What are the Tubular Lead Acid Battery Health Hazards in Inverter/UPS Industry? People using Tubular Lead Acid batteries at homes and offices are not aware of the consequences regarding the health hazards of these Tubular Lead Acid batteries used in homes, offices, and other institutions.

When they charge and discharge, the Ttubular Lead-acid batteries create a lot of fumes which are healed knowingly and unknowingly by the people around them. World Health Organisation has been warning about the health hazards resulting from the pollution of Lead in different areas and is trying to create awareness regarding Lead poisoning. So I thought let me also make people aware regarding the risks of Tubular Lead Acid battery, which is being installed by the people inside their homes and offices, and no one knows how dangerous it can be when it spreads the lead fumes which are inhaled especially by the kids.https://suvastika.com/lithium-battery-is-going-to-replace-lead-acid-battery-technology/

Lead exposure can have serious consequences for the health of children. At high levels of exposure, Lead attacks the brain and central nervous system, causing coma, convulsions and even death. Children who survive severe lead poisoning may be left with intellectual disability and behavioural disorders. At lower levels of exposure that cause no obvious symptoms, Lead is now known to produce a spectrum of injury across multiple body systems. In particular, Lead can affect children’s brain development, resulting in reduced intelligence quotient (IQ), behavioural changes such as reduced attention span, increased antisocial behaviour, and reduced educational attainment. Lead exposure also causes anaemia, hypertension, renal impairment, immunotoxicity and toxicity to the reproductive organs. The neurological and behavioural effects of Lead are believed to be irreversible.https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/lead-poisoning-and-health#:~:text=Exposure%20to%20lead-contaminated%20soil%20and%20dust%20resulting%20from,such%20as%20the%20brain%2C%20kidneys%2C%20liver%20and%20bones.

There is no known safe blood lead concentration; even blood lead concentrations as low as 3.5 µg/dL may be associated with decreased intelligence in children, behavioural difficulties and learning problems (1). As lead exposure increases, the range and severity of symptoms and effects also increase. Lead Acid battery health hazards in the different age groups of people using Inverter/UPS vary in different areas. The lead fumes from Tubular Lead Acid batteries in Inverter/UPS are causing a lot of health hazards.

Encouragingly, the successful phasing out of leaded gasoline in most countries and other lead control measures has significantly declined population-level blood lead concentrations. As of July 2021, leaded fuel for cars and lorries is no longer sold anywhere in the world (2). However, more needs to be done to phase out Lead paint; so far, only 45% of countries have introduced legally binding controls on Lead paint. Also ban on the Led Acid batteries being used for the Inverter/UPS, which are kept in the vicinity of homes and offices, is another form of Lead which is a major cause of concern for the various Govts. The major challenge is awareness of Lead as a deadly substance.

All dealers and distributors keep the Lead Acid batteries in the Air conditioned environments for selling purposes or sometimes keep the scrap in their shops and keep breathing the same lead fumes. They don’t realize the health hazards associated with this.https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S18780296160010

Environmental Concern about Tubular Lead Acid Battery Inverter/UPS

According to a 2003 report entitled “Getting the Lead Out” by Environmental Defense and the Ecology Center of Ann Arbor, Michigan, the batteries of vehicles on the road contained an estimated 2,600,000 metric tons (2,600,000 long tons; 2,900,000 short tons) of Lead. Some lead compounds are extremely toxic. Long-term exposure to even tiny amounts of these compounds can cause brain and kidney damage, hearing impairment, and learning problems in children.^[34] The auto industry uses over 1,000,000 metric tons (980,000 long tons; 1,100,000 short tons) of Lead every year, with 90% going to conventional lead–acid vehicle batteries. While lead recycling is a well-established industry, more than 40,000 metric tons (39,000 long tons; 44,000 short tons) end up in landfills yearly. According to the federal Toxic Release Inventory, another 70,000 metric tons (69,000 long tons; 77,000 short tons) are released in the lead mining and manufacturing process.^[35]

Attempts are being made to develop alternatives (particularly for automotive use) because of concerns about the environmental consequences of improper disposal and lead smelting operations, among other reasons. Alternatives are unlikely to displace them for applications such as engine starting or backup power systems since the batteries, although heavy, are low-cost.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead%E2%80%93acid_battery

How does lead get in the Air?

Sources of lead emissions vary from one area to another. At the national level, major lead sources in the Air are ore and metals processing and piston-engine aircraft operating on leaded aviation fuel. Other sources are waste incinerators, utilities, and lead-acid battery manufacturers. The highest air concentrations of Lead are usually found near lead smelters. People using Inverter/UPS and installing Lead Acid batteries at homes, offices, schools, religious places etc.

As a result of EPA’s regulatory efforts, including removing Lead from motor vehicle gasoline, lead levels in the Air decreased by 98 per cent between 1980 and 2014.https://www.epa.gov/lead-air-pollution/basic-information-about-lead-air-pollution#how

An alternative to Lead Acid Tubular battery is the lithium battery

Nowadays, various types of Lithium batteries are available in the Inverter/UPS industry. Lithium battery is cheaper than the Tubular Lead Acid battery.

What’s Bluetooth technology in Battery Energy Storage System? This is the latest technology in Battery ESS which can monitor and control the Battery ESS. In today’s world, the control and monitoring of any product and gadget is done through mobile applications. The user can go to the App Store on Android and IOS and can download the application on his mobile phone and then start using it.https://suvastika.com/whats-battery-energy-storage-system/

Benefits of Bluetooth and Wi=Fi Bluetooth in Battery Energy Storage Systems

The challenge for the BESS users is to see the status of the Battery Energy Storage System in case anything goes wrong and BESS is shut down. You are getting frustrated as the LEd or the LCD is giving some stupid message you can’t understand, and you have no choice but to call the electrician.

