Restoring a lead UPS battery. UPS battery restoration
The vast majority of us use such an extremely useful device as an uninterruptible power supply. The power quality is not ideal everywhere, and even the smallest problems with the power supply can sometimes cost a lot. Data loss is always unpleasant, and sometimes downright fatal. The device is purchased, installed under the table, connected, and its owner is fully confident that in any case, if there is a power outage, he will have time to correctly shut down the work, and maybe even make a backup to a flash drive. As time passes, the uninterruptible power supply periodically makes itself felt - like a real watchdog, it raises its voice at the slightest deviation in the parameters of the power grid. The owner is calm and everything is fine. But one day an outage does happen and this time the UPS does not just give a voice and immediately switches from the battery to the network, this time the lights were turned off for a long time. We are calmly copying files (after all, we have at least 15 minutes left) and then the uninterruptible power supply starts beeping very often and everything turns off. How so? After all, the uninterruptible power supply was supposed to protect us from such situations, but it only instilled in us false confidence in our safety! Why did it happen?
It's all about the batteries, from which our uninterruptible power supply feeds all our hardware when the external network is turned off. But these batteries, alas, do not last forever, they degrade, their capacity decreases, and with it the battery life. Down to zero. Unfortunately, this process is often not controlled by anyone, the owner is confident that he is protected, and at this time the battery is no longer really a battery, but a dummy.
What to do, what to do and where to run?
Why do batteries degrade? There are many reasons. Intensive use causes sulfation of the plates, overload causes the active substances to crumble, and so on. The UPS has a maintenance-free battery, but it still contains electrolyte and this electrolyte is water based. Being constantly in buffer mode, in slow charging mode, the water gradually evaporates and the electrolyte no longer performs its functions. The battery becomes unusable. How can this be avoided? This can be avoided by using correct battery charging mechanisms and monitoring its characteristics, but all this is beyond our control - this is the lot of UPS manufacturers.
It so happened that the Internet in my area is only wireless; for its operation, a scary-looking antenna is installed on the roof, and to reduce signal loss in the cable, its length is minimized. The server that then distributes the Internet (another server and switch) is installed in the attic. This small bundle requires uninterrupted power. Even without taking into account data losses, running to load the server at the slightest sneeze (and here they happen often) is not much fun. There should be continuity and preferably more. I bought a 1100VA uninterruptible power supply, not new (new ones are more expensive than those servers) and of course I didn’t rely on batteries - they are often worn out. Well, I bought it and bought it. I installed it, everything seemed okay. The UPS control panel cheerfully told me about almost an hour of battery life (the load was about 70 VA). I decided to check it out. I turned off the power and after about two minutes everything turned off safely. Batteries are “dead”. This is exactly the case with false protection. There is nothing to do, you need to buy new batteries. I installed backup batteries (it just so happened that there are some from the electric bike and they are inactive), 12VA each. And he took his dead relatives downstairs.
I've heard that the electrolyte in UPS batteries often just dries out. That it is not sulfation or chipping of the plates that causes the death of UPS batteries, but rather the drying out of the electrolyte. An attempt, as they say, is not torture. The batteries were about to be thrown away anyway, and the urge to pick didn’t give me a chance. To carry out the experiments I needed:
Distilled water (NOT an electrolyte!). Sold in a car dealership.
- A syringe, better with a needle - with a needle it is easier to dose. Sold in a pharmacy.
- A knife for picking, stronger.
- Scotch tape for assembly (for aesthetes, of course ONLY blue tape should be there!).
- Flashlight.
There is a cap glued to the battery that closes the cans. I carefully faked it with a knife (for picking). I had to go around in a circle - it was glued in several places.
Under the lid are jars covered with rubber caps. These caps are probably needed to release water vapor, hydrogen and other things that can create excess pressure in the jar when the battery is operating. It's like a nipple that lets gas out, but doesn't let anything in.
The caps are not glued, I just removed them by prying them off with a knife.
Under the caps, if you look inside the jar, there is nothing interesting. Absolutely. You need a flashlight to look.
I took a syringe, filled it with distilled water (The main thing is without dirt. So that everything is clean!) and poured a cube of water into each jar.
