Exide tubular battery started leaking acid from +ve terminal

[vijaycool]

How are you going to clean the cells? Aren't the tops sealed with melted plastic? And all that sulphuric acid.

Edit: Do they put wax paper or something between the cells?

I was pouring a little bit of battery water in one of the cells and found some black sediment like rusted pieces. Is that lead or something has broken inside?

Yes.. some black goo in the casing. Have you checked the sp.gravity of the cells. If not then please check. Cleaning with such big battery is not easy task. The steps as follows. Drain all the acids to an HDPE container (plastic paint dabbas, blue drum in waste paper mart). Add a mix of baking soda and water, pour into the cells , shake thoroughly and clean with water. It will bubble. No need for RO just tap water will do. Baking soda will remove sulfates in the crystal which causes short circuit and restores some of the battery capacity. Check the sp. gravity of the old fluid and adjust the gravity (1.18 i believe). Pour back the clear solution and discard the bottom solution. Do it at your own risk , take all precautions and I am not responsible

 

[vijaycool]

Checked the battery interconnections and looks like cracked lead joints where the cells connected in series

 

[6pack]

Yes.. some black goo in the casing. Have you checked the sp.gravity of the cells. If not then please check. Cleaning with such big battery is not easy task. The steps as follows. Drain all the acids to an HDPE container (plastic paint dabbas, blue drum in waste paper mart). Add a mix of baking soda and water, pour into the cells , shake thoroughly and clean with water. It will bubble. No need for RO just tap water will do. Baking soda will remove sulfates in the crystal which causes short circuit and restores some of the battery capacity. Check the sp. gravity of the old fluid and adjust the gravity (1.18 i believe). Pour back the clear solution and discard the bottom solution. Do it at your own risk , take all precautions and I am not responsible

Thanks for the info.
No sir. I'm not going to do anything like this. I'll see if local battery producers will take it. I don't want to lose my fingers or get electrocuted.

 

[vijaycool]

Thanks for the info.
No sir. I'm not going to do anything like this. I'll see if local battery producers will take it. I don't want to lose my fingers or get electrocuted.

Good choice. Check with local battery vendor whether your old battery can be revived. Mostly cleaning the battery and replacing with new acid should do trick if the cells are not shorted

 

[6pack]

I didn't find any C10 batteries. Most of them didn't even know c10 existed and were asking me what it was. I bought Luminous 150AH tubular for 10,200 after exchange. Got 2500 or something in exchange for old exide 150AH tubular battery. The shopkeeper quoted me 13500 first without exchange and 11500 with exchange, but I just said we get for around 10k with exchange. So he said ok, I'll give it for 10.2k. lol.

 

[Herrydas]

Many reason are behind battery leakage and failure. According my own experience i found why this problem is occurs.

By overcharging an inverter battery, its plates become corroded. This results in premature battery failure. If you find that the battery is getting hot while being charged, then you must know that it is getting overcharged. Overcharging a rechargeable battery causes battery failure.

Check the inverter battery regularly so that you can be aware of any sort of damage and fault. Sometimes there can be electrolyte leakage through the cracks developed in the battery. If this happens for long time, the battery will certainly fail to perform due to lack of electrolyte.

Battery is heated at charging process due to the electrolytic stress produced by zinc and copper electrodes. The movement of electrolytic ions is the cause for the heating of battery and also batteries contains thin foils of metal sheets which quickly absorb heat and retain the heat for more longer time. In your case leakage of electrolytic liquid may be the cause for heating. This leakage may not be appearing physically as a liquid drain, but fast evaporation can also make the electrolytic level fall beyond required level.

 

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I didn't find any C10 batteries. Most of them didn't even know c10 existed and were asking me what it was. I bought Luminous 150AH tubular for 10,200 after exchange. Got 2500 or something in exchange for old exide 150AH tubular battery. The shopkeeper quoted me 13500 first without exchange and 11500 with exchange, but I just said we get for around 10k with exchange. So he said ok, I'll give it for 10.2k. lol.

C10 are used with solar, nothing to stop you using them like C20s

I've asked local seller to get back to me about exide C10's. Then i will decide whether to get that or the luminous. Most likely exide because of the brand if price is reasonable. I need 2 x 200Ah so its going to be closer to 20k a piece

For me the manufacture date is what i'm interested in. Luminous has a 14 digit code which if you call their service centre will verify to you when the battery was made.

