| Electronics > Projects, Designs, and Technical Stuff |
| new Fiamm lead acid battery already 4 years old? |
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| multiwirth:
Hey there! I´m new to this forum but i´m watching EEVBlog for quite some time and thought it might be the best forum for electronic related questions. Something short about myself: My name is Patrick, i´m based in germany, i´m almost 21 years old and in an education for an electronics technician for industrial engineering and my interests are of course in electronics, computers and android-based smartphones (linux world) aswell as model sport with rc airplanes and rc cars. To my question: I´d like to know if anyone knows how to read the date code of Fiamm industrial lead acid batteries I got two of them from work used in uninterruptible power supply. Both are labeled with the date of installation. The first one was installed in 2014, the second one in 2016. The type is FG20721. Both of them have a date code burned in: 1120133/10 06201610/13 both the 2013 and 2016 could be the manufacturing year which would make sense compared to the date when they were installed. Since they´re already old and have a low capacity, i got one "brand new". I don´t have it on hand at the moment but it´s date code also has a 2016 inside so i wonder if this could be new old stock since the performance also isn´t great (it´s the exact same model). In my application it should last about 20 hours as described in datasheet with a current around 300mA but it simply gives up after 10 hours. Also when charging it up, my imax b6 multicharger calculates the capacity that was charged up and it´s not even close to 7200mAh, it´s around 1600mAh to 2300mAh with a current limit of 1A. I already asked the seller for a replacement and he want´s me to send the battery in for verification. I hope i´m in the right section for this question. Thank you so far :) |
| ArthurDent:
Sealed lead acid batteries are used in a number of pieces of equipment I’ve used over the years. The biggest problem I’ve with a lot of SLA batteries, even brand new ones, is they will die if just left uncharged or go flat over time. Even if they are initially fully charged then left for 6 months or more they will self-discharge, go open circuit, and never accept a charge again. You will see some with cases that start to bulge and split as the chemical reaction inside causes the plates to expand. The only way I’ve found to prevent this problem is to regularly top off the charge on all my spare batteries every month or so. If your battery was made in 2016 then it has probably been stored somewhere and probably hasn’t been charged to keep it from going flat and may have been just partially damaged which could account for the lower capacity. If you send it back, the seller may just check it to see if it can be charge up and not check it for rated capacity. Good luck. |
| multiwirth:
Hi and thank you for your reply. The battery was claimed as brand new and when i unboxed it, it`s voltage was at 13,1V. The seller also said they weren´t stored for a long time but if i interpret the date code right, the battery i got must be 4 years old which is absolutely inaceptable since even the used battery i got from the trash at work has more measured capacity left after 2 full charge/disscharge cycles. I may sent it in and see what he has to say about this and if he doesn´t agree to replace it, i can open a paypal case. Btw i just filled in some fresh new water into the older battery and see if it will restore it´s capacity. This improved the capacity a lot for some people. I just need a good battery for my DIY portable speaker system. I got the new battery 40 days ago and was used the last few days for backround music while having a BBQ around the house with the family. The power consumption was pretty low, i measured around 300mA and with a capacity of 7200mAh this should last forever... |
| Nauris:
I have found it is best to buy the version where the acid is in a small separate bottle. That way it can be stored indefinitely I think, only put the acid in when you prepare it for the first use. |
| james_s:
How do you add the acid to a SLA battery? The only batteries I've seen sold with the acid in a separate bottle were flooded lead acid types like the sort that are (or used to be) common in motorcycles and garden tractors. |
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