It takes time, and you don’t know what to do. So we have come out with a real solution: open the Su-vastika ESS mobile application, which comes in normal ESS and Heavy Duty ESS and see the message, and it will guide you on what to do in what condition. There are alerts for Overload, and the message will tell you what to do. If the power outage happens, it will keep giving you a message of power failure with the audio alert so that you know that Power has failed.https://pdiwan.medium.com/battery-energy-storage-system-eb0e9a57d546

Also, when the mains power is present, it will show you the voltage and frequency coming into your premises. In case of voltage fluctuations, you can see the real voltage dipping or High voltage coming at your place. Not only are these times when the main Power is coming but also the MCB of Bluetooth BESS goes off because the Load connected with the Battery Energy Storage System exceeds its limit. This isn’t very pleasant for the user as the user doesn’t understand the functioning of the Bluetooth BESS. But in Bluetooth mobile application, we clearly show the user that MCB is down, and please lift the MCB from the back.

Another important feature is battery percentage which can be seen by the user how much battery is being charged, which gives the fair idea that in case of power failure, how much is the backup left?

Another important feature is when the main fails, then the Load is shown on the mobile screen, which is how a user knows the wattage being used when the Power fails, and according to his requirement, he can increase or decrease the Load.

UPS MODE with an alert pop-up of Mains Fail

Another important setting in the Bluetooth UPS is choosing the Reserve mode to conserve the battery power and use it when required in an emergency.

Battery reserve is another big feature of the setting. We can set the reserve as battery reserve helps increase the battery life. The same feature allows the user, in case of an emergency, you can get extra backup when the ups are completely exhausted by changing the settings on the mobile app. This feature works like a reserve in a scooter or motorcycle. It stops the scooter when the petrol is very low, and the user changes the scooter’s settings to reserve mode and runs an extra mile. The same feature we have adapted in our Battery Energy Storage Systems.

There are different types of BESS, Inbuilt Battery Energy Storage Systems having built-in Lithium batteries, Heavy Duty BESS(1P-1P) and Heavy Duty BESS(3P-3P). All three mobile applications are different for different product ranges.

Another important feature is Overload at the time power fails. Then also you get the message about how much Overload is in terms of percentage. Say 110% load is running. Users can reduce the Load, and the BESS functions fine. But in case the user does not reduce the Load even after a few warnings, then the BESS will get into the switch-off mode, and still, the user does not have to go to Inverter or UPS to reset the front switch as we have given that switch also on the mobile application and user can reset from the front switch for the Heavy Duty BESS and small BESS it can be done through the mobile application itself.

Another important feature is the Load to be shut down by the user from the remote control through the mobile application, which looks like a Magic moment for the user in the case of small BESS and Heavy Duty BESS. We have not given this feature. We have given all the settings on the mobile application.

One can easily see on the mobile application and set the settings.

The most important feature of the mobile screen is the 50 and 60 Hz Frequency. In some countries, the voltage is 220Volt, but the frequency is 60Hz. So we have designed this product for 50 and 60 Hz automatic selection. This automatically detects the Input frequency and gives the same frequency when the Power fails. No other manufacturer has considered making a common product that can work in countries with 60 Hz, like Saudi Arabia.

We have the USB port at the back, which has been kept to check the parameters of the BESS and can be used to convert the normal BESS to Bluetooth and Wi-based BESS without making any changes.

This USB port will be used to check the parameters of BESS at any given time through the computer having our proprietary based software. The price of a Bluetooth Battery Energy Storage System is a little higher than that of a normal Battery Energy Storage System. The Bluetooth BESS has the option of a Convertor to install, so our price is lower than any Bluetooth BESS available on the market.

In future, if we need to update our BESS software, we can update the software through this USB port.

This USB port will also be used for checking the digital warranty also. The reseller can show the warranty to the user before installation of the product and can check the warranty at any given time through the laptop or Bluetooth converter.

All the settings of the BESS can also be done through this USB port only.

Why is Tubular Battery C20 and C10, and Lithium Battery is C1 Capacity? The answer to this question is that the Tubular Lead Acid battery was designed for smaller loads. As we can see, the C20 is the Battery’s capacity, defined in terms of the discharge current it can take. So C20 battery was meant for discharge of Battery up to 5% discharge from Battery. So let us take the example of a 150 Ah battery. The C20 battery denotes that we can take out 5% of the 150 Ah battery capacity, which is 7.5Amps, which means its meant for running a load of 100 Watts, and if the user uses this for a 100-watt load, then the Battery will last for minimum ten years of life. He will get a 20Hour back up every time he uses the Battery for the 100-watt load. So the life of the Battery will be very good. 

The water topping will also be very less, so the Tubular Battery is designed optimally for this 5% load. If we try to discharge this Battery at 10%,20% or 50%, the battery capacity will be reduced. The life will also be reduced, and the water topping will increase.https://electricalacademia.com/batteries/lead-acid-battery-vs-lithium-ion-battery/ In the Inverter/UPS, the user generally considers 600 Watt load capacity a standard capacity. For this kind of load, the Tubular Battery is supposed to provide 600 divided by 12, which comes out to be a 50 Amp discharge current, and if we add the Inverter/UPS efficiency, this comes out to be 52 Amps. The tubular Battery is not designed as the efficiency of a Tubular battery will drop drastically. The Solar industry in Hybrid off-grid and Hybrid Solar PCU came up with another idea of the C10 battery, which was better than the C20 Tubular battery as the Solar Hybrid PCUs are designed in an old fashion where the charging is done in the Battery through Solar panels and though the grid also that’s why the Solar Hybrid PCU is called. In solar Hybrid PCU, the Battery is charged and discharged daily.