The water was safely absorbed, almost instantly. I repeated it again. Then again 5 or 7, I don’t remember. The water should not flop around in the jar, but it shouldn’t “take” the water from the jar either. It's better to shine a flashlight and take a look. The main thing is not to overfill.
After filling the water, I covered the jars with rubber lids and set the battery to charge. I charged it separately, with a large charger, but I think this is not necessary - you can simply charge it in an uninterruptible power supply. If the batteries are discharged below 10V, then it will not be possible to charge them in this way. There is information that such batteries can also be “boosted,” but to do this, it is necessary to apply high voltage to them at the initial stages (about 35V for a 12V battery) with current control. I haven’t tried it, so I can’t say anything specific. I also cannot recommend this method.
The first point is that if you overfill the water, it will return from under the lid. It must be collected with a syringe and poured into the sewer.
The second point is that if you cover the jars with lids, then during the charging process the pressure in the jar rises slightly and the lids will scatter throughout the room with a characteristic bang. It's funny, but only once. I checked twice - the second time is no longer fun. I covered the lids with the original plastic lid and placed a weight on it.
After charging, I discharged the batteries a little with a car “carrying device”, about half an hour, measured the residual voltage, and estimated the capacity. I charged it again and discharged it a little again.
I did the same with the second battery - there are a couple of them in the UPS. After all, I sealed the removed covers with tape and put the batteries in place.
The results are:
In 10 minutes with a load of 110VA, the batteries were discharged to 79 percent. The operating time on the battery varied somewhat, at the end the software said almost 29 minutes + 10 that had already passed, which comes out to almost 40 minutes. This state of affairs suits me. Enough to go and start the generator. When will I have it :). And make some tea along the way. And drink it.
Based on 79%, that's 21% in 10 minutes or 47 minutes of battery life. Somewhere in the region of what the software promises.
Another calculation option is the total capacity of batteries 12V * 7Ah * 2pcs = 168 Watt/hours. This is ideal. With a load of 110W, the charge should last for 1.5 hours. But in reality, even with new batteries there will not be such an operating time - the discharge current is too high and the delivered capacity will be lower. It is difficult to say for sure how much the capacity has been restored, but it is very likely that it is up to 80 percent of the nominal. In my opinion, it’s not bad at all for one syringe, a jar of distillate and an hour of time.
The moral of this story is:
- Check battery life periodically. They can screw you over at the most unpleasant moment.
- At your own peril and risk, even battered batteries can be restored with little effort. But no, you will always have time to buy new ones.
All batteries have an expiration date, and with numerous charge-discharge cycles and many hours of use, the battery loses its capacity and holds a charge less and less.
Over time, the battery capacity drops so much that its further use becomes impossible.
Probably many people have already accumulated batteries from uninterruptible power supplies (UPS), alarm systems and emergency lighting.
Many household and office equipment contain lead-acid batteries, and regardless of the brand of battery and manufacturing technology, whether it is a regular serviceable car battery, AGM, gel-lium (GEL) or a small flashlight battery, they all have lead plates and an acid electrolyte.
At the end of their service, such batteries cannot be thrown away because they contain lead; basically, they are destined for recycling where the lead is extracted and processed.
But still, despite the fact that such batteries are basically “maintenance-free”, you can try to restore them by returning them to their previous capacity and use them for some more time.
In this article I will talk about how restore 12 volt battery from UPSa to 7ah, but the method is suitable for any acid battery. But I want to warn you that these measures should not be carried out on a fully working battery, since on a working battery, capacity can only be restored using the correct charging method.
So we take the battery, in this case old and discharged, and pry off the plastic cover with a screwdriver. Most likely it is point-glued to the body.
Lifting the lid we see six rubber caps, their task is not to service the battery, but to bleed off gases formed during charging and operation, but we will use them for our purposes.
We remove the caps and pour 3 ml of distilled water into each hole using a syringe; it should be noted that other water is not suitable for this. And distilled water can be easily found in a pharmacy or at a car market; in extreme cases, snow melt water or clean rainwater may be suitable.
After we have added water, we put the battery on charge and we will charge it using a laboratory (regulated) power supply.
