Greetings! 
We at Titan Power understand how important power protection is to maintaining and preserving your company's critical operations uptime.
Since the number one cause of UPS failure during power outages is the batteries, we would like to take this opportunity to provide you with the below information regarding batteries and battery performance. |
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Multiple Strings of Batteries: Given the fact that batteries are unreliable, multiple strings of batteries in parallel are recommended to insure reliable battery backup during a power outage.
A single string of batteries in a UPS are like links in a chain, if one battery in the single string fails the rest of the batteries in the string are useless.
Having parallel strings of batteries in series will insure that the UPS will perform properly during a power outage even if one battery in one string fails. Run Time on Batteries: How much time is needed to shut down all equipment in the event of an extended power outage? Once determined, this will be the amount of time the UPS will require in battery run time. Depending on the UPS and battery size, this may require two or more strings of batteries.
Battery Environment: Ensuring that the environment for the batteries meets the battery manufacturer's specification is critical. Three factors will cause batteries to fail prematurely, these are:
- Temperature: Batteries require the optimum temperature of 77 degrees. Every degree over 77 decreases the battery life by shortening the batteries life expectancy.
- Usage: The more power outages the UPS encounters the shorter the life of the battery.
Example: Look at the battery like a loaf of bread. The loaf of bread has only so many slices. Every time a slice of bread is removed the loaf gets smaller. It is the same with batteries; every time the batteries are used the capacity and the ability of the battery to store energy decreases (the loaf gets smaller).
- Age of the battery is determined by the numerical age (months or years) but also by the above two factors: Temperature and Usage. To determine the battery age (whether it can perform to manufacturer's spec.) we will rely on all three factors combined.
Battery Maintenance is required semiannually to insure that the UPS and its batteries are operating properly. Batteries are unreliable and one or more will fail during the life expectancy of three to five years.
If the batteries are tested and fall bellow manufactures specification they should be replaced to insure proper operation and so the UPS can provide the Uninterruptible Power.
In summary, VLRA (Valve Regulated) batteries are unreliable and multiple strings in parallel are needed to ensure that the UPS can provide true Uninterruptible Power. It is important to consider this information when determining the need for battery replacements and adding additional battery strings. |