Hence, the C20 battery has a very limited life as the discharge from the Tubular Battery is higher, so few manufacturers introduced the C10 battery concept, which can also not give life to the people in Solar set up as the discharge current is increasing in the solar set up people are installing so the C10 Tubular battery is meant for 15 Amp discharge in 150 Ah battery which means if the user runs 200 Waqt load on a single Tubular battery than it might give him 7 to 10 years life. Still, the user uses the same Battery for 600 Watts to 1000 watts, and now the Battery demands water topping. The backup time is also reduced, and the life a user can get is 2 to 3 years only. That too the battery life start reducing in 2 years only, and in next one year, it deteriorates. There is a big misnomer in the market that Solar system battery life is higher than inverter/UPS, which is another way around. One can have a better life on Inverter/UPS, but on a solar System, the Tubular battery life is reduced as the Battery is charged and discharged daily. The cycles are reduced accordingly, and in inverter/UPS usage, the Battery is only discharged when the power fails, which is much less compared to the Solar Battery, which discharges almost daily if the sun is available to give the backup even if the power is available.https://suvastika.com/difference-between-c20-and-c10-tubular-battery/

So let us talk about the Lithium battery. All the Lithium batteries of different chemistries, like Lithium ion, Lithium Iron, Phosphate, lithium zinc etc., have C1 and C3 capacities, and even they are available in C10 capacities. So this is an ideal battery for Solar and the Inverter/UPS application. If we use a 150 Ah Lithium battery for Inverter/UPS or Solar application, then on the 50 Amp discharge, we get exactly 3 hours of backup. In contrast, if we take a Tubular Battery of 150 Ah, we will get only 1 hour 30 minutes. Suppose we discharge the Tubular battery at 75 Amps. In that case, we will get only 45 minutes on 750 Watt bulb load, whereas, in the Lithium battery, there is no degradation in backup time on 75 Amps discharge, giving exactly 2 hours of backup. Not only backup time life of the Tubular battery will also reduce if we discharge the Tubular battery at 50 Amps. If we discharge the Tubular battery at 75 Amps, then the life of the battery will remain only 50%. The tubular battery of 150 Ah is designed for 7.5 Amp discharge, and we are discharging 75 Amps out of the same battery.

In the case a Lithium battery, this battery is designed for a Higher discharge rate, so the life is four times of a tubular battery, and if we load it at 100% of its capacity, the life and backup time are not affected at all. So I leave it to your judgement to decide which one to Choose, Tubular C20, C10 or Lithium C1 battery.

If you compare the backup time chart and the lifetime of the Tubular and Lithium batteries, you will realize Lithium battery is cheaper than the Tubular Battery.

https://inverterindia.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=762&action=edit

The difference between C20 and C10 batteries in Tubular batteries is very simple to understand. When we talk of C rating, whether C10 or C20, that denotes the capacity of the battery, whereas, in the Inverter and solar Industry, there is a rumour that a C20 battery is for Inverter/UPS and a C10 battery is for solar applications. I’m amazed that the whole industry talks of capacity as the charging capacity. You meet anyone from the industry who will say the solar battery can be charged faster but cannot explain that even properly. So C20 and C10 is the concept in Tubular lead Acid battery where if we have to check the actual capacity, then for a 150 Ah battery, we need to discharge 7.5Amp from the battery after charging it completely. If it works for 20 hours, it has the capacity of a C20 battery. For the C10 battery, if we discharge the 150 Ah battery at 10 Amps, what is the timing if we get 10 hours back up? results with you. Is the C10 battery.. this is the theory behind the C20 and C10 batteries in the case of the Tubular battery. So we tested different batteries on different currents by using bulb loads on the different inverters available in the market. Now we are sharing those.

So let us understand in this blog what C20 is: the capacity defined by any manufacturer that the battery will give 20 hours of backup time if we load the battery with a defined load. So let us take an example if we have the 150 Ah battery of C20, then it means that if we draw 7.5Amp current from the 150 Ah battery, it should give 20 hours of backup time. So this is the battery standard manufacturer is trying to tell us. But if we draw 7.5Amp from any Tubular battery, do we get 20 hours nowadays? It is a big question mark. No manufacturer can prove that if we draw 7.5 Amp current from his 150 Ah battery, it should give 20 hours of backup. The Inverter has its efficiency, and if we check the backup at any inverter, we will not get the 20 hours back up. So if we increase the discharge current to 15 Amps, we should get 10 hours back up of 10 hours, but the manufacturer has made a C10 battery which is also insufficient for Inverter or Solar Industry. I explain further that a 500 Watt load on any inverter is drawing how much current, so 500 divided by 12 equals 42 Amps. So what’s the backup time for 42Amps load, which no company tells you whether the C20 battery or C10 battery?https://naturalenergyhub.com/solar-energy/differences-c10-c20-rated-solar-batteries/

So today, I will tell you that there is no such formula to calculate the Load and backup time as all these formulas people have been using so far do not stand anywhere as the technology keeps on degrading, and nowadays, who is selling which Ah battery is anyone’s guess. But today, I will give you a formula by which you can easily test the battery at your shop or showroom and see whether the manufacturer is giving you the right or the wrong capacity battery. The Price of a tubular battery C20 and a Tubular battery C10 has a 15% to 20% difference.

