3550, 3551 BATTERY HiTESTER

With the advancing information age, UPS applications will become important over a

wide range of locations, from office buildings to hospitals and research institutions.

Accordingly, battery maintenance is a field that can be expected to grow in

importance. Also, in the development of practical electrically powered vehicles, the

environment for lead-acid storage batteries is changing rapidly, and these changes

indicate a great opportunity for Models 3550 and 3551 BATTERY HiTESTERS.

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The increasing importance of battery testing

The traditional technique for checking the state of a backup battery is based on a

measurement of the specific gravity of the electrolyte. But as sealed batteries have

become the norm, this is no longer possible. The 3550 and 3551 take measurements

from the battery terminals, and can therefore function with completely sealed

batteries.

What about conventional maintenance methods?

The operational life of a battery depends on the frequency of use (number of

charge/discharge cycles). The graph on the right illustrates the relationship between

the time required for charging the battery and the charge capacity and internal

resistance, and shows that as the charging time increases, the charge capacity

decreases, while the internal resistance rises.

There are various methods for determining whether a battery has reached the end of

its operational life, but the method based on measuring the internal resistance and

voltage is fast and reliable.

Internal resistance

Discharge capacity

Charging time

Relationship between charging time and charge

capacity or internal resistance

3551 BATTERY HiTESTER