Lead-Acid Battery Instruction Manual

Check the shipment before you sign for it. Three items, five minutes.

1. 1Batteries of 24 Ah and above are supplied with two sets of terminal bolts each. Count them before the pallet is broken down.
2. 2Inspect the case for cracks, and for electrolyte leakage at the lid seal and around the terminals.
3. 3Measure the open-circuit voltage of every battery. A battery that has been in transit for weeks should still read as follows.

Heat takes more life out of a VRLA battery than any other single factor. Keep the room at 15–30 °C; where air conditioning is installed, set it to about 25 °C.

The room should be cool, dry and clean, with enough ventilation to stop hydrogen from accumulating. Do not install or operate a battery in any of the following:

• Ambient temperature below −10 °C or above 50 °C
• Outdoors, exposed to rain or direct sunlight
• Where condensation forms or ice builds up
• Atmospheres containing corrosive gas
• Areas of heavy humidity or heavy dust
• Surfaces subject to vibration or impact

1. 1A battery is heavy and its case is brittle. Carry it upright, never roll, drop or throw it, and never lift it by the terminals.
2. 2Store and install in a dry place out of direct sunlight, away from heat sources and from anything that can produce a spark.
3. 3Store only in a fully charged state. A battery that has been discharged must not go into storage.
4. 4Store between 0 °C and 30 °C and give a refresh charge every three months. Total storage should not exceed one year — beyond that, both capacity and life are reduced.
5. 5Respect the stacking limit printed on the carton. Stacked too high, the weight above crushes the terminals of the bottom layer.

The electrolyte is dilute sulphuric acid and the plates contain lead. What follows is not a set of suggestions.

• Read this manual before use. Correct operation and maintenance depend on it.
• Installation must be carried out by a technician holding the electrician qualification required in your market.
• After commissioning, hand this manual to the end user, who should file it with the battery records.

Observe the following. Ignoring them can release acid and lead into the environment, injure the people handling the battery, and lead to electric shock, fire or explosion.

• Do not overhaul, dismantle or modify a battery yourself.
• Never short-circuit the positive and negative terminals of a battery or a pack.
• Connect and lead out packs with cables of the correct cross-section and insulation.
• Tighten every terminal bolt.
• Keep oil, water, solvents and chemicals off the case and terminals.
• Isolate the power before making or breaking any connection.
• Before a battery is connected to its charger, set the charging voltage, current and other parameters as required.
• Never use a battery as a direct AC power source.
• Do not discard a spent battery. Return it to a licensed lead-acid recycler.

Series raises voltage, parallel raises capacity. What can be connected together is decided by the batteries themselves, not by the label.

Series connection requires batteries of the same rated capacity. Parallel connection requires batteries of the same actual voltage.

• Batteries of different rated capacity, different performance, different age or different manufacturer must not be connected into one string.
• Series: the batteries or packs must share the same actual capacity.
• Parallel: the batteries or packs must share the same actual voltage.
• Isolate the supply before connecting or disconnecting — live work risks electric shock and explosion.
• Lock every connecting part so it cannot spark. If an interface has oxidised, clean it with a baking-soda solution and dry it.
• Use insulated tools, and never lay connecting bars or metal objects on top of a battery.

Charge the string fully before its first discharge, and check the total voltage once the wiring is complete. A total that reads clearly low usually means one battery is connected in reverse.

Every figure below is per cell at 25 °C. Divide the string voltage by the number of cells to compare a reading with them.

Temperature compensation: for each 1 °C above 25 °C, lower the float voltage by 3 mV per cell and the equalising voltage by 5 mV per cell. Add the same amounts when the temperature falls below 25 °C.

Give an equalising charge when any of the following applies:

• The on-line voltage under float falls below 2.20 V/cell.
• A new battery has been installed and trial-run — 24 h equalising charge.
• More than 30 % of rated capacity has been discharged.
• The battery has been idle for more than three months.
• The string has been on continuous float for three months.

Charge at 0.1 C to 0.15 C, and never above 0.25 C. Once the voltage reaches the equalising or float set point, hold it constant until the current has fallen to 0.006 C and stayed there for three hours. At that point the battery is fully charged.