We select the voltage until some charging current values appear. If the battery is in poor condition, then the charging current may not be observed, at first, at all.
The voltage must be increased until a charging current of at least 10-20 mA appears. Having achieved such charging current values, you need to be careful, since the current will increase over time and you will have to constantly reduce the voltage.
When the current reaches 100mA, there is no need to reduce the voltage any further. And when the charging current reaches 200mA, you need to disconnect the battery for 12 hours.
Then we connect the battery again for charging, the voltage should be such that the charging current for our 7ah battery is 600mA. Also, by constantly monitoring, we maintain the specified current for 4 hours. But we make sure that the charging voltage for a 12-volt battery is no more than 15-16 volts.
After charging, after about an hour, the battery needs to be discharged to 11 volts; this can be done using any 12-volt light bulb (for example, 15 watt).
After discharge, the battery must be charged again with a current of 600 mA. It is best to do this procedure several times, that is, several charge-discharge cycles.
Most likely, it will not be possible to return the nominal value, since sulfation of the plates has already reduced its service life, and besides, there are other harmful processes taking place. But the battery can continue to be used in normal mode and there will be enough capacity for this.
Regarding the rapid wear of batteries in uninterruptible power supplies, the following reasons were noted. Being in the same case with an uninterruptible power supply, the battery is constantly subject to passive heating from active elements (power transistors) which, by the way, heat up to 60-70 degrees! Constant heating of the battery leads to rapid evaporation of the electrolyte.
In cheap, and sometimes even some expensive UPS models, there is no thermal compensation of the charge, that is, the charge voltage is set to 13.8 volts, but this is acceptable for 10-15 degrees, and for 25 degrees, and sometimes much more in the case, the charge voltage should be a maximum of 13.2-13.5 volts!
A good solution would be to move the battery outside the case if you want to extend its service life.
The “constant low charge” of an uninterruptible power supply, 13.5 volts and a current of 300 mA also affects it. Such recharging leads to the fact that when the active sponge mass inside the battery runs out, a reaction begins in its electrodes, which leads to the fact that the lead of the current leads on (+) becomes brown (PbO2) and on (-) becomes “spongy”.
Thus, with constant overcharging, we get destruction of the current leads and “boiling” of the electrolyte with the release of hydrogen and oxygen, which leads to an increase in the concentration of the electrolyte, which again contributes to the destruction of the electrodes. It turns out such a closed process that leads to rapid consumption of battery life.
In addition, such a charge (overcharge) with a high voltage and current from which the electrolyte “boils” transforms the lead of the down conductors into powdered lead oxide, which crumbles over time and can even short-circuit the plates.
During active use (frequent charging), it is recommended to add distilled water to the battery once a year.
Top up only to a fully charged battery with control of both electrolyte level and voltage. Under no circumstances should you overfill, It's better not to top it up because you can’t take it back, because by sucking out the electrolyte you deprive the battery of sulfuric acid and subsequently the concentration changes. I think it’s clear that sulfuric acid is non-volatile, so during the “boiling” process during charging, it all remains inside the battery - only hydrogen and oxygen come out.
We connect a digital voltmeter to the terminals and, using a 5 ml syringe with a needle, pour 2-3 ml of distilled water into each jar, at the same time shining a flashlight inside to stop if the water has stopped being absorbed - after pouring 2-3 ml, look into the jar - you will see how the water is quickly absorbed and the voltage on the voltmeter drops (by fractions of a volt). We repeat the topping up for each jar with pauses for absorption of 10-20 seconds (approximately) until you see that the “glass mats” are already wet - that is, the water is no longer absorbed.
After refilling, we inspect whether there is an overflow in each battery can, wipe the entire case, replace the rubber caps and glue the lid in place.
Since the battery shows approximately 50-70% charge after topping up, you need to charge it. But charging must be carried out either with a regulated power supply or with an uninterruptible power supply or a standard device, but under supervision, that is, during charging it is necessary to monitor the condition of the battery (you need to see the top of the battery). In the case of an uninterruptible power supply, for this you will have to make extension cords and take the battery outside the UPSa case.