This is the backup time chart of the C20 Tubular battery, which we have prepared after testing various tubular batteries available in the Indian market. Any dealer can test this backup time on the Inverter available in your showroom. Take an Inverter/UPS of any brand, charge the 150 Ah battery, and select the Inverter which can take a load of 1200 Watt on a single battery. Then get six bulbs of 200 watts, charge the battery completely, and then discharge the 1200-watt bulb load on the Inverter/UPS you selected, and you will get less than 25 minutes of backup time. This way, you can test the quality of your Tubular Lead Acid battery and whether the manufacturer has given you a good-quality or bad-quality battery. When the battery comes back after working for two years, you will realize the backup time left testing on the same test, which is easy to perform as it takes 25 minutes to finish this test. Suppose one has to see the quality of the 150Ah Tubular battery. In that case, whether on C20 or C10, the battery should be tested on 1200 att load, and if the backup is more than 30 minutes, then that battery is a C10 battery, and if we get less than 25 minutes, then that battery is also not C20 battery.

We should make a thumb rule for testing any battery of any make.https://suvastika.com/12volt-tubular-battery-inverter-system-and-advantages-and-disadvantages/

Compared to Tubular C20 and C10, the Lithium battery with LifePO4-based chemistry has C1 capacity. This is a major difference between the Tubular and Lithium batteries. So Tubular battery can not compare with the Lithium battery as the C10 battery is sold for the Solar industry, which is doubtful as C10 is also insufficient for higher loads. So for Higher loads, the only solution is a Lithium battery only. As it has the C1 capacity, you can load it at any percentage of the load. The capacity will not shift. The industry will shift from Tubular to Lithium in the next five years once people realize the strength of Lithium batteries.https://suvastika.com/lithium-battery-is-cheaper-than-tubular-battery-in-ups-inverter-usage/

The price of a Tubular battery having 20% or 10%, and the price of a Lithium battery compared to a C10 battery is 50% more, which is a very justified price.

What is an Inbuilt Lithium battery Energy Storage System? How it’s different from the normal inbuilt battery UPS or stand-by UPS? Understanding how Battery Energy Storage differs from the normal in-built UPS is important. The normal UPS is an Uninterruptible Power Supply which everyone understands is the Power Supply used to power IT loads like Computers, printers, cameras etc., in case of power outages or power fails as well; it takes care of Voltage fluctuations when the main power is coming. The UPS has an inbuilt Lead Acid SMF battery that works without any switch over time or transfer time, so in case of power failure, the computers, printers etc, keep working without any interruption. These UPSs are available in the market with a built-in lead acid battery that works for two years, and then, one has to replace the battery every one to two years as the life cycle of a Lead Acid SMF battery is not more than two years. Another challenge is that the in-built UPS battery generally has a very limited backup time; it’s for 15 minutes only. These in-built UPS can only run IT loads as the IT reseller will not take any guarantee if someone tries to run fans or Light load on it, as they are not made for other types of loads.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uninterruptible_power_supply.

Our Inbuilt Lithium battery BESS has the two-in-one feature as it can work as an Inverter and UPS to run all kinds of loads.

In-built SMF Lead Acid battery UPS

Lithium battery Inbuilt BESS

Su-vastika has launched An built Lithium Energy Storage System, which solves all UPS’s problems, like limited time and life and works only for IT Loads. So let us talk about the Inbuilt Lithium Battery Energy Storage Systems in length:

1. The Lithium in-built BESS has the IOT feature to run on devices like Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. One can see the parameters of the BESS, like voltage frequency, load battery percentage etc., and control the BESS by settings the parameters and switching the load on and off remotely.
2. The one important feature that makes it future-ready is the programming for the Peak Power tariff-ready BESS, which can control the power storage and usage per peak power timing. One can program the timing for charging through the Wi-FI-based application and set the Peak timings in the BESS so that BESS will switch off the Mains power and work on the Lithium battery when the user programs the peak power timings. This will reduce the power bill of the user in the peak timing. As all developed countries have this concept of peak power Tariff and normal power tariff in place, the developed countries are slowly bringing this concept. India has already announced peak power tariffs in the residential sector. The peak power tariff is in operation in India’s commercial sector already. The built-in Lithium battery size is 1/4th the size of an SMF Lead Acid battery and 1/4th the weight of a lead Acid SMF battery. The battery density in the SMF is higher compared to Lithium batteries. Because of this, the weight and size of the Lithium battery is reduced drastically.https://suvastika.com/lithium-inverter-lithium-ups-lithium-battery-for-home-and-office-back-up/
3. The Backup time: normal in-built UPS can work for 15 to 30 minutes whereas our models can work from 1 hour back up time to 3 hours or more back up time.
4. The Inbuilt UPS is good for the IT load only, whereas the Inbuilt Lithium BESS can work on any load like motor load or run Airconditioners and fridges, along with the IT loads. It can run heavy loads, and the Inbuilt UPS is not meant for any heavy loads and can run only IT loads.https://suvastika.com/whats-battery-energy-storage-system/
5. The Battery Life: Inbuilt Lithium battery Life is a minimum of ten years and can last for 12 years, and the Lead acid battery lasts only a maximum of 2 years.
6. The price of UPS, having built SMF battery and the price of Lithium inbuit BESS, has a difference of 50%, but the life is five times the battery life of the same capacity.
7. The Battery Capacity: The built-in SMF battery in UPS has a C20 battery, whereas the Lithium battery has a C1 capacity. Because of this, we need to use half the Lithium battery capacity compared to the SMF battery capacity.
8. The Charging Time: SMF battery will charge in 10 hours minimum, whereas the Lithium battery will charge in 2 hours in Inbuilt Lithium BESS.
9. The charger size in the Inbuilt UPS is very small as the SMF battery is of small size and needs to charge in 10 hours, whereas the Lithium battery capacity is higher and needs to charge in 2 hours, so it needs a fast charger of higher capacity.
10. Maintenance is required in in-built lithium BESS, and SMF-based built UPS need to change the battery, and sometimes multiple SMF batteries need to equalize over six months. The Inbuilt lithium BESS has the BMS system to control the parameters of the Lithium battery.

