[Gansan]

The exide tubular battery supplied with my inverter becomes quite warm and consumes a litre of distilled water every week. No.1,5 and 6 cells seem to take in the most water. There seems to be no problem with the back-up though. Battery is 18 months old, original warranty 36 months.

What should be done? Shall I invoke warranty? I am not sure if it is a replacement warranty, at least not for the full three years.

[drsingh]

Originally Posted by Aroy

Here are some links which explain the equalizer charge
http://www.progressivedyn.com/battery_basics.html
http://batterytender.com/resources/battery-basics.htm/

Thanks for the excellent links.

My next question is - Do modern inverters like the 850sine APC inverter have the circuitry to apply the equilization charge periodically?

Can i modify my existing generic automatic battery charger to output 14.4 volts?

[Aroy]

Originally Posted by Gansan

The exide tubular battery supplied with my inverter becomes quite warm and consumes a litre of distilled water every week. No.1,5 and 6 cells seem to take in the most water. There seems to be no problem with the back-up though. Battery is 18 months old, original warranty 36 months.

What should be done? Shall I invoke warranty? I am not sure if it is a replacement warranty, at least not for the full three years.

Points more to overcharging. Get the charging current checked.

In any case get the battery checked.

[aim120]

Originally Posted by Gansan

The exide tubular battery supplied with my inverter becomes quite warm and consumes a litre of distilled water every week. No.1,5 and 6 cells seem to take in the most water. There seems to be no problem with the back-up though. Battery is 18 months old, original warranty 36 months.

What should be done? Shall I invoke warranty? I am not sure if it is a replacement warranty, at least not for the full three years.

Check the float voltage and see if its more then the battery manufactures rated specs.

[Guite]

Continuing from my earlier posts wrt to APC 850SINE paired with 2x100Ah batteries in parallel:

Problems reported:
1. Could not sustain plasma TV load.
2. Fluctuating voltage reading at TV plug.
3. Heating of cable.

Actions taken:
- called APC technician. He advised reducing cable length. Note that batteries are in the balcony to ventilate acid fumes
- reduced cable length from 2m+ to about 1.5m and reduced intermediate joint from two to one
- increased cable size from 6sqmm to 12sqmm each
- replaced one battery terminal (+) because it has 'rusted' (I don't know the correct term for it)

Results:
1. TV does not shut off by itself anymore when on inverter power. If PC is on, it cannot start from off state, otherwise it can power up from inverter.
2. No more fluctuating voltage reading. Ceiling fan speed also does not reduce drastically anymore when switching from mains power to inverter. BTW, mains is 255V and inverter output is 230V.
3. Cable heating up still occurs but hopefully not as bad as before. I have tried to make the intermediate joint as tight as possible.

I hope my experience is useful to someone.

[satran]

Is Prestolite inverter batteries are available in in the marker?

[Aroy]

Originally Posted by Guite

Continuing from my earlier posts wrt to APC 850SINE paired with 2x100Ah batteries in parallel:

Problems reported:
1. Could not sustain plasma TV load.
2. Fluctuating voltage reading at TV plug.
3. Heating of cable.

Actions taken:
- called APC technician. He advised reducing cable length. Note that batteries are in the balcony to ventilate acid fumes
- reduced cable length from 2m+ to about 1.5m and reduced intermediate joint from two to one
- increased cable size from 6sqmm to 12sqmm each
- replaced one battery terminal (+) because it has 'rusted' (I don't know the correct term for it)

Results:
1. TV does not shut off by itself anymore when on inverter power. If PC is on, it cannot start from off state, otherwise it can power up from inverter.
2. No more fluctuating voltage reading. Ceiling fan speed also does not reduce drastically anymore when switching from mains power to inverter. BTW, mains is 255V and inverter output is 230V.
3. Cable heating up still occurs but hopefully not as bad as before. I have tried to make the intermediate joint as tight as possible.

I hope my experience is useful to someone.

All this points to undersized cables and may be faulty joints. Check the voltage drop across the cables when on full load. If it is more than 2% = 0.3V then you need to upsize the cables.

At 800VA the current drawn is at least 800/12=67A, more like 80A-90A if you factor the efficiency factor. The following gives capacities of wire needed. For 70A and 2% drop you require 22mm.sq and for 85A 27mm.sq.
http://www.calculator.net/voltage-dr...es=1&x=71&y=12

The less the voltage drop across the cables, the more efficient the battery utilization. For starting the vehicle undersize does not matter much as it is for a few seconds (though even there a thicker cable helps when battery is on its last legs), but for sustained usage loss of power in a cable is at the cost of the output from the inverter.

[lurker]

It's very bad idea to run plasma on 850VA sine wave APC. Go for 1400 VA 24V sine wave at minimum. You can connect the two batteries in series which would be perfect and pick up the plasma load easily. Go for Numeric or SuKam fusion series. Don't be so paranoid about service, these two are good on that front, at certain remote locations even better than APC who basically serve only in main centres nowadays and outsource service in secondary towns.

[satran]

Hi All,

I have one APC UPS (800 VA) installed at my home 4 years back. Since last one month onwards, I have observed that the batteries are getting heated when it recharge mode.

What is the reason behind the batteries getting overheated.

Appreciate your help.

[aim120]

Originally Posted by satran

Hi All,

I have one APC UPS (800 VA) installed at my home 4 years back. Since last one month onwards, I have observed that the batteries are getting heated when it recharge mode.

What is the reason behind the batteries getting overheated.

Appreciate your help.

Overcharging,check the float voltage.

4 years is a long time for a SMF battery,I believe its EOL and needs replacing.

[satran]

Originally Posted by aim120

Overcharging,check the float voltage.

4 years is a long time for a SMF battery,I believe its EOL and needs replacing.

How to check the float voltage, I don't have any idea about batteries. I think the battery is semi tubular one, because I used to fill the Distil water 3 months once.

[aim120]

Use a multimeter to check the voltage.

If its a semi tubular one did you check whether the water is low,the battery warms up typically because of a higher charge voltage.

[JustCause]

The trusty Exide invaQueen 450 battery of my inverter was replaced by an Exide InvaRED 450+ yesterday after reliable service of 7 odd years. The old one was barely providing power backup.The cost of the new battery was 8K after deducting buyback price of the old battery.

[satran]

Battery volt is showing 12.25 v

[Aroy]

Originally Posted by satran

Battery volt is showing 12.25 v

Is this under load or without.

Normally fully charged batteries should show 2.2V/cell =13.2V, so 12.25 is a bit low if it is without load.