Place napkins or plastic bags under the battery, charge it to 100% and see if electrolyte is leaking from any of the jars. If this suddenly happens, stop charging and remove any stains with a napkin. Using a cloth soaked in a soda solution, we clean the body, all the cavities and terminals where the electrolyte got in, in order to neutralize the acid.
We find the jar where the “boiling” occurred and see if the electrolyte is visible in the window, suck out the excess with a syringe, and then carefully and smoothly pour this electrolyte back into the fiber. It often happens that after topping up the electrolyte is not evenly absorbed and boils up.
When recharging, we monitor the battery as described above, and if the “problematic” battery bank begins to “spout” again during charging, the excess electrolyte will have to be removed from the bank.
Also, under inspection, you should perform at least 2-3 full discharge-charge cycles; if everything went well and there are no leaks, the battery does not heat up (slight heating during charging does not count), then the battery can be assembled into the case.
Well, now let’s take a closer look radical ways to reanimate lead-acid batteries
All electrolyte is drained from the battery, and the insides are washed first a couple of times with hot water, and then with a hot soda solution (3 teaspoons of soda per 100 ml of water), leaving the solution in the battery for 20 minutes. The process can be repeated several times, and at the end, after thoroughly rinsing off the remaining soda solution, a new electrolyte is poured in.
Then the battery is charged for a day, and after 10 days, for 6 hours a day.
For car batteries with a current of up to 10 amperes and a voltage of 14-16 volts.
The second method is reverse charging, for this procedure you will need a powerful voltage source, for car batteries, for example, a welding machine, the recommended current is 80 amperes with a voltage of 20 volts.
They do a polarity reversal, that is, plus to minus and minus to plus, and for half an hour they “boil” the battery with its original electrolyte, after which the electrolyte is drained and the battery is washed with hot water.
Next, a new electrolyte is poured in and, observing the new polarity, they are charged with a current of 10-15 amperes throughout the day.
But the most effective way is done using chemicals. substances.
The electrolyte is drained from a fully charged battery and, after repeated washing with water, an ammonia solution of Trilon B (ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid sodium) containing 2 weight percent Trilon B and 5 percent ammonia is poured in. The desulfation process occurs over a period of 40 - 60 minutes, during which gas is released with small splashes. By the cessation of such gas formation, one can judge that the process is complete. In case of particularly strong sulfation, the ammonia solution of Trilon B should be refilled, having removed the spent solution first.
At the end of the procedure, the inside of the battery is thoroughly washed several times with distilled water and a new electrolyte of the required density is poured. The battery is charged in the standard way to its nominal capacity.
Regarding the ammonia solution of Trilon B, it can be found in chemical laboratories and stored in sealed containers in a dark place.
In general, if you are interested, the composition of the electrolyte produced by Lighting, Electrol, Blitz, akkumulad, Phonix, Toniolyt and some others is an aqueous solution of sulfuric acid (350-450g per liter) with the addition of sulfate salts of magnesium, aluminum, sodium, ammonium. The Gruconnin electrolyte also contains potassium alum and copper sulfate.
After restoration, the battery can be charged in the usual way for this type (for example, in UPSe) and not allowed to discharge below 11 volts.
Many uninterruptible power supply systems have a “battery calibration” function, which can be used to carry out discharge-charge cycles. Having connected a load of 50% of the maximum of the UPS at the output of the uninterruptible power supply, we launch this function and the uninterruptible power supply discharges the battery to 25% and then charges it to 100%.
Well, in a very primitive example, charging such a battery looks like this:
A stabilized voltage of 14.5 volts is supplied to the battery, through a high-power wirewound variable resistor or through a current stabilizer.
The charge current is calculated using a simple formula: divide the battery capacity by 10, for example for a 7ah battery it will be 700mA. And on the current stabilizer or using a variable wire resistor, it is necessary to set the current to 700 mA. Well, during the charging process, the current will begin to drop and it will be necessary to reduce the resistance of the resistor; over time, the resistor handle will come all the way to the initial position and the resistance of the resistor will be equal to zero. The current will then gradually decrease to zero until the voltage on the battery becomes constant - 14.5 volts. The battery is charged.