What’s a Heavy Duty UPS/Industrial UPS or High Capacity inverter? Why do people call them Heavy Duty or Industrial UPS? The UPS device converts AC to DC and DC to AC energy. An uninterruptible power supply (UPS) or uninterruptible power source is a continual power system that provides automated backup electric power to a load when the input power source or mains power fails. A UPS differs from a traditional auxiliary/emergency power system or standby generator in that it will provide near-instantaneous protection from the input power.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uninterruptible_power_supply The power remains uninterrupted as the Mains Power is present or not present does not make any difference as the UPS keeps the computers or other IT equipment running uninterruptedly in case of power failures or during voltage variations as well.

Heavy duty, as the name suggests, is the Heavy Duty UPS/Industrial UPS, which can run higher loads and run big machines or a lot of computers simultaneously, along with other loads like printers, and fans Lights. Airconditioners, Microwave ovens, treadmill, Fridge TV etc without any break. So one can run the heavy equipment or put all the home or office load on this. These Heavy Duty UPS are different from High Capacity Inverters as Inverters have a switching time. Hence, the equipment and devices switch off when the power goes and then switch on after a second, but in the Heavy Duty UPS, there is no break whatsoever, and all the appliances and devices work uninterruptedly. These High capacity Inverters and heavy Duty UPS come in two categories Single Phase to Single Phase power (1P-1P) and three phases to three-phase power(3P-3P). You need 3 Phase Power called # Phase Heavy Duty UPS or 3 Phase high Capacity Inverter to run the higher capacity motors or lift motors. High-capacity inverters are power inverters; an inverter or inverter is a power electronic device or circuitry that changes direct current (DC) to alternating current (AC).^[1] The resulting AC frequency obtained depends on the particular device employed. Inverters do the opposite of rectifiers which were originally large electromechanical devices converting AC to DC.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_inverter.

High Capacity Inverters or heavy Duty UPS are installed in Hospitals, Schools, Shopping Malls, Multistoreyed buildings, Office complexes, Hotels, Colleges, Industries, Airports and Railway Stations etc.

The Parameters to choose before buying High Capacity Inverter or Heavy Duty UPS:

1. The Pure Sinewave waveform and Power Quality
2. The Isolation Transformer
3. Switching time
4. Input Voltage and Frequency variations limits
5. Generator Compatability
6. Overload and Short circuit

What is the difference between a Tubular and a lithium battery? Let us compare these two batteries and see why the change will happen in the next five years, where the Lithium battery will take over the Tubular Battery Inverter/UPS industry very smoothly.

The life of the Lithium battery compared to Lead Acid Batteries, specially Tubular batteries: If Lithium batteries are charged properly. Low and High batteries are maintained strictly in the Inverter/UPS usage or power backup case. This can last from 10 to 12 Years easily, four times the life of Lead Acid batteries like Tubular and five times the life of SMF batteries as the life cycle of an SMF battery is much lesser than that of a tubular battery.

The Charging Time of Lithium battery Vs Lead Acid tubular battery: This is the biggest factor in favour of Lithium batteries as they can be charged in 2 to 3 hours, and Lead Acid battery, like Tubular battery, takes 15 hours to charge, which is so convenient for any areas where the power cuts take place intermittently. Power goes and comes back. Then the 50 Ah Lithium battery can give three times the backup of a Lead Acid tubular battery. Because 150Ah Tubular battery might give 2 hours back up after charging for 15 hours, and 17 hours are gone out of 24 hours, whereas the 50 Ah lithium battery can give you backup time eight times at least in 24 hours, which can result in 400Ah Capacity out of 50 Ah battery.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithium-ion_battery

Tall tubular battery

Su-vastika Lithium battery

1. The Capacity of the battery we get in Lithium Vs Tubular battery: this is the mind-boggling parameter which will be understood by people soon that the Tubular battery comes in C20 Capacity sticker or the Solar battery comes in C10 capacity sticker. The Lithium battery comes in a C1 capacity package. How do we understand this factor?https://suvastika.com/battery-size-selection-in-ups-inverter-for-cost-saving/

2. Clean technology vs Polluted technology: People using Tubular batteries in their homes and offices are breathing Lead fumes because the Tubular deep discharge batteries emit lead-based fumes, which are very harmful to the people consuming them. The lungs are affected by these lead fumes, and children and older people are the most affected. The lithium battery is a clean technology with no fumes or emissions of any gasses. So health hazard is the major challenge in Tubular batteries.

3. Depth of Discharge in Tubular Vs Lithium battery LifePO4: The depth of discharge we can take out from a tubular deep discharge battery is 50%, whereas, from the lithium battery, the DOD can be 98% as this is C1 Battery compared to the tubular battery, which is C20 battery capacity.

