scope:

Stationary lead-acid batteries play an ever-increasing role in industry today by providing normal control and instrumentation power and back-up energy for emergencies. This recommended practice fulfills the need within the industry to provide common or standard practices for battery maintenance, testing, and replacement. The installations considered herein are designed for full-float operation with a battery charger serving to maintain the battery in a charged condition as well as to supply power to the normal dc loads. However, specific applications, such as emergency lighting units and semi-portable equipment, may have other appropriate practices that are beyond the scope of this recommended practice.

This recommended practice may be used separately, and, when combined with IEEE Std 484™-1996, IEEE Recommended Practice for Installation Design and Installation of Large Lead Storage Batteries for Generating Stations and Substations and IEEE Std 485™-1997, IEEE Recommended Practice for Sizing Vented Lead-Acid Storage Batteries for Stationary Applications, will provide the user with a general guide to sizing, designing, placing in service, maintaining, and testing a vented lead-acid storage battery installation. IEEE Std 535™-1986 provides a standard for qualification of Class 1E lead storage batteries for nuclear power generating stations.

This document provides recommended maintenance, test schedules, and testing procedures that can be used to optimize the life and performance of permanently-installed, vented lead-acid storage batteries used for standby power applications. It also provides guidance to determine when batteries should be replaced. This recommended practice is applicable to full-float stationary applications where a battery charger normally maintains the battery fully charged and provides the dc loads. However, specific applications, such as emergency lighting units and semi-portable equipment, may have other appropriate practices that are beyond the scope of this recommended practice.

Sizing, installation, qualification, other battery types, and application are also beyond the scope of this recommended practice. The maintenance and testing programs described in this recommended practice represent "the best program" based on the information available at the time this document was developed. The user should evaluate these practices against their operating experience, operating conditions, manufacturer's recommendations, resources, and needs in developing a maintenance program for a given application. These maintenance and testing recommendations were developed without consideration of economics, availability of testing equipment and personnel, or relative importance of the application. Development of a maintenance and testing program for a specific application requires consideration of all issues, not just the technical issues considered in this document.

This recommended practice does not include any other component of the dc system, or inspection and testing of the dc system, even though the battery is part of that system. Pre-operational and periodic dc system tests of chargers and other dc components may require that the battery be connected to the system. Details for these tests depend on the requirements of the dc system and are beyond the scope of this recommended practice.

This recommended practice is divided into ten clauses. Clause 1 provides the scope of this recommended practice. Clause 2 lists references to other standards that are useful in applying this recommended practice. Clause 3 provides definitions that are either not found in other standards, or have been modified for use with this recommended practice. Clause 4 establishes the safety precautions to be followed during battery maintenance and testing. Clause 5 describes the recommended maintenance practices. Clause 6 establishes the recommended testing program. Clause 7 establishes the types and methodology for battery testing. Clause 8 establishes battery replacement criteria. Clause 9 describes the records to be maintained. Clause 10 describes recycling and disposal of vented lead-acid batteries.

This recommended practice has thirteen annexes. Annex A discusses state of charge. Annex B discusses specific gravity measurements. Annex C provides information on float voltage. Annex D provides information on the urgency of corrective actions for discrepancies found during maintenance and testing. Annex E describes the visual inspection requirements. Annex F provides methods for measuring connection resistances. Annex G discusses alternative test and inspection programs. Annex H describes the effects of elevated temperature on lead-acid batteries. Annex I provides methodologies for conducting a modified performance test. Annex J provides information on internal ohmic measurements. Annex K provides methods for calculation of battery capacity. Annex L provides temperature correction factors in degrees Fahrenheit. Annex M provides bibliographic references.