Ideally, you want to buy no older than 3-4 months

Which luminous did you get ?

https://www.mypowerkart.com/batteries/inverter-batteries/luminous.html?batt_rating=57

 

[bepcuongthinh]

I think, you should replace with new product. Ensure safety

See picture.
View attachment 71944

What should I do now? I searched google and I'm confused. Some sites say, its because of filling in too much water into the battery. Other sites say battery may be dying. I haven't seen backup time loss in this battery. Maybe it has lost some backup time from since it was new, but it runs for 6-8hrs easily. I think i may have filled in too much water though. I always keep the battery level to top. Not full top but 3/4th of the way.

I hope i don't have to change the battery. These tubular batteries cost 14-16k in my area even when the battery companies advertise it for around 12-14k with taxes for 160AH.

 

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These battery companies deliberately change vent hole thread diameter and pitch, I have broken 2 vent caps and couldn't find replacement caps. The other design details of the new battery (same model number) such as dry and empty weight and overall dimmensions, charge characteristics all remain same compared to new battery from Exide, yet they change the cap design, So you are forced to buy new batteries.

So it would be a good idea to get an extra set of floats with the new battery ? assuming they're available

 

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I would prefer C20 because in peak summer months, MSEB load sheds power for 8-10 hrs every day in my place.

Can derate less with C10 batteries

A 150AH C20 is 150AH only if you discharge it at 7.5A over 20h whereas a C10 battery is 150AH at 15A for 10h

This means if your battery backup is 5h-10, you can assume a C10 battery is 80% (100% if 10h) of stated capacity whereas a C20 is around 65%. This has a bearing for backup time. Oh! and i'm assuming a perfect battery here which as we know doesn't exist so let's say as fresh as possible

If you size your batteries for a 20h backup then C20 is fine but that is going to require a lot of battery or a light load

A 65W load will give you 20h with one 150AH battery

adjusting for UPS power factor 65/0.7

Multiply that by 20 for time

Then divide by 12 if its one battery or 24 fr two batteries

Then de-rate but in this case it does not apply because backup is 20h

 

[adder]

C10 batteries also not surprisingly have the highest warranty 4 to 5 years full replacement warranty.
My APC SUA1000UXI ups consumes around 1.9amps ( 24v battery input ) just to run itself and that has a power factor of .80
Even some inverters with power factor of above .95 still self consume at least 50w with no load connected.

So in my case I would need a C10 20Ah battery just to run the UPS for 8 hrs to 80 % discharged state, so I always calculate the battery required after taking into account the UPS self consumption and max 80% depth discharge of battery, although many times when the power went in the middle of the night only to return in the morning(lazy bescom) the UPS did shutdown at 10.5v per battery voltage.

 

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C10 batteries also not surprisingly have the highest warranty 4 to 5 years full replacement warranty.

Only the 150AH ones. The 200AH are just 3 years. I'm looking at tubular. On top of this heard that 5yrs is only if used in a solar setup, otherwise its 3yrs. Only C10's i find in the 200AH capacity are solar batteries

Maybe its different with SMF. A 5yr warranty with SMF is pretty good if you can get it

My APC SUA1000UXI ups consumes around 1.9amps ( 24v battery input ) just to run itself and that has a power factor of .80
Even some inverters with power factor of above .95 still self consume at least 50w with no load connected.

Don't know how to measure this until i get the UPS

So in my case I would need a C10 20Ah battery just to run the UPS for 8 hrs to 80 % discharged state, so I always calculate the battery required after taking into account the UPS self consumption and max 80% depth discharge of battery, although many times when the power went in the middle of the night only to return in the morning(lazy bescom) the UPS did shutdown at 10.5v per battery voltage.

You would need 2 C10 20AH at 24V or one 40AH at 12V for a ups consumption of 45W

Good point. Suppose you could add 50W extra to your load calculation.

 

[adder]

Only the 150AH ones. The 200AH are just 3 years. I'm looking at tubular. On top of this heard that 5yrs is only if used in a solar setup, otherwise its 3yrs. Only C10's i find in the 200AH capacity are solar batteries

Maybe its different with SMF. A 5yr warranty with SMF is pretty good if you can get it


Don't know how to measure this until i get the UPS


You would need 2 C10 20AH at 24V or one 40AH at 12V for a ups consumption of 45W

Good point. Suppose you could add 50W extra to your load calculation.

There is a model series called 6EL+ which has 5 years warranty and 6EL 4 year warranty, but this warranty is suitable only if you have a UPS not a home inverter. In my case I had a Ups, I bought a pair of 6EL 40Ah 4 year warranty batteries in 2010, it's to be replaced this year.
The solar batteries, you can always buy a solar panel later on and say you have a solar. That's what I intend to do when I buy a pair of 100-120ah solar 5 year warranty batteries.