4. The power bill for Charging comparison of Lithium battery: As already described, the Tubular Deep discharge battery has 4-stage or 6-stage charging as the charging of a Tubular battery is quite complicated, even needing to do the Temperature Compensation. As making the proper gravity into the battery is not easy. So the backup time will also change on different temperatures if not used with the ATC technology. Lithium battery charging is straightforward and charges in the Bulk Charging stage and a little bit of the Absorption stage for 5 to 10 minutes, and the battery is charged in 2 to 3 hours. In the tubular battery, all these stages waste a lot of energy. On top of it, the trickle charge keeps happening even after the battery is completely charged, which is not required in a Lithium battery. Self-discharge of Lithium batteries is very low compared to the tubular battery.

5. Space and weight of Tubular Vs Lithium battery: The comparison between Tubular and lithium batteries is again a shocking revelation as a 150 Ah tubular battery is 65 Kgs of weight, and you need two people to lift the battery one person cant lift the battery at any cost. The Lithium required to complete the 150Ah battery is a maximum 70 Ah battery, and the weight of the 12.8 V 70 Ah tubular battery is only 9 kgs. One man can easily place the Lithium battery.

6. Maintenance Of Tubular Vs Lithium battery: the water topping in the Tubular deep discharge battery is a headache for anyone maintaining those batteries.

7. The built-in BMS in Lithium and Tubular has no electronic attached to stop the abuse or control cell equalization. One of the major differences is that the tubular battery has no electronic control to control the charge-discharge current and equalization of each cell attached to the battery in series. The Lead acid battery in one of the cells fails because of overcharging, which is the major cause of death. Whereas the Lithium battery cells are continuously getting equalized to maintain the cell balancing, which increases the life of the Lithium battery.

8. Battery life tubular Vs Lithium. The life of the lithium battery in the Inverter/UPS can easily last more than ten years, whereas the life of the Tubular battery will be a maximum of 3 years. So one can easily see the price of Lithium is lower than Tubulae deep discharge battery.

9. Temperature effect on Lithium Vs Tubular battery: The Lithium Iron Phosphate work very well in the temperature range between -20 degree Centigrade to 60 degrees Centigrade, but the best performance range is 0 degree to 45 degrees Centigrade. And Tubular Deep Discharge batteries need temperature compensation between 0 degrees to 50 degrees centigrade, and below zero temperature, the Capacity of both batteries goes down.

10.. Safety: the Tubular battery has no safety mechanism like BMS, which controls the charging and discharging of the battery and stops it from abuse where, as the tubular lead Acid battery has gasses built in while charging and discharging and can explode if not charged properly or not maintained properly. The lithium battery has the BMS buil, which keeps it quite safe, and Lithium LifePO4 is the safest proven technology.

What’s the Lithium battery option in Inverter/UPS/Solar PCU? We at Su-vastika have provided our inverter/UPS/Solar PCU to connect Lithium battery LifePO4-based technology. So far, all the Inverters/UPS solar PCU sold can only connect Tubular SMF and lead Acid batteries. There is a switch at the back of the product through which you can switch and install these three types of batteries. So far, all the inverters available in the market are made purely for installing Lead Acid batteries only, like Tubular batteries, SMF batteries or Lead Acid batteries designed 20 years back. Now people are designing Lithium based Inverters/UPS, which are purely for Lithium batteries only, and they supply lithium batteries only.

At Su-vastika, we realized that the market is shifting towards Lithium batteries. In the next five years, the market will shift the majority towards the Lithium battery only, so we thought of designing the inverter/UPS where all the existing batteries and adding a Lithium battery is also possible. So one can buy a Lithium Iron Phosphate LifePO4 battery and install it with our Inverter/UPS/Solar hybrid PCU without making any changes. We have changed the charging software along with the limits of Low battery and boost voltage according to the lithium battery. In our Bluetooth-based Inverter/UPS/Solar PCU, the user can select the switch on the mobile application and make the changes very easily. In the mobile application, there is a provision for seeing which battery you have selected so the user doesn’t change the settings by mistake. Otherwise, there may be a problem with the charging profile.

The settings for the Tubular and SMF batteries are the same where the battery cutoff is at 14.4 Volts, or called the boost voltage, and the Lead Acid boost voltage is maintained at 13.8 volts, or boost voltage is maintained at 13.8 Volts. In both cases, the Float voltage starts, which charges the battery to the low current and brings it to 13.6 Volts to make the gravity of the battery get the maximum power from the battery. So in lead Acid batteries, there are generally Four stages of charging: Bulk, Absorption, Float and trickle charging.

In the Lithium battery, only one stage works: the bulk charging stage and the Absorption stage is there for a very short period. Trickle charging and Float charging are harmful to the lithium battery, so The charging profile required by the Lithium battery is completely different from the Lead Acid based batteries.

In all three batteries, the low battery cutoff is maintained at 10.5 Volts which has become the industry standard. But in the case of Lithium batteries, there are different chemistries used to make the cell, and the charging method is very different from the Lead Acid or Tubular battery.

Lithium batteries have very tight controls for charging and discharging, and the battery comes with the battery management System, which is an extra precaution in case someone tries to charge it with a higher current or voltage or discharge with a higher current. So we have provided our Pure Sinewave UPS, Pure Sinewave UPS with ATC and Solar hybrid PCU for the Lithium battery LIFEPO4-based technology. In the lifePO4 lithium battery, the individual cell has a 3.2Volt cell, and we charge differently than the normal lead Acid battery. So the individual cell is charged a maximum of 3.65 volts, and the lower limit of battery cut is 2.8 Volts to maintain the battery life.https://www.power-sonic.com/blog/lithium-vs-lead-acid-batteries/

Let us compare these two batteries and see why the change will happen in the next five years, where the Lithium battery will take over the Inverter/UPS industry very smoothly.