Additional information on the “correct” charging of batteries can be found
light crystals on the plates are sulfation
A separate “jar” battery was constantly undercharged and, as a result, covered with sulfates, its internal resistance increased with each deep cycle, which led to the fact that, during charging, it began to “boil” before everyone else, due to loss of capacity and removal of electrolyte into insoluble sulfates.
The positive plates and their grids turned into powder in consistency as a result of constant recharging by an uninterruptible power supply in stand-by mode.
Lead-acid batteries are used in cars, motorcycles and various household appliances, where they are found in flashlights and watches and even in the smallest electronics. And if you come across such a “non-working” lead-acid battery without identification marks and you do not know what voltage it should produce in working condition. This can be easily determined by the number of cells in the battery. Locate the protective cover on the battery case and remove it. You will see gas release caps. Based on their number, it will become clear how many “cans” this battery has.
1 bank - 2 volts (fully charged - 2.17 volts), that is, if there are 2 caps, then the battery is 4 volts.
A completely discharged battery bank must be at least 1.8 volts; you cannot discharge it below!
Well, at the end I’ll give you a little idea, for those who don’t have enough money to buy new batteries. Find companies in your city that deal with computer equipment and UPS (uninterruptible power supplies for boilers, batteries for alarm systems), negotiate with them so that they do not throw away old batteries from uninterruptible power supplies, but give them to you, perhaps at a symbolic price.
Practice shows that half of AGM (gel) batteries can be restored, if not to 100%, then to 80-90% for sure! And this is another couple of years of excellent battery life in your device.
People who use uninterruptible power supplies may encounter a situation where the device cannot keep the equipment in working order even with the slightest voltage surge. This happens because the device's battery has failed. In such cases, restoring the UPS battery allows you to significantly save on purchasing a new expensive battery. There are several methods that help to get the equipment working.
According to experts, battery failure can result a variety of reasons:
- Regular undercharging of uninterruptible power supply batteries - this reason is much more common than others, because economy class sources are usually equipped with chargers of poor quality;
- Poor quality of the input mains voltage – it is because of this that the device often has to switch to battery mode;
- Uninterruptible power supplies are overcharged;
- The reasons for the failure may also lie in the fact that the battery has been in a discharged state for quite a long time;
- The UPS itself can discharge the battery, but this indicates a problem in the equipment circuit;
- The electrolyte level decreases due to increased voltage during charging, as a result of which the battery begins to dry out and lose its original qualities;
- Operation of an uninterruptible power supply in conditions with elevated air temperatures
All the above factors negatively affect battery performance and lead to breakdowns:
- The active mass of positively charged electrodes begins to slide and crumble due to its loosening and loss of homogeneity;
- Deterioration of the mechanical strength of down conductors;
- Weak adhesion of the active mass;
- Corrosive destruction of electrodes, in which electrochemical processes of oxidation and dissolution occur in the electrolytes, and the material of the current leads crumbles;
- In UPS batteries, sulfation of the plates occurs, as a result of which reversible current-generating processes cease.
Many owners of uninterruptible power supplies were in a situation where, at the slightest voltage surge, the computer turned off, even though it was connected to the UPS. The reason for this is the failure of batteries, and their price is such that it is sometimes cheaper to buy a new source. Many people immediately have questions: “How to revive uninterruptible power supply? Is it possible to repair the UPS battery? We invite you to find out how to restore it in this article.
Reasons for battery failure
First, let's look at the main types of malfunctions and the reasons why the battery may become unusable. There can be many reasons for a source battery failure:
- systematic undercharging of UPS batteries is the most common reason, since budget sources are equipped with not very high-quality chargers. The reason may also be the quality of the input mains voltage, due to which the UPS often has to switch to battery mode;
- deep discharge – also possible if the quality of the input voltage is poor;
- prolonged battery discharge - after long-term battery operation, try to leave the UPS turned on so that it can fully charge its batteries, there are also situations when the UPS itself discharges the battery, but this problem is associated with physical problems in the circuit;
- a decrease in the electrolyte level, which leads to the battery drying out and losing its original qualities - this occurs due to increased voltage during charging;
- operation of the battery at elevated temperatures and its storage at temperatures below 0.
