Hi I am having a problem with some Power brand batteries, they are located in a cabinet supplying UPS feed but they are blowing their covers and this is happening only in UPS with Power battery. Does anyone have an explaination or have the experience of seeing this happen.
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Battery Explosion 5
- Thread starter bertramh
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We are all assuming that the batterys concerned are lead/acid wet cell. Can you confirm that this is the case?
If so, they may be the wrong type of construction for a trickle charge, low load application, such as I would expect on a UPS. "Car" type batterys are made for high load and relatively high recharge rates and will sulphate up and distort plates to the point of shorting out and causing ignition of gasses if used on long term "standby" applications. There are batterys made more suitable than others for this type of application. A good manufacturer would advise on this.
If so, they may be the wrong type of construction for a trickle charge, low load application, such as I would expect on a UPS. "Car" type batterys are made for high load and relatively high recharge rates and will sulphate up and distort plates to the point of shorting out and causing ignition of gasses if used on long term "standby" applications. There are batterys made more suitable than others for this type of application. A good manufacturer would advise on this.
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DanDel, No there are no ignition source in the cabinet, it contains 400 batteries and five fuses making up five strings at fourty each.
Busbar, with the failure of the battery and the low cells voltage of some the charging current has increased to compensate for this low voltage.
Alehman, No other UPS units in our network with power batteries blow their tops.
Jre, the batteries are of VRLA type, and to you all can you tell me one of the better manufacturer for batteries of this nature.
Busbar, with the failure of the battery and the low cells voltage of some the charging current has increased to compensate for this low voltage.
Alehman, No other UPS units in our network with power batteries blow their tops.
Jre, the batteries are of VRLA type, and to you all can you tell me one of the better manufacturer for batteries of this nature.
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It really sounds like overcharging or internal overheating. I'm surprised you are seeing this problem on systems which must have different types of batteries.
My question actually was - Do the same batteries repeated blow their tops? In other words, do you replace the tops and see them pop off again? Or do you replace those units right away. Are the battery cases fractured when this happens?
Low voltage? How low? The charging current should not increase due to low voltage if the UPS rectifiers are behaving corretly. You should get your UPS's checked out. What manufacturer are the UPS's?
Power battery makes VRLA and flooded cell types for many applications. As jre suggested, a consult with them would be worthwhile also.
My question actually was - Do the same batteries repeated blow their tops? In other words, do you replace the tops and see them pop off again? Or do you replace those units right away. Are the battery cases fractured when this happens?
Low voltage? How low? The charging current should not increase due to low voltage if the UPS rectifiers are behaving corretly. You should get your UPS's checked out. What manufacturer are the UPS's?
Power battery makes VRLA and flooded cell types for many applications. As jre suggested, a consult with them would be worthwhile also.
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jbartos
Electrical
- Jan 15, 2000
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Suggestion: Please, are those batteries with the blown top hot or cold? This will make a big difference since the hydrogen explosion may happen when the battery is relatively cold or warm only. Intensely charged batteries are usually very hot. Therefore, any blown top from such battery would also be very hot, similarly as the battery.
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This is a way out remote possibility for your situation, but happened in the '80s to a similar system just after rare earth magnets became easily available and switch mode power supplies starting to be the norm .
Technician liked to stick notes/papers on the side of a power cabinet with magnets. Long story short, one of his new SmCo magnets (held lots more papers) was placed just right so that a CT in a power supply was biased by the DC field and the output went overcurrent (control feedback lost due to the poartial dc saturation) with no one the wiser and no shutdown. Similar possibility in your case could cause overcharging on just that one UPS and lead to the hot/exploding batteries. No magnets policy on the side of the PS 'fixed' the problem.
Submitted that happening as part of a lessons learned paper to IEEE Ind. Application Journal in '95, reviewer said journal never published 'hypothetical' cases!!
