Should you Measure Battery Conductance or Resistance to Monitor Battery Health?

ShouldyouMeasureBatteryConductanceor
ResistancetoMonitorBatteryHealth?
InterviewconductedbyJakeWilkinson Dec222016

Theresistanceandconductanceofabatteryaretwoparametersthatcanbeusedto
determinethehealthofbatterystringsandidentifyfailedcells.Asthetwodifferentvalues
haveasuchacloserelationshiptoeachothermanybatteryusersbelievethatthechoice
betweenmeasuringeitherconductanceorresistancemakeslittledifferencehowever,this
isnotthecase.

AZoMspoketoWayneEaton,ofStorageBatterySystems(SBS),abouttheadvantagesof
measuringresistance,ratherthanconductance,andthebenefitsofusingSBSequipment
forresistancemeasurement.

Letsstartwiththebasics,whatisabatterysinternalresistanceand
conductance?Whatisthedifferencebetweenthetwo?
Internalresistanceisthebatterysoppositiontocurrentflow.Conductanceisabatterys
allowanceofcurrentflow.BothareOhmicmeasurementstaken,recordedandusedto
diagnoseordeterminebatterystateofhealth.

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Should you Measure Battery Conductance or Resistance to Monitor Battery Health?

Abatteriesinternalresistanceandconductanceareinverselyproportionaltooneanother
asonerisestheotherfalls.Shutterstock|Mrs_ya

Aretheretargetrangesforabatteryinternalresistanceandconductance?
Batterymanufacturershavedocumentedreferencevaluesfortheirproductlinesinternal
resistancevalues.Somemanufacturerspublishtheseincataloguesorcutsheets,while
othersprovideuponrequest.Toidentifyabaselineforaparticularstring,Irecommend
testinginternalresistanceorconductanceimmediatelyafterpurchasingthebatteries.

Howdoestheinternalresistanceandconductancechangeoverthecourse
ofabatteryslifetime?
Overthelifeofabattery,internalresistancewillincreaseasthepositiveplatesage,
undergogridcorrosionandloseactivematerial.Conversely,asabatteryages,
conductancevaluesdecreaseasthebatterybecomesmoreresistivetocurrentflow.

Therearemanyfactorsthataffectabatterysinternalresistanceorconductance.These
include:stateofcharge,temperature,sulfationofplates,dryoutofcellelectrolyte,etc.
Ohmicmeasurementscanindicatethesechanges,butcannotidentifyspecificallywhich

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Should you Measure Battery Conductance or Resistance to Monitor Battery Health?

changesareoccurring.

Whatmeasures,ifany,canbetakentohelppreventtheseprocessesfrom
occurring?
Maintainingthemostcriticalparametersofabattery,includingoptimalchargeand
temperaturecontrol,canhelpmaximizetheservicelife.

Mostearlybatteryfailurescanbeeliminatedbythepropercontrolofthesefactors,in
conjunctionwithaconsistentandthoroughmaintenanceprogram.

Shutterstock|optimarc

Howdointernalresistanceandconductancereadingshelpidentifyabad
cell?Whatelsecanthesereadingsidentify?
Asignificantchangefromnormalreadingsorthemanufacturersreferencevalueindicates
anabnormalitywiththebatteryandadditionalinvestigationisrequired.While
manufacturersdopublishreferencevalues,trendingactualreadingswillhelpdecipher
whatisnormalforabatteryandbatterystring.

Internalresistancereadingscanalsohelpidentifyproblemswithintercellconnections,
corrosionofterminalsandlooseconnectionhardware.
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Should you Measure Battery Conductance or Resistance to Monitor Battery Health?

Whydoyoubelievethatmeasuringinternalresistance,ratherthan
conductance,isamoreeffectivewayofmonitoringbatteryhealth?
Internalresistanceisanincreasingcharacteristicanditsagecurvemovestowardsan
infinitevalue.Conductanceisadecreasingcharacteristicanditsagecurvemovestowards
aplateauofzero,becauseconductancereadingscanneverbenegative.Conductance
readingswithnearzerobaselineshavelittleroomfortrending.

Somebatterieshaveconductancemeasurementssolowthatreadingsmaybeimpossible
totakeordifferentiate.Aninternalresistancespikeisalwaysidentifiable,buta
conductancedropisnot.

Arethereanyregulationsthatrequirebatteryuserstotakeandreport
internalresistancereadingsandvalues?
IEEE450,IEEE1106,IEEE1188,aswellasNERCandFERCrequirementsallprovide
guidanceonOhmictestingandreportretentionaspartoftheirmaintenanceactivity
recommendationsorrequirements.

Shutterstock|optimarc

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Should you Measure Battery Conductance or Resistance to Monitor Battery Health?

Howoftendoyourecommendtestingtheinternalresistanceofabattery
string?
Personally,Isuggesttestingmuchmorefrequentlythanmostregulationsminimum
requirements.Abatterycanfailatanytime.Abatterythattestednormaltodayoraweek
agocouldfailwithoutwarningifplacedunderaheavyload.