The life of the Lithium battery compared to Lead Acid Batteries, specially Tubular batteries: If Lithium batteries are charged properly. Low and High batteries are maintained strictly in the Inverter/UPS usage or power backup case. This can last from 10 to 12 Years easily, four times the life of Lead Acid batteries like Tubular and five times the life of SMF batteries.

The Charging Time of Lithium battery Vs Lead Acid tubular battery: This is the biggest factor in favour of Lithium batteries as they can be charged in 2 to 3 hours, and Lead Acid battery, like Tubular battery, takes 15 hours to charge, which is so convenient for any areas where the power cuts take place intermittently. Power goes and comes back. Then the 50 Ah Lithium battery can give three times the backup of a Lead Acid tubular battery. Because 150Ah Tubular battery might give 2 hours back up after charging for 15 hours, and 17 hours are gone out of 24 hours, whereas the 50 Ah lithium battery can give you backup time eight times at least in 24 hours, which can result in 400Ah Capacity out of 50 Ah battery

The Capacity of the battery we get in Lithium Vs Tubular battery: this is the mind-boggling parameter which will be understood by people soon that the Tubular battery comes in C20 Capacity sticker or the Solar battery comes in C10 capacity sticker. The Lithium battery comes in a C1 capacity package. How do we understand this factor?https://suvastika.com/battery-size-selection-in-ups-inverter-for-cost-saving/

Clean technology vs Polluted technology: People using Tubular batteries in their homes and offices are breathing Lead fumes because the Tubular deep discharge batteries emit lead-based fumes, which are very harmful to the people consuming them. The lithium battery is a clean technology with no fumes or emissions of any gasses. So health hazard is the major challenge in Tubular batteries.

Depth of Discharge in Tubular Vs Lithium battery LifePO4

Power bill for Charging comparison of Lithium battery Vs Tubular battery.

Can we uninterruptedly run our Load on inverter/UPS without any reset of TV, Computer, Printer, Airconditioners etc.?

The answer is Yes. We only need an Automatic transfer switch in the Inverter/UPS with a fast switching time of less than ten milliseconds.

Short switching time is the key to a smooth transition from utility to battery power.

Switching time/transfer time in a UPS (uninterruptible power supply) is the time it takes to switch from the utility to the battery power supply. It is typically measured in milliseconds.

The switching time is crucial because it determines how long the connected equipment will continue to operate without interruption when there is a power outage. If the switching time is too long, the related equipment may shut down, or reboot, which can cause data loss, or the TV will get rebooted along with the Netflix picture, which might take 3 minutes to return to the original condition.

The switching time of an inverter/UPS is determined by the type of UPS and the manufacturer’s switching time specification. Inverter/UPS/Home UPS has two kinds of switching times.

1. Mains to Inverter Mode: As the Power goes off, there is a switching time from Mains to Inverter mode, which is generally higher than the Inverter to Mains Mode. For the Power Electronics designer, handling this is a challenging task as the MOSFET or IGBT can burn if this is maintained at a very low level.
2. Inverter to Mains Mode: This is the switching time when the Power returns, and then the Inverter/UPS need to switch back to Mains mode. This is critical as the design must be meticulous and change at zero crossing so that relay or static switch used for switching has a longer life.

Here are some of the factors that affect the switching time of a UPS:

• Type of UPS/Inverter: Many Inverter/UPS are available in the market, and switching time varies from manufacturer to manufacturer and the product’s capacity.
• Voltage Range: If the voltage range is wide, the switching time will be higher, and if the voltage range window is small, a faster switching time will occur.
• Load on the UPS: The heavier the Load on the UPS, the longer the switching time will be. The UPS needs to transfer more Power from the battery to the connected equipment when the Load is heavier.
• Operating temperature: The switching time can increase at higher temperatures depending on the sensing circuit used by the manufacturer

Suppose the switching time is more, and the Inverter/UPS gets reset. In that case, the inrush current will come into the picture while starting the Load. If the switching time is faster, then the Inrush current never comes into the picture, and It has more inrush capacity automatically. This is a critical feature to understand when choosing the Inverter/UPS for fast-switching technology.

At Su-vastika, when the Power comes back, our switching time remains 1 to 3 milliseconds as we change the Load at zero crossing, which is the main reason for our low switching time and the durability of our product range. 

The switching time of a UPS is typically specified in the product documentation. It is essential to choose a UPS with a switching time that is short enough to meet the needs of the connected equipment.

By understanding the factors that affect the switching time of a UPS, you can choose a UPS that is right for your needs.

The Solar charge controller is the device that helps charge the battery through the solar panels. This device is important for charging the battery through Solar panels and is called a solar charger or solar charge controller.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_charger

Let us understand in detail: Solar panels are a DC device, and the battery is also a DC device so we can charge the battery through solar panels directly. What will happen if we charge the battery directly through solar panels? Solar panels have high voltages compared to battery voltages. So let us take the example of the solar panel of 150 Watt which has a VOC or Open Circuit voltage of around 22 to 23 Volts and a battery voltage is 12 Volts, so when we try to charge the battery then, we need to stop the Tubular/SMF Lead Acid battery boost voltage at 14.4 Volts, and then we need to charge the battery Float mode where we need to reduce the battery voltage to around 13.6 Volts and charge it at a prolonged current so that the battery’s gravity is made to get the full back up from the battery. In this condition, we can’t generate directly from the solar panels as the voltage is very high in solar panels, so they will charge the battery and take it to 17 to 18 volts which will be the overcharging stage for any battery since the solar panels have no control of cutting the battery charging at a fixed voltage so the solar panel will charge the battery straight to the higher voltage which will damage the battery after few charge-discharge cycles. Another factor is when the load is applied to the battery. The battery will start discharging, and there is no such control of the LVC Low Voltage cutoff, which is an important factor in saving the battery from deep discharge. Another factor is matching the solar panel with the battery to charge. We need 10% of the battery capacity to charge the battery. So in the case of a 150 Ah battery, we need to charge it with a maximum of 15 Amps, and if we try to charge with a higher current, then the lead Acid battery will charge faster. There will be a battery water loss, and the life of the battery will be compromised if try to charge the battery with a very high current, like 50 or 60 Amps, to a Tubular battery 150 Ah battery then the battery will be charged in less than 3 hours and can also blast as we are charging it with a very high current.

