Battery Maintenance Plans
Battery Care plans are tailored towards the types of batteries used within UPS and Standby Power Systems. They can be combined with a UPS maintenance plan to provide complete system cover or provided where only the battery is to be maintained.
The service typically includes a minimum of one preventative maintenance visit per year (and up to 1,000 cells/blocks per day). This can be increased to six monthly or quarterly for mission critical sites. The visits are typically scheduled for normal working hours with options for outside hours and weekend/bank holiday work.
During a maintenance visit the entire battery set will be put through a five stage process to ensure optimum performance during a power failure. The five stage Battery Care process includes:
Visual
Check for a variety of conditions dependent on battery type: VRLA batteries - check for distortion caused by plate/pole growth, leakage or corrosion.?- Flooded cells - check for plate colour, sediment level, electrolyte level, leakage and corrosion.?- NiCads - check for leakage and corrosion.
Measurements
Take DC float voltage measurements - string and individual cells.
Mechanical
clean all batteries, confirm the minimum torque on all connections, top up electrolytes where possible (not sealed lead acid batteries).
Electrical Tests
Impedance test individual battery cells and strings, and load test the battery if necessary.
Environment Checks
Check the suitability of the local environment in terms of ambient temperature and any noticeable humidity and other environmental matters.
Finally a site report is issued with recommendations for future system monitoring or battery replacement.