 

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These 6EL batteries are C10 and look pretty good, 6-9 months for a topup, 8-10 yrs life. You bought in 2010 ? you got 8 years

 

[adder]

Yes, in january 2010 so its more then 9 years, but capacity now is only half.
The 6EL+ is ever more heavy.

Mine wasn't a tall tubular version since it was just 40AH capacity, but I used to top it at 3 months interval.
The bank in front of my house replaced their batteries EL+ 150ah at 8 year mark, replaced with EL

 

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EL+ is heavier than EL except for the 180AH EL is the heavier than the 200 . Wonder what the 'D' stands for. Notice how no expected life is mentioned for EL series compared to EL+

[DOUBLEPOST=1525900927][/DOUBLEPOST]Luminous C10's are lighter in comparison but they claim upto 1500 cycles vs 1200 for EL+ heh and are cheaper than exide. Not sure whether to believe them. You can generally tell how confident a maker is when they give you more technical details.

[DOUBLEPOST=1525900995][/DOUBLEPOST]

Yes, in january 2010 so its more then 9 years, but capacity now is only half.
The 6EL+ is ever more heavy.

Mine wasn't a tall tubular version since it was just 40AH capacity, but I used to top it at 3 months interval.
The bank in front of my house replaced their batteries EL+ 150ah at 8 year mark, replaced with EL

How to tell what the manufacture date is with exide ?

 

[adder]

If you can find the old brochure where they had listed the dry weight without acid, some websites have it or in google cache.
D models have different size container .

Edit:
Old brochure EL+ http://www.prasa-pl.com/images/letters/EXIDE-EL-Series-Batterypdf.pdf
Old brochure EL https://pdf.indiamart.com/pdfim/?ur...MG/MQ/MY-3928622/exide-el-tubular-battery.pdf

I remembered that the in my case the Box had the manufacture date, I cannot recollect what it was. There are also some numbers in the battery.
In any case the EL and EL+ are not readily available they get it only after one confirm the order.

Luminous 200ah battery weigh less then exide 130ah el+

 

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ok these 2011 catalogs list the dry weight. I'm assuming here heavier is better in terms of longevity ?

EL Series

And EL Plus

[DOUBLEPOST=1525945070]

And here is Exide's solar tubular range, aren't much heavier than Luminous but not as heavy as the EL range

[/DOUBLEPOST]

Luminous 200ah battery weigh less then exide 130ah el+

Luminous 200AH is 41.5kg

EL+ 130Ah is 40.6kg

Pretty close. The gap is much larger when we compare like capcities

EL 200AH is 55kg

Are the EL also low maintenance and as good life. EL does not mention low antimony content just EL+ The difference appears to be the extra year of warranty. No caps with float indicator with these batteries just caps. Floats would be preferred

Dry weight difference is more than filled[DOUBLEPOST=1525946562][/DOUBLEPOST]And here is Exide's solar tubular range, aren't much heavier than Luminous but not as heavy as the EL range

 

[adder]

They do come with floats for EL, since the bank opposite to my house has EL and I can clearly see the floats in 150AH capacity that they have installed.
The older catalog models didn't have them including mine.

More dry weight is due to thicker plates inside , the EL+ will have the advantage in cycle life because of this.

EL had 3 years before 2009 and 4 year warranty afterwards and EL+ had 5 year warranty. Not sure whats the warranty they have today.

 

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Spoke to a dealer about the Exide EL series and he told me that for this particular battery the warranty is only valid so long as it's used with an online UPS. Meaning warranty would be rejected by Exide if used with a non-online UPS like say a home UPS. He recommended another local brand instead. 4yr warranty.

Price quoted for the 200AH was 14.5 - 15k which is mighty competitive with 20k for the EL

http://www.vijayabatteries.com/tubular-batteries.html
http://www.vijayabatteries.com/excel-tubular-batteries.html

The dry weight of these C10 Excel batteries isn't too far off from the EL series with the 180 & 200Ah size but their 150 AH seems lighter for some reason (very close to Exide IT500 Super) and their 100AH beats the EL+.

Excel 200AH 52.1kg
6EL 200AH 55kg

Excel 180AH 47.3kg
6EL+ 180AH 48.8kg

Excel 150AH 40.8kg
6EL+ 150AH 47.6kg

Excel 100AH 32.6kg
6EL+ 100AH 29.8kg

Luminous solar can't compete with these[DOUBLEPOST=1526084306][/DOUBLEPOST]

Yes, in january 2010 so its more then 9 years, but capacity now is only half.

How do you decide when to replace the battery ?