BTW, tried to 'blow up' a car battery when younger, only way to get it to do so was to charge at 100 A for 5 minutes with covers off and continuous ignition spark going - personal conclusion was it takes a real specific set of circumstances to blow a battery. Did know of some GTE techs in 80s killed by exploding Li Thional Chloride batteries.
Technician liked to stick notes/papers on the side of a power cabinet with magnets. Long story short, one of his new SmCo magnets (held lots more papers) was placed just right so that a CT in a power supply was biased by the DC field and the output went overcurrent (control feedback lost due to the poartial dc saturation) with no one the wiser and no shutdown. Similar possibility in your case could cause overcharging on just that one UPS and lead to the hot/exploding batteries. No magnets policy on the side of the PS 'fixed' the problem.
Submitted that happening as part of a lessons learned paper to IEEE Ind. Application Journal in '95, reviewer said journal never published 'hypothetical' cases!!
BTW, tried to 'blow up' a car battery when younger, only way to get it to do so was to charge at 100 A for 5 minutes with covers off and continuous ignition spark going - personal conclusion was it takes a real specific set of circumstances to blow a battery. Did know of some GTE techs in 80s killed by exploding Li Thional Chloride batteries.
I managed to blow one cell of a car battery off in my youth.
It was gassing well with the filler caps screwed on and I generated a nice spark by shorting the thing with a piece of rubber coated automotive wire. (I liked the red hot wire & smoke you see).
Except that on this occasion, the cell nearest to the positive terminal popped and cracked the battery casing.
Result: acid all over the concrete floor which started bubbling away generating CO2.
Quite exciting really.
No real damage to me or the floor, and the battery was scrap anyway.
But I was very lucky.
rgds
Zeit.
It was gassing well with the filler caps screwed on and I generated a nice spark by shorting the thing with a piece of rubber coated automotive wire. (I liked the red hot wire & smoke you see).
Except that on this occasion, the cell nearest to the positive terminal popped and cracked the battery casing.
Result: acid all over the concrete floor which started bubbling away generating CO2.
Quite exciting really.
No real damage to me or the floor, and the battery was scrap anyway.
But I was very lucky.
rgds
Zeit.
Sounds like an internal short in the battery. It could possibly be a behavior called thermal runaway which causes rapid overheating when charging current is too high.
See
My company has an 18kVA Powerware UPS with a cabinet full of VRLA Power batteries also. None have blown up yet. We have a twice yearly testing program - I guess I'll renew that contract...
See
My company has an 18kVA Powerware UPS with a cabinet full of VRLA Power batteries also. None have blown up yet. We have a twice yearly testing program - I guess I'll renew that contract...
- Thread starter
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Cell voltages, internal impedances and intercell connector resistances. Several companies make testers for this purpose, such as Albercorp's Cellcorder.
It's also worthwhile to do a full discharge test annually (with individual cell voltage recording) for critical systems.
It's also worthwhile to do a full discharge test annually (with individual cell voltage recording) for critical systems.
jbartos
Electrical
- Jan 15, 2000
- 6,440
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Suggestion: Concentrate on the proper and recommended battery charging by the battery manufacturer. Battery cell internal geometry varies from the type-to-type and so does the electrolyte or chemicals inside the battery cell, in general. The battery manufacturer is probably the easier contact. Optionally, the battery cell may be analyzed and tested by a nationally recognized testing laboratory for electrical parameters and proper charging including maintenance. Please, post the progress as you search for the solution.
The best way to track and find problems with Valve Regulated batteries is to install a continuous monitoring system on them. You can then track and record current flow to the battery, and temperaures of each battery. The system will alarm before the battery explodes giving you time to perform preventive maintenance.
The cost of these systems initially can be expensive, but the reduction in maintenance costs usually pays for the system especially in catastrophic situations.
You can find a system at
The cost of these systems initially can be expensive, but the reduction in maintenance costs usually pays for the system especially in catastrophic situations.
You can find a system at
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