All of the above negatively affects the performance of the batteries in the UPS, and they work poorly or completely fail. The above reasons lead to the following battery breakdowns:
- shedding and sliding of the active mass of positively charged electrodes, which is associated with a violation of homogeneity and loosening;
- weak adhesion of the active mass or poor mechanical strength of the down conductors causes the active mass to fall off;
- corrosion of electrodes, which consists in the formation of electrochemical processes of dissolution and oxidation in the electrolyte, as a result of which the material of the current leads crumbles;
- sulfation of plates, which consists in the impossibility of reversible current-generating processes as a result of the formation of large crystals of lead sulfate.
How to restore the UPS battery?
Now let's move on to the essence of the article - reviving the UPS battery at home. You shouldn’t expect 100% results, and recovery methods are only suitable for some types of breakdowns, but it’s still worth trying to restore a UPS battery, since the prices for new batteries are quite high. Below we will look at several ways to restore batteries.
1. We revive the uninterruptible power supply with distilled water.
First you need to buy the necessary tools: a syringe and distilled water. Distilled water is sold at any automotive store. To restore batteries using this method, you will have to tear off the top battery cover that covers the caps of the cans. Then remove the caps, which are also valves to relieve excess pressure that is created when the batteries heat up.
Fill a syringe with distilled water, no more than 2 ml, and squeeze it into a jar. Do this with each jar. Give the water time to absorb (it will take about half an hour), if necessary, add more. The plates should be lightly covered with water; if there is excess, you can remove it with a syringe.
2. Long charging
Restoring UPS batteries using this method allows you to restore its original properties after drying. Initially, you can try it so as not to disassemble the battery. If long-term charging does not help, then you will have to complete the first step. A dry battery will initially not draw current from the charger, so do not pay attention to the ammeter.
Before connecting, cover the battery with a cap and place a weight on it, otherwise the caps will fly all over the room, as excess pressure will be released through them.
You need to charge with a voltage of at least 15 Volts. Moreover, you will have to wait a long time before the battery starts to come to life and take current. If, after 15 hours of charging, the battery still does not begin to take current, then the voltage should be increased to 20 V. In this case, the battery should not be left unattended, otherwise both the battery and the charger may be damaged.
3. Cyclic charge
If the battery does not want to come to life, then you can try to “boost” it. Charge/discharge cycles should be performed alternately, which will restore the original properties of the battery.
The first charge cycle should be carried out with a high voltage of about 30 V. Subsequent cycles will require a stepwise reduction in voltage to 14 V, for example, 30-25-20-14 V. If there are more cycles, the voltage readings will be different. The battery should be discharged with a small 5-10 W light bulb. When discharging, you should monitor the battery voltage and not allow it to drop below 10.5 V.
The above methods describe how to restore the UPS, but if they do not help, you will have to go to the store for a new battery. If you decide to throw away your old batteries, remember that batteries contain lead, which is a heavy metal, and acid. Find out on the Internet or at any service center where to return UPS batteries in your city so as not to cause damage to the environment.
here the process is chewed in detail with photographs adopt-zu-soroka.narod2.ru/tehnicheskie_voprosi_vosstanovleniya/obsluzhivanie_i_vosstanovlenie_proverennaya_metodika/SA Maintenance and Restoration.
(method tested by me)Disassembly of the SA: look at my photos - there are plastic covers on the top cover of the battery, they are flush with the top plane of the battery. Or one large lid, like in this photo: Take a thick awl or a small (-) sharpened screwdriver in your hands and carefully insert it into the gap between the lid and the body - the thickness of the lid itself is about 1 mm - and undermine it. The lid is glued, but not along the entire contour, but in “dots” - the lid comes off easily. Remember where you remove the cover from - so that you can put it back in its place - otherwise it will stick up.
Having removed the lid, you will see a rubber cap - carefully (without tearing the rubber!) pull it up (like a sock) - letting air under its skirt (edge) (with a spoon or toothpick on the side). To look (illuminate) inside the can, I recommend using a small LED flashlight.
Distilled water is added only to a fully charged battery with control of both electrolyte level and voltage!!!
