Top Five Things You MUST Know About Industrial Batteries

The_Top_Five_Things_You_MUST_Know_About_Industrial_Batteries.pdf

Transcript:

[0m:4s] Hi I'm Josh Bloom, welcome to another video in the RSP Supply education series. Today we're going to talk about the five things you must know about industrial batteries. First and foremost, let's talk about temperature. Heat is the enemy of all batteries. Let's talk about how heat and cold temperatures affect how a battery operates. First, let's talk about the AMP hour rating.
[0m:27s] Now, in this case, in a hot environment, it actually increases the AMP hour rating of our battery. So, the hotter it gets the more AMP hours, we get out of our battery, the colder it gets,
[0m:39s] the less AMP powers we get out of our particular battery.
[0m:43s] However, here's the catch: heat will drastically reduce the overall life of your battery. Normal operating temperatures for most batteries are about 77 degrees. Every 15 degrees above that mark will reduce the battery life by half. So, you can imagine if a battery is in a temperature setting of 115 or 120 degrees, that battery is not going to last very long.
[1m:9s] Conversely, if we have a battery in a cooler temperature, it will actually increase the overall life of the battery. So, the cooler temperature we can house our battery in, the longer it will last. This is also typically why we store our batteries in a colder environment. It is also important when we store these batteries to make sure that they are fully charged to make sure the battery lasts as long as possible.
[1m:33s] Number two, depth of discharge commonly referred to as DoD.
[1m:39s] Most batteries are rated to be discharged 80% or down to 20% of a total capacity of the battery. If you discharge the battery more than that, it can damage the battery and cause it to last for a much shorter period of time. Ideally, when we use our battery, we don't want to discharge it any more than 50% of a total capacity. This will allow the battery to last for the longest amount of time possible.
[2m:8s] Each time a battery is discharged and recharged, it is referred to as a cycle. Batteries are rated for the number of cycles they have in their life or for a specific amount of time, say five years. So, if we have a battery that is rated for five years or 5,000 cycles,
[2m:26s] we get one or the other. So if we use a battery 5,000 times in one year, that battery after that time will be dead. If we only cycle it 250 times over five years,
[2m:38s] after five years, the battery's dead.
[2m:41s] Number three, sizing your battery properly. It is very important that we take into consideration the AMP hour rating of our battery and also the load requirements of our system.
[2m:52s] Because of our depth of discharge rule, we need to remember, we do not want our battery to discharge more than 50 to 80%, so we cannot plan to use more than 50 to 80% of the total battery capacity. Because of this, we need to make sure that our battery is sized appropriately. In most cases, we upsize the battery to accommodate this.
[3m:14s] Number four, the construction of the battery will also determine how long the battery will last.
[3m:20s] How batteries work is there are certain chemicals in the battery that react with the plates in the battery. Over time, these chemicals degrade those plates that will start to cause that battery to fail.
[3m:31s] Batteries that have thinner smaller plates will degrade more quickly over time. However, sealed lead acid batteries have immobilized plates that are much thicker, so the chemicals within the battery do not affect and degrade those plates as much over time. That construction allows those batteries to last for a much longer time. Lastly number five, do not under charge your battery. This is caused when we discharge our batteries and recharge them to a not full state, or less than 100% of the total capacity of the battery. So, continually allowing the battery to operate in a partially charged state, or not at 100%, can lead to lead sulfate formation, or Sulphation, and this can reduce battery performance and eventually lead to battery failure. So again, the top five number one, temperature heat is the enemy of your battery. Optimal operating temperature for a battery is 77 degrees. Number two depth of discharge. Never discharge your battery more than 80% of the total capacity. Number three size, your battery properly. Make sure to plan for no more than 50 to 80% of the total capacity of your battery for the use in your system. Number four construction matters.
Sealed lead acid batteries last longer. And, lastly, number five do not under charge. This can lead to premature battery failure.
[4m:58s] For a full line of batteries or thousands of other products, please go to a website. For more information or other educational videos, go to RSPSupply.com, the Internet's top source for industrial hardware. Also, don't forget: like and subscribe.