Care and Maintenance of Lead-Acid Batteries

CARE AND MAINTENANCE
OF VR LEAD-ACID BATTERY
P.G. Balakrishnan

Central Electrochemical Research
Institute, Karaikudi- 630006 (TN,
India)
E mail:pgb_cecri@yahoo.com
Valve-regulated lead-acid batteries (VRLAB)
Maintenance-free battery (MFB)
Sealed battery
Starved electrolyte battery
Absorbed electrolyte battery
Starved electrolyte battery
Immobilized electrolyte battery etc.
free from the laborious and cumbersome maintenance work of
“topping up” of cells with distilled water and the repeated regular
cleaning of the terminals. But,they too need some minimum
maintenance efforts to prevent unexpected premature failures and to
ensure a good reliable performance throughout the expected life period.
A good reliable performance:
correct selection of charging voltage
Operating temperature
Proper inter-cell/inter-module connections
Prevent any possible abuse of the battery due to overdischarge as well
as overcharging excessively.
Installing a battery monitoring device.
This monitoring device will follow up the battery voltage, temperature,
and the charging current.
Controls according to the requirements continuously and will ring alarm
signal if warranted the cells/ battery monitoring can be done manually
also at regular intervals on selected pilot cells chosen at random and
also changing the pilot cell periodically to get a overall picture of the
health condition of modules in the battery bank, deviation from the
normal values
Only constant-voltage charging is recommended for VR batteries at a voltage of
2.30 VPC
High charge acceptance
the initial current can be anywhere bet’ 0.2-0.3C A

1. The lower the charging current, the more will be the duration for obtaining full
charge and vice versa.
Current value and period for a Approx duration
CP Charge to attain 90-95%
SOC
Current (A) Hours Hours
0.3C 2.5 15
0.2C 4 18
0.1C 8 20
0.05C 18 30
2. Do not short-circuit the battery terminals.
3. Do not overdischarge
4. Recharge immediately after discharge.
5. When idle, the battery should be charged at least once
in 3 months
6. When connecting to the load for the first time, the
battery should be given a freshening charge at the rate
of 0.05C
7. The practical variation of the individual cell / battery
voltage from the standard fixed value of 2.30 VPC in a
string of VRLA battery is due to
i. Variations in the electrolyte volume
ii. Due to differences in formation of plates and
iii.Differences in the energy levels of the two competing
cathodic reactions during charging.

T The two reactions are:
1) The proton or hydrogen ion reduction to hydrogen gas and
2H+ + 2e  H2 and
2) The reduction of oxygen to water O2 + 4H+ + 4e  2 H2O.

Hence the current acceptance of the individuals cells will vary. The
variations in voltage may be between +0.20 to –0.13V when the residual
charging current measured after 3 to 4 days of continuous float charging is
2 to 3 mA/Ah capacity of the battery.

In In a string of several batteries, the variation in voltage will narrow down
to  2.5% of the mean value within a period of 6 months.
When a VRLA cell is overcharged in a CP mode, at different
temperatures, the current increases by about 10 folds for a 90 mV increase
and by 2 folds for each 10C rise in temperature.

This is true for the positive plate and the negative electrode shows only
slight polarization, the potential of the latter remaining near OCV. As a
result of these factors, the life of life of the VRLA battery comes down by
25% for each 10C rise in operational temperature.
Thermal runaway management
VRLA batteries are more sensitive to temperature than the flooded type
batteries.
VRLA battery operates on the oxygen cycle principles . The oxygen
evolved of the positive plate is made to reach the negative plate and react
with negative active material and depolarize the negative plate. When
the oxygen recombination reactions are taking place in the cell, all the
float current results in heat generation only.
Moreover, the heat is generated due to the exothermic reaction of the
oxygen with spongy lead.
on such conditions, cells are disconnected from the circuit by making
use of thermal cut-out switches to prevent damage of cells.
electrical connections between adjacent cells/modules must be checked
thoroughly to ensure circuit integrity
Electrical Connections
The electrical resistance of the circuit is measured annually and compared with
the bench mark value to ensure correct integrity of the circuit. The electrical
resistance measurement check is very important in the installations where high
discharge / charge current is expected.
Impedance/conductance check measurement
The measurement of impedance / conductance of the cells / modules can be

used as a guide to monitor the state of health of the batteries and to predict the
available capacity of the cell to some extent

Deviation of value of the impedance / conductance is not greater than 20%
cells in normal condition
A correct assessment of the deliverable capacity of battery done by actually
conducting a discharge test and cells with less capacity will have to be discarded.
CHARGING AFTER DEEP DISCHARGE
when a battery has been over-discharged it requires a longer

charging period than normal. As a result of internal
resistance, charging current accepted by an over discharged
VR battery during the initial stage of charging will be quite
small, but will increase rapidly over the initial 30 minutes
(approximate) until internal resistance has been overcome,
and normal, full recovery charging characteristics resume.
consideration should be given to the fact that if constant
voltage charging method is used in which the charger employs
current sensing for either state of charge indication or for
reducing voltage ( a two step charger), during the initial stage
of charging of an over discharged battery, the charger may
give a false “full charge” indication or may initiate charge at a
float voltage.
REVIVAL OF PASSIVATED VR BATTERY
The initial weight of the battery is a good indicator of the dry out process
If there is excessive weight loss, the battery can to some extent be
revived after addition of sufficient distilled water.
In case, there is no weight loss, the battery should be charged at a very

high voltage initially say 15-20V per 6V battery, taking special care to see
that the current does not shoot up. When the battery begins to pick up
charge as evidenced from the increasing current, the initial abnormally
high terminal voltage will come down while the charging current will
begin to rise slowly. As and when the terminal voltages increases, the
impressed voltage should be slowly reduced until the normal value (7.0 to
7.4V per 6V battery) is attained. After reaching this point the battery
should be charged for 15 to 20 hours by constant potential method in the
usual CP mode.
TEMPERATURE COMPENSATION
As temperature rises, electrochemical activity in a battery increases and

vice versa.
As temperature rises, charging voltage should be reduced to prevent

overcharge, and increased as temperature falls ,to avoid undercharge.

In general, to assure optimum service life, use of a temperature
compensated charger is recommended. The recommended
compensation factor for VR batteries is –3mV/C/Cell (stand by) and
4mV/C/Cell (cyclic use). The standard central point for temperature
compensation is 30C.

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CARE AND MAINTENANCE

Current (A) Hours Hours

Impedance/conductance check measurement

The measurement of impedance / conductance of the cells / modules can be

when a battery has been over-discharged it requires a longer

In case, there is no weight loss, the battery should be charged at a very

As temperature rises, electrochemical activity in a battery increases and

As temperature rises, charging voltage should be reduced to prevent

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