Monitor Your Battery Cells for Superior Reliability

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1 Monitor Your Battery Cells for Superior Reliability Monitoring your battery cells can provide you with some serious ROI... Read this battery monitoring guide to learn: Why it s essential to monitor your lead acid battery cells The 5 primary benefits of monitoring your batteries The 13 must-have features of a quality battery monitor Don t leave your network - and your bottom line - exposed any longer... Read this White Paper today... By Mark Carberry Version 4.0 Revised August 25, 2015 We protect your network like your business depends on it TM

2 Battery System Monitoring DPS Telecom 4955 East Yale Avenue, Fresno, CA (800) Fax (559) How This White Paper Will Help You When it comes to ensuring the most reliable network possible, you can t afford to cut any corners. Many companies rely on batteries to power their gear - either as a primary or backup source. How important is the health of your batteries? When your uptime is riding on your batteries, don t leave them unmonitored. By not monitoring your battery cells, you expose yourself to issues that can turn into big headaches. All it takes is a single bad cell or a fully discharged battery and your entire network can come to a screeching halt. To achieve superior reliability in your network and to greatly facilitate maintenance planning, you have to start monitoring your critical battery power. Before you choose your battery monitor, you first have to know what you re looking for. That s where this White Paper comes in. Take a few minutes to read this guide - that way you can avoid costly mistakes by choosing the right vendor for battery monitoring. Contents Why You Need To Be Monitoring Battery Jars The 5 Primary Benefits of Monitoring Your Batteries...4 The 13 Features of a Quality Battery System Monitor...5 The Battery System Monitor (BSM)...10 What DPS Clients Have to Say...11 The DPS Promise to You...12 About the Author NOTE: This white paper is an introduction to battery system monitoring equipment. DPS Telecom specializes in custom engineering, designed especially for you and your mission-critical network. The information presented in this White Paper is a new application. The exact deployment of these products and applications may change, according to your unique network. Please use this White Paper as a tool for planning your battery monitoring solutions Copyright 2015 DPS Telecom All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this white paper or portions thereof in any form without written permission from DPS Telecom. For Information, please write to DPS Telecom 4955 E. Yale Ave., Fresno, CA Call: [email protected] Printed in the U.S.A. 2

3 Battery SCADA System Tutorial Monitoring DPS Telecom DPS Telecom 4955 East 4955 Yale East Avenue, Yale Avenue, Fresno, Fresno, CA CA (800) (800) Fax (559) Fax (559) Why You Need to Monitor Battery Voltage A battery system monitor will provide critical visibility of the battery cells in your network. Why You Need To Be Monitoring Your Battery Cells Do you know the status of your remote site battery plants? Would you know if one individual jar was falling out of its ideal voltage or temperature range and possibly damaging othe rcells in the string? Are strap resistance and conductance important parameters to you? At a lot of companies, battery cell monitoring is a commonly overlooked opportunity to reduce costs and improve reliability by facilitating maintenance planning. If you ve ever had battery failures in the past, you know just how painful they can be. Bad cells in a string can easily go undetected when not monitored (even a single bad jar can dramatically affect an entire string of batteries). An entire site could instantly go dark way before the estimated run time if your batteries aren t working optimally. Unfortunately, monitoring batteries isn t always as simple as slapping a single voltage monitor on each string. To really understand the big picture, you need to understand the functions of resistance, impedance, temperature, as well as voltage, and how these parameters vary depending on the state your battery is in (idle, discharge or charge). But, monitoring your battery power doesn t have to be a hassle. Just follow this guide to learn more about effective battery system monitoring. 3

4 Battery System Monitoring DPS Telecom 4955 East Yale Avenue, Fresno, CA (800) Fax (559) The 5 Primary Benefits of Monitoring Your Batteries Leaving your battery cells unmonitored opens the door for too many problems - problems that are easily avoidable. Here are 5 of the main benefits you ll see when you deploy your own battery monitoring system: Battery Monitoring at DPS Telecom Factory Training Hands-on experience from the experts 1. Prevent outages The first and biggest benefit of battery monitoring is the ability to preempt, through maintenance, many power-related outages. When your battery cells are left unmonitored, you are left guessing about their status. Creating a reliable network requires continuous network monitoring - otherwise a small issue can quickly turn into a serious problem. What if your critical backup batteries are approaching endof-life when power fails at the site? This is a far too common disaster because many companies don t take their backup power seriously - even if they think they do. With a battery monitor in place, you would have known your batteries were discharging and which cells were going bad long before it became an issue. These kinds of headaches aren t hard to prevent - the key is having visibility of potential problems. Learn how to monitor and control all of the critical conditions (including battery voltage monitoring) in an in-depth and hands-on class. The DPS Telecom Factory Training Event will show you how to make your network monitoring and remote control easier. You ll learn basic alarm monitoring functionality, how to remotely operate and control equipment, and how to configure automatic and voice notifications. You ll even get a hands-on product demonstration of the BSM battery monitoring device. 2. Detect problems with individual bad cells A single bad battery jar can degrade the performance of an entire array of batteries. The good batteries compensate for the bad battery, thus putting them under load and reducing their life span. Monitoring the entire string is better than no monitoring at all - but it s not the most effective way to improve reliability. String voltage doesn t tell you how many cells have degraded and to what extent. A good battery monitor will have sensors to monitor each of your cells individually - looking not just for voltages outside of the acceptable range, but a difference between the cells and the average of all the cells. The ability to monitor resistance using a sophisticated conductance test for individual batteries can give you the information you need to determine exactly when a battery will need to be replaced. Plus, forecasting battery life is great for planning budgets, and may help you detect a bad battery while it s still under warranty.. DPS Factory Training is the easiest way to learn how to operate DPS equipment. The course is taught by technicians with years of experience who have installed hundreds of successful monitoring and control systems. For dates and registration information, call today or go to com/training. DPS Telecom White Paper Series 3. Avoid batteries completely draining power Your batteries won t be very useful if they re unable to provide power. What s worse is that a discharged string can, in 4