Solar Panel Configuration for 12V Solar Hybrid PCU with MPPT

All these three issues are taken care of by the solar charge controller. So solar charge controllers reduce the charging Current as per its capacity. So if the charge controller is made for 15Amps current, then it will not let more current pass through it and will stop the Current to the battery in case someone tries to give more Current through the solar panels and will save the battery from being harmed. It has the mechanism not to charge a single battery of 12 v beyond 14.4 volts or whatever the manufacturer sets the fixed voltage. So in the case of 24 volts, the general setting is done for 28.8Volts and 48-volt system, the setting is done for 57.6 volts. So every charge controller has a voltage limit to pass through, after which it gives the warning, stops functioning, and saves the battery life and overcharging.

In the same way, the low battery cutoff or LVC of the battery is controlled through the solar charge controller to save the battery from deep discharge. Another important feature of the solar charge controller is to have the ATC Automatic temperature compensation to take care of the Lead Acid battery to control the boost voltage according to the temperature so that the Lead Acid battery can give the proper backup time in winter and in summers battery boost voltage is reduced to save the electricity bill and the life of the battery. Another function of the charge controller is to stop the current flow from the battery to the Solar panel. As both are DC devices, the current flow will happen on both sides, so at night, if the battery starts giving current back to the solar panel, it might damage the solar panels. So there is a diode which controls the flow of power from the solar panel to the battery and doesn’t let the current flow back the Current to the solar panel through the battery.

Now PWM stands for Pulse Width Modulation, and the charge controller is a simple charge controller circuitry which provides the power from the solar panels to the battery. Almost a 30 to 60% loss happens when it charges the battery. For example, let us take the 12-volt battery charging through the solar panel, which has a VOC of 22 volts. So to make it 150 Watt panel, it gives approximately 7Amps Current from the board. Now the PWM charge controller will reduce the voltage as per the battery voltage to charge it, so if the battery is fully discharged, the solar charge controller will reduce the voltage to 10.5 Volts from 22 Volts VOC. Some current will also be lost through the PWM charge controller, which will be approximately 1 to 1.5 Amps depending upon the quality of the charge controller, so we take 1 Amp loss, and the voltage reduction of 10.5 Volts then the total wattage which goes to charge the battery will be 10.5X6=63 Watt so the wattage of panel being wasted at this stage will be almost 60% and the same way we can calculate the wattage going to charge the battery on 12v,13V and 14V. so once the battery reaches to the 12V than 12X6=72Watt which is 50% of the panel wattage. So once the battery reaches 14V, it becomes 14X6=84Watt, the maximum peak wattage used for the battery charging, and the rest of the panel capacity is wasted.https://suvastika.com/how-to-match-the-solar-panel-voltages-and-battery-voltage-in-solar-hybrid-pcu/

The maximum waste of panel wattage happens when the charge controller charges the battery into the Float mode as the battery voltage reaches 14.4 Volts, the charging current reduces to 2 to 3 Amps for reducing the battery voltage, and it charges the battery very slowly to make the gravity of the battery. So let us calculate the battery voltage reduced to 13.8X2=27.6 watts. The float mode for the battery is a slow charging concept, and this is the lowest output we get from the PWM solar charge controller. So there are three stages of charging Bulk, Absorption and Float charging, which are important for the Lead Acid battery. If any manufacturer does not put these conditions in their solar charge controller along with the ATC feature, then the life of the battery will be reduced. There might be more battery water loss and heating inside the battery. Nowadays, the manufacturer designing the PCU tries to make it for 60 to 70 Amp solar charge controller without any stages and protection where the user can install more panels to charge batteries. They spread the rumours in the market that their Solar PCU does the sharing while charging the battery, and the battery charging will be shared with the load. So they tell the dealers to install more panels on the solar PCU, resulting in higher current charging of batteries. The battery life is reduced, the battery water topping has increased, and there are places where battery blasts are also happening. Ultimately the customer is complaining that the electricity bill has increased after installing Solar PCU as the solar and the Grid are charging the batteries.

The MPPT or Maximum Power Point Tracking Charge controller has complex circuitry, which increases the Current coming from the solar panels and increases the efficiency of the solar panel, which is lost in the PWM charge controller. Maximum power point tracking – Wikipedia

The MPPT tracks the voltage and Current from the solar panel to determine when the maximum power occurs to extract full control. The MPPT then adjusts the voltage to the battery to optimize the charging. This results in a maximum power transfer from the solar module to the battery. The MPPT charge controllers are 30% more efficient than the PWM-based ones.

For Lithium batteries, the solar charge controller needs different boost voltages to charge, and the low battery cutoff is also different. The lead Acid battery charging is very complex, has minimum three-stage charging, and needs ATC. But for Lithium, there is no such complexity is required, but the boost voltage and low battery cutoff settings are different,