameter. VLA batteries are typically large batteries with low impedance. You need adequate current to test these large low impedance batteries. ‘Small hand-held testers do not have the current. The BITE? tests with @ full 10 A of current. More than enough to get reliable repeatable measurements on large flooded cells \VRLA batteries typically fil in an open state due to dry-out. This 4 Battery Testing Guide wurw.megger.comWhy perform discharge testing? ‘pacity test is the only way to get ar «curate value on the actual capacity of the attery. When used regularly it can be used for tracking the b spacity and estimate remaining lite o attery. During the test its measured how much capacity (Current x time ex in AR) the y can deliver the terminal voltage drops to the end discharge voltage x numt utrent shall be maintain the battery reache Specified test time the apacity is 100% of the rate end of dischar or before the specified 10 place It is important to ges. This >uple of times durin important to measure the cells at the end f the discharge test in order to find the Jk calls. tis ry important that the time OR the current during a discharge test is adjusted for the temperature of the attery. A cold battery will give le than @ warm one. Temperature corrector factors and methods are described in the IEEE standard atteries can also be tested at a shorter time than their duty cycle, for instance 1 hour. Then the current rate has te spacity i uite possi very expensive ndWhy backup batteries are needed Batteries are used to ensure that critical electrical equipment is ‘always on. There are so many places where batteries are used — it is nearly impossible to list them all, Some of the applications for batteries include: |= Electric generating stations and substations for protection {and control of switches and relays |= Telephone systems to support phone service, especially ‘emergency services | Industrial applications for protection and control | Back up of computers, especially financial data and information | “Less critical” business information systems Without battery back-up hospitals would have to close their doors until power is restored. But even so, there are patients on life support systems that require absolute 100% electric power. For those patients, as it was once said, “failure is not an option.” Just look around to see how much electridly we use and then to see how important batteries have become in our everyday lives. ‘The many blackouts of 2003 around the world show how critical electrical systems have become to sustain our basic needs. Batteries are used extensively and without them many of the services that we take for granted would fail and cause innumerable problems. Why test battery systems There are three main reasons to test battery systems: |= To insure the supported equipment is adequately backed-up | To prevent unexpected failures by tracking the battery's heatth = To forewarn/predict death ‘Ang, there are three basic questions that bi ry Users ak: [= What is the capacity and the condition of the battery now? = When will it need to be replaced? | What can be done to improve / not reduce its life? Batteries are complex chemical mechanisms. They have numerous Components from grids, active material, posts, jar and cover, et. — any one of which can fail. As with all manufacturing processes, no matter how well they are made, there is still some amount of black {art to batteries (and all chemical processes) A battery is two dissimilar metalic materials in an electrolyte. In fact, you can put a penny and a nickel in half of a grapefruit and you now have @ battery. Obviously, an industrial battery is more sophisticated than a grapefruit battery. Nonetheless, a battery, to ‘work the way it s supposed to work must be maintained properly. ‘A good battery maintenance program may prevent, or at least reduce the costs and damage to critical equipment due to an AC mains outage. Even though there are many applications for batteries, standby batteries are installed for only two reasons: |= To protect and support critical equipment during an AC outage |= To protect revenue streams due to the loss of service The following discussion about fallure modes focuses on the mechanisms and types of failure and how it is possible to find ‘weak cells. Below is a section containing a more detailed discussion about testing methods and their pros and cons. Why batteries fail In order for us to understand why batteries fll, unfortunately litle bit of chemistry is needed. There are two main battery chemistries Used today lead-acid and nickel-cadmium. Other chemistries are coming, lke ithium, which is prevalent in portable battery systems, but not stationary, yet Volta invented the primary (non-techargeable) battery in 1800, Planté invented the lead-acid battery in 1859 and in 1881 Faure first pasted lead-acid plates. With refinements over the decades, it has become a critically important back-up power source, The refinements include improved alloys, grid designs, jar and cover materials and improved jar-to-cover and post seals. Arguably, ‘the most revolutionary development was the valve-regulated development. Many similar improvements in nickel-cadmium chemistry have been developed over the years.There are several main types of battory technologies with subtypes: Lead-acid Flooded (wet): lead-calcium, lead-antimony Valve Regulated Lead-acid, VRLA (sealed): lead-calcium, lead-antimony-selenium Absorbed Glass Matte (AGM) Gel Flat plate Tubular plate lickel-cadmium Flooded sealed Pocket plate Flat plate Lead-acid overview The basic lead-acid chemical reaction in a sulphuric acid electroiyte, where the sulphate of the acid is part of the reaction is: PO? + Pb-+ 2H2S04 «—» 2PDSO4 + 2H2 + 12.02 The acid is depleted upon discharge and regenerated upon ‘echarge. Hydrogen and oxygen form during discharge and float charging (because float charging is counteracting selt-