Lead Acid Battery Operating Instructions - Alcad.com

9.2 Cell Appearance
9.3 Water Additions
9.4 Pilot Cell
The room in which the battery is housed should be well ventilated and its temperature as
moderate as the climate will allow. The temperature of the electrolyte should preferably
never exceed 100°F (38°C).
Examine all cells occasionally.
Healthy cells, when fully charged, show a marked contrast between the dark brown
positive and the light gray negative plates. For cells in transparent jars (SD, SDH, SGL,
SGH), it can be useful to inspect the appearance of each cell in the battery at regular
intervals.
Any cells not showing a healthy plate coloration, or having a specific gravity or voltage
noticeably lower than the other cells, or in which the plates gas unevenly or not at all,
should be regarded as suspect. Such cells should be carefully examined for internal
short
circuits, such as may be caused by small pieces of scale bridging across lhe plates. Such
short-circuits should be removed or the cell may be ruined.
A period of charging will normally restore such cells to lhe condition of the remainder of the
battery, but if it does not, expert advice should be obtained immediately from Alcad
Standby Batteries.
Check the electrolyte levels in all cells regularly and if necessary top up with distilled or
de-ionized water. Never allow the electrolyte level to fall below the "MIN" line. Do not
overfill the cells.
It is good practice to give the battery an equalize charge after water addition, to aid in
mixing the electrolyte (see Section 7.3). Note that specific gravity readings are not
meaningful following water addition; in fact, it may take six weeks or more before the
solution is completely mixed.
For regular monitoring of the battery condition, select one cell near the middle of the
battery as a "pilot" cell (for batteries containing more than 60 cells, select one pilot cell for
every 60 cells).
The electrolyte specific gravity of the pilot cell(s)) will be indicative of the state of charge of
the whole battery.
10 Maintenance Records
Written records should be kept of battery maintenance, so that long term changes in
battery condition may be monitored.
The following inspection procedures are recommended:
Weekly
Monthly
Check and record the overall float voltage at the battery terminals
(not at the charger!), and measure the pilot cell voltage.
Record the battery voltage and the voltage, specific gravity and
temperature of the pilot cells.
Quarterly Record the voltage, specific gravity and temperature of all cells.
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