Asanabsoluteminimum,eachbatteryorcellshouldbetestedonaquarterlybasis.
Anythingbeyondthatisputtingabatterysystemsloadatrisk.

WhatmeasurementscantheSBS6500BatteryAnalysertaketomonitor
batteryhealth?Howarethesemeasurementsprocessed?
TheSBS6500InternalResistancetesterisdesignedtoincorporatetheentirehistoryof
multiplebatterystringsinternalresistance,voltageandtemperaturereadings.

Thisincludesacompletehistoricalvaluelistwithgraphsforcomparisonandtrendingof
everybatteryineverybatterysystem.TheinformationisstoredontheSBS6500,atthe
fingertipsoftheoperatingtechnician.APCordiagnosticsoftwareisntnecessarytoview
it.

WhattypeofbatteriescantheSBS6500beusedwith?
TheSBS6500canbeusedonanybatterytypeofanychemistryortechnology.Witha
rangefrom56000amphours,theSBS6500isaveryuserfriendlyplatformand
maintenancetoolinanybatteryrelatedindustry.

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Should you Measure Battery Conductance or Resistance to Monitor Battery Health?

TheSBS6500batteryanalyzerfromStorageBatterySystems

Whatcanbatterytemperaturereadingsindicate?
Batterytemperaturemeasurementsarealsousedtoanalysehealthandperformance.
Internalheatingofthemetalliccomponentsandhightemperaturereadingscanindicate
problemssuchascellfailures,lowacidlevelsandsedimentcollection.

HowdoestheSBS6500ssoftwareassistyourusersforbattery
management?WhatotherfunctionalitiesdoestheSBS6500Battery
Analyserprovide?
TheSBS6500SoftwareSuite(SBSBatteryLink)issimpleandeasytonavigate.Setupof
referencevaluesandstringscanbeenteredviathesoftwarepriortousingtheunit.

Builtinreportgenerationandtrendinggraphsassistwithanalysingdata.TheExclusing
livemonitoringfeatureallowsuserstocaptureandchartrealtimedatawhileabatteryor
cellisunderload.

ThesoftwareprovidedwiththeSBS6500allowshealthtrendsinbatteriestobeidentified
andmanaged.

Wherecanourreadersfindoutmoreaboutbatterytesting,theSBS6500
BatteryAnalyserandStorageBatterySystems?
TolearnmorevisitusatStorageBatterySystemswebsite,attendoneofourupcoming,

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Should you Measure Battery Conductance or Resistance to Monitor Battery Health?

free,Webinarsoremailusdirectlyattechsupport@sbsbattery.com.

DownloadtheBrochureforMoreInformation

AboutWayneEaton
WayneEatonistheTechnicalSalesEngineerwithStorageBatterySystems,LLC.Since
1981hehasworkedinthepowergeneration,powerdistributionanddatacenter
environments,withaspecializedfocusonDCpoweredequipment,installation,
maintenance,testingandtraining.

WithanearlystartasaFirstClassElectricianaboardUSNavynuclearsubmarinesand
throughvariousjobswithOEMsandEquipmentsuppliers,Wayneadvancedtoapplication
engineeringandcustomertrainingacrossallofthecriticalpowersegments.

Hisdiversebackgroundandwiderangingtechnicalexpertiseplaysakeyrolein
development,testinganddocumentationofqualityDCpowerproductscomingtomarket

Disclaimer:Theviewsexpressedherearethoseoftheintervieweeanddonot
necessarilyrepresenttheviewsofAZoM.comLimitedT/AAZoNetworktheownerand
operatorofthiswebsite.ThisdisclaimerformspartoftheTermsandconditionsofuse
ofthiswebsite.

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Should you Measure Battery Conductance or Resistance to Monitor Battery Health?

StorageBatterySystems(SBS)LLC

Address

N56W16665RidgewoodDr.
MenomoneeFalls
WI,530515686
UnitedStates

Phone:1(262)7035800

Fax:1(262)7033073

Email:te@sbsbattery.com

VisitWebsite

Establishedin1915,StorageBatterySystemsLLC.,hasbecomerenownedforproviding
DCpowersolutionsforstationary&motiveapplicationsincludingStateoftheartTest
Equipmentproductlines.

StorageBatterySystems,LLChasbecomerenownedforprovidingqualityFlooded,VRLA
andNICadBatteriestotheUtilityandTelecommunicationsindustrymarkets.SBScan
supplyanyscenarioofservicesuchasBatteryChargers,Racks,SpillContainment
Systems,EnclosuresandstateoftheartBatteryTestingEquipment.IncludingourDigital
Hydrometers,Internalresistancetesters,loadbanks&more!

SBSapplicationareasinclude:

TestEquipment
Stationary
Utility
Chargers

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Should you Measure Battery Conductance or Resistance to Monitor Battery Health?

MonitoringandSensorSolutions

PrimaryActivity
ProviderofDCpowersolutionsforstationary&ampmotiveapplicationsincludingstateof
theartTestEquipmentproductlines.

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