BATTERY 08/21/06

PRODUCT UPDATE

Telco Application Note

By: Rick Lawrence, Product Marketing

Internal ohmic measurements have become the most important parameter to date for determining the state of
health of batteries. Yes, load tests do find the actual capacity of batteries, but they are time-consuming,
expensive and are not at all worthwhile for smaller batteries, especially those used in distributed networks such
as wireless telecommunications systems. In these wireless networks, the typical battery system is a configuration
of short strings comprising two or four jars in parallel strings for redundancy and to add capacity. In some cases,
there are as many as 16 parallel strings.

Internal ohmic measurements use a calculation following Ohms Law, namely E=IR. In impedance, it is Z=E/I
while conductance is C=I/E and dc resistance is R=E/I. The differences between dc and ac internal ohmic
techniques are beyond the scope of this App Note. It is enough to say that all internal ohmic battery testers apply
a current and measure the resulting voltage drop. In order to calculate the internal ohmic value, it is necessary to
measure two of the three parameters, namely, voltage drop, E, and current, I. The voltage drop is caused by the
current flowing through the cell/jar from the instrument regardless of technique or manufacturer. All instruments
measure the voltage drop; it is the measurement of the current that is the problem when it comes to accurate
internal ohmic values of short strings in parallel configurations. As seen from Ohms Law, if the current is not
measured accurately, then inaccurate internal ohmic values will be obtained. Here is a schematic diagram of two-
jar strings in a four parallel string battery configuration.

For the purposes of this discussion, lets make it easy to visualize by making all jars new and with an internal
resistance of 1 milliohm. Based on theory and supported by actual data, the current used by any tester will not
only flow into the battery being tested but also into the parallel path. If current is not measured then erroneous
BATTERY 08/21/06

results can easily be obtained. Now, using Thevenins theorem of reducing parallel resistors, the new schematic
becomes:

with two parallel current paths. Then Resistor AB has a resistance of 1

milliohm and the Thevenin resistor, Rth, is 1.6 milliohms. When testing cell
AB, the applied current flows through cell AB and it also flows from test point
A through the Thevenin resistor back to test point B. These are the two
parallel paths of the applied current. There is only one voltage drop in this
circuit from the perspective of the instrument at test points A and B. In this
example, the Vdrop, E, is I*R where I is 0.5A and R, the total resistance in the
circuit, is 0.615milliohms. E calculates to 0.307mV. Therefore, the current in
cell AB is 0.31A and is 0.19A in the parallel resistor. We have defined the
resistance in Cell AB at 1 milliohm. Its conductance is 1mS.

Now, change the resistor value in Cell AB to 1.5 milliohms which corresponds to a 50% increase. (A 50%
increase in impedance in a sealed battery is considered by many to be in falure mode and needs to be changed.)
Returning to all of the math, the recalculated voltage drop in the circuit is 0.39mV, the current in Cell AB is now
down to 0.26A from 0.31A and up to 0.24A from 0.19A in the Thevenin resistor. Because BITEs measure current,
the impedance will be properly measured at 1.5milliohms. However, without a CT, the conductance, which should
be 0.66mS, is measured at 1.28mS. This is a 28% improvement in the cells condition, not a failure as it truly is.

Megger has called the current in the parallel circuit, escape current, since it is escaping the cell being
measured. The net current is the current that passes through cell AB and causes the voltage drop, EAB. So ZAB =
EAB / (iinstrument iescape).

There is one other consideration for this problem and that has to do with battery manufacturers baseline values.
If the customer is using baseline conductance or dc resistance values as published by the manufacturer (on
individual cells, not connected cells), it will take several years for the batteries conductance or dc resistance
values as measured in this type of configuration to degrade back down to the baseline value. Then, it will not only
be possible, but is likely that cells will test as good that are, in fact, bad.

Individual Cells vs. Parallel Strings

25

20

15
Imp- Cells
Cond*- Cells
Imp- St rings
Cond*- St rings
10

0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16

The graph above illustrates this issue using actual battery data. There are four lines in the graph: Impedance of
individual cells (in blue), Conductance of individual cells (in yellow), Impedance of those same cells connected in
short strings in parallel configurations commensurate with the schematic above, i.e., four strings of two cells each
(in green) and Conductance measured those same configured strings (in red). (So that the conductance fits on
the graph, its reciprocal has been multiplied by 1000.)
BATTERY 08/21/06

The Imp-Cells (in blue) and Cond*-Cells (in yellow) lines are well correlated as expected since they are
impedance and conductance as individual cells. The Imp-Cells (in blue) and Imp-Strings (in green) lines are also
well correlated. These are the two impedance measurements as individual cells and as connected in short strings
in parallel configurations. The Cond*-Cells (in yellow) and Cond*-Strings (in red) lines are not at all correlated and
they should be. The only difference between them is the batteries connectedness. The conductance instrument
does not measure external current, neither does any other manufacturers instrument. The reason that two
impedance lines are well correlated is that the BITE 3 impedance instrument measures current output by the
instrument and the current that is escaping into the other strings, providing the net current that is passing through
the cell causing the voltage drop. So by using instruments that measure the current, (and Megger is the only
instrument manufacturer whose instruments measure current external to the instrument), accurate internal ohmic
measurements are obtained. All Megger BITE instruments measure current simultaneously to voltage drop to
calculate impedance accurately. Only with accurate data can intelligent battery decisions be made.

The main point to take away from this discussion is that the current output from the instrument or drawn from the
battery by the instrument is NOT the same current that induces the voltage drop in the cell under test. If the
current that actually induces the voltage drop is not accurately measured, then the internal ohmic value will be
calculated incorrectly. Furthermore, by simply changing how the battery is connected, the internal ohmic value
can change which does not allow for intelligent battery decisions.

Thank you for your business and support

Rick Lawrence
Product Marketing