There are batteries (mostly new) that have one solid cover on top - no problem! Find a key near the lid (cut approximately 1mm) and carefully undermine it in the same way - but first on one side, insert a match there and then further undermine it along the contour of the lid.
Separating the lid, you will see the same rubber caps.The refilling process is simple: We connect a digital voltmeter to the terminals, not lying, and a 5 ml syringe with a needle pour 2-3 ml of distilled water into each jar, while shining a flashlight inside to stop if the water has stopped being absorbed - after pouring 2-3 ml, look into the jar - you will see how the water is quickly absorbed, and the voltage on the voltmeter drops (by hundredths or tenths of a volt).
We repeat the topping up for each jar with pauses for “absorption” for 10-20 seconds (approximately) until you see that the “glass mats” are already wet - i.e. The water is no longer absorbed, but it is not splashing on top yet.Do not overfill water under any circumstances! make sure that there is no free liquid on top of the plates - You can’t suck it out - it’s better not to top it up! Because by sucking out the electrolyte you deprive the battery of sulfuric acid! Let me remind you: sulfuric acid, non-volatile therefore, during the “boiling” process without splashing, it all remains inside the battery - only hydrogen and oxygen come out...
How to put everything back together:
1) make sure that there is no overflow in any jar.
2) all surfaces must be dry - use napkins.
3) put the rubber caps in place.
4) put the lid(s) in place.
5) to fix the covers we use ordinary tape - wrapping the battery around along the line of the covers. Yes, you can glue the covers - but then you will have to tear them off again along with pieces of the body - do you need it?Test charge:
Since the batteries immediately after topping up show approximately 50-70% charge, you need to charge the batteries. I do not recommend (I especially do not recommend to those who are going to do this in the UPS) to turn over the batteries when charging for the first time! Take the wires out of the UPS, assemble the battery, place a newspaper under the battery and a plastic bag under it. You should see the “top” of all accounts!
You can put a paper blotter or a piece of toilet paper on top of each one.Charge up to 100% and watch... if electrolyte suddenly leaks out of a jar, we thoroughly blot it and stop charging. Then we remove the lid from that jar. (without removing the rubber cap!) and with a napkin soaked in a solution of baking soda, carefully neutralize all the electrolyte, including the one in all the depressions. Neutralize the terminals with soda, wipe dry and lubricate with Vaseline. Then remove the rubber valve of the boiling can and rinse it with water under the tap( not in soda!!!), look inside the jar - if there is electrolyte in the tube, then suck it out into the syringe until there is air in the upper part, and then carefully pour it back in small portions and watch the level. (this happens when water boils inside the layers of the "acc. jar")
If possible- then such an acc would need to be replaced because a boiled jar can be destroyed (the plates from the tokosem are corroded) and not have even 40% capacity, but you can try to give it a 2nd chance...After charging, you need to carry out a full discharge cycle, also on the table, so that you can clearly see what is happening.
(it’s useful to do two charge-discharge cycles “on the table”)
If everything went OK, and there are no drops of electrolyte anywhere, and the batteries are barely warm to the touch, and especially on the top covers there are no hot spots, then you can assemble the batteries into the case. They will serve you for a long time.If during the first charging you find that some of the “cans”, after filling with water and the first charge, heat up noticeably more, and the battery voltage during “smart charging” increases sharply, and when charging is removed, the battery voltage drops significantly - this means that the battery needs to be scrapped.. ... there will be plates completely converted into sand (PbO2 powder) ...
A sharp increase in battery voltage and an equally sharp drop when the charging voltage is removed without heating, it also indicates destruction or breakage (corrosion) of the plate and current collection...I personally did this method on more than one account.
Now I have an APC SmartUPS 1400 under my desk, which has had original batteries since 2001 and still (after topping up) can handle the load normally and charges up to 100% (according to the PowerShute program).I recommend using this method to check and top up the batteries every year, during cyclic operation (especially if you discharge them heavily) , and once every two years for UPSs that do not overheat - if they overheat, then every year - disassemble, check and top up.
For those who have UPS - discharge-charge cycles can be done using the standard “battery calibration” procedure - you start it by connecting a load of approximately 50% of its maximum to the output of the UPS - the UPS discharges the battery to 25% and then charges it to 100%