Your UPS system is a critical part of your critical power infrastructure. The UPS batteries are essentially the lifeblood of the system. Although your UPS needs this lifeblood, a lot of times, batteries are ignored. In the following days, we’ll explain in more detail about each battery kind that can be employed in a UPS system and the pros and cons of each. Regardless of the battery choice, it should be noted that all batteries lose their capacity to hold and deliver power as time progresses. But, if you adhere to all practices for storage, application and maintenance, you will eventually have to replace UPS batteries at the UPS Battery Shop after a set duration to maximize the usage of your UPS.
UPS batteries exist in three major types:
- Valve Regulated Lead Acid (VRLA)
- VLA batteries or Flooded Cell
- Lithium-Ion batteries
Valve Regulated Lead Acid (VRLA)
This is the most common type of battery in most UPS units today. The description valve-regulated refers to the method through which gas is let out from the battery. When the gas pressure escalates to a very high level in the battery, a valve will release the gas when it exceeds a specific pressure. Water is not to be added to VRLA type batteries, thus conditions that increase evaporation such as ambient heat and temperature from charging current decrease the life of the battery.
VLA batteries or Flooded Cell
VLA batteries or Flooded Cell are very dependable and normally last for 20 years. The battery is made of wide, lead plates immersed in an electrolyte acid. With this kind of battery, there need to be more safety precautions taken when compared to the VLRA. They require their isolated battery room because of the potential chemical harms they can lead to. Also, they normally have more expensive initial costs than other battery types.
Lithium-Ion
Lithium-Ion batteries have developed immensely in their application for several uses, such as being installed on electric autos and, as you would expect, UPS storage. These batteries possess the benefit of being lightweight and small in size, besides, they feature integrated battery management in addition to monitoring. This system regulates voltage, charge current, cell voltage balance, and still corrects for problems related to excess temperature by delinking strings or single batteries if temperatures exceed safe levels. The management system can relay alarms on the UPS and provide alerts to the battery cabinet monitor. The discharge and charge times, as well as recharge times of Lithium-Ion batteries, are very high. This makes them suitable in unconventional UPS applications, like industrial process control support as well as grid sharing. These batteries are also cheaper to operate since they do not need to be replaced frequently and can function at increased ambient temperatures.
It is critical that you are aware of your UPS battery choices, how to deal with them, at the same level that you are aware of the alternatives for your machine.