5 Battery System Monitoring DPS Telecom 4955 East Yale Avenue, Fresno, CA (800) Fax (559) Battery System Monitor (BSM) Superior battery monitoring for your network This system was designed for one reason: Ensuring the visibility you need over your power supplies. The BSM monitors your batteries for inductance, voltage, temperature, and internal resistance. In order to remain versatile, the BSM reports alarms via SNMP, SMS/ , and other notifications. some cases, delay or prevent the site from coming back up - even after power has been restored. Discharging your batteries completely can also significantly reduce the total lifespan of the batteries. With a monitoring device in place, you can set thresholds for notifications. This means, if your battery capacity drops below a certain percentage, you ll receive a notification and can quickly respond accordingly. Let s face it - batteries are a part of your safety net, and nothing is worse than a false sense of security. If your primary power goes down, that s precisely when you ll need your batteries the most. If your battery cells require maintenance or are otherwise impaired, then your site will go completely dark long before it should - meaning critical network gear will be down. Had you known that your backup batteries were impaired, you could have done something about it. 4. Monitor Temperature Issues It s not enough to only monitor voltage. Battery cells can get abnormally hot when they are failing. This is called thermal runaway and is a type of uncontrolled positive feedback. Temperature monitoring at each cell can help detect battery issues long before they can cause serious issues. Early notification gives you the time you need to respond to problems in a controlled manner. Including temperature monitoring with your voltage monitoring is smart information to have when monitoring your battery cells. The BSM equipment can report alarms to any SNMP manager and/or the T/Mon master station or directly to the RTU web interface. A fixed system is a perfect way to reduce cost associated with having to manually test batteries on a regular basis. Don t leave your network vulnerable any longer - call the network monitoring specialists today at or get ahold of one of our sales representatives at [email protected]. Models available for monitoring a variety cells and string voltages. 5. Copper Theft Copper theft is always an issue - even more so when you have unmanned sites. And a site with large amounts of batteries will also have large amounts of copper, making them prime targets for break-ins and theft. With traditional battery monitoring systems that monitor battery strings as a whole wired in parallel, if copper is removed from the right place, it can go unnoticed. But, with a system that monitors individual battery jars, you will be notified when copper goes missing from your string. The 13 Features of a Quality Battery Voltage Monitor A battery monitor won t be truly effective without the right features. It s far too common for a vendor to skimp on hardware/software features and cut corners to reduce costs, only to leave out the critical features needed for a truly effective monitoring system. 5

6 Battery System Monitoring DPS Telecom 4955 East Yale Avenue, Fresno, CA (800) Fax (559) A limited and poorly designed battery monitor will end up costing you big in the long-run. You think you re saving money - until your network goes down because your battery voltage monitor wasn t up for the job. Don t settle for inadequate monitoring - make sure your battery monitor has these 13 musthave features. 24x7 Tech Support (No Credit Card Required) First-class tech support assists you whenever you need 1. Adequate Capacity Some battery voltage monitoring systems don t support the capacity to handle large quantities of cells. It s absolutely essential that you have the ability to monitor each of your battery jars - otherwise you ll find yourself vulnerable to the weakest link of the battery string. The Battery System Monitor from DPS allows you to monitor 160 cells per string and up to 16 strings for a maximum capacity of 1280 batteries per Sentinel. Up to 16 Sentinels can be strung together. This modular design approach covers you for both large and small jobs. 2. SNMP Support What good is a battery voltage monitor if it has no way of reporting problems to you? With a device that supports at least SNMP, you ll be able to receive SNMP traps to a central NOC or master station to notify you if there s an issue with your batteries. This means you can easily bring battery monitoring of your unmanned sites under your SNMP monitoring umbrella. Notifications are the key to preventing outages caused by issues with your batteries. Without SNMP, integrating battery monitoring into your network can be a considerable challenge /7 Notifications When it comes to monitoring your batteries - and therefore protecting your uptime - you want true flexibility. Having the capability to receive 24/7 notifications (via SMS text message, , voice alerts, etc) about the status of your batteries can be the difference between an outage and keeping power to your gear. Even if you have a 7x24 NOC (Network Operations Center), receiving on-the-fly and mobile notifications can give you an edge in avoiding preventable outages. Look for a battery monitor that can alert you via s, SMS text messages, paging, etc. With flexible alerts that can notify you out of the office (ex: via your mobile phone), you can be assured you won t feel blind-sided by a battery maintenance issue. The Battery System Monitor, NetGuardians, T/Mon LNX and other products offered by DPS include comprehensive technical support. If you ve purchased DPS products to implement in your existing network and have questions, contact DPS Tech Support today at At DPS Telecom, the representative who answers your call isn t an intern reading from a script. DPS Tech Support representatives are engineers who contribute to product development. And, if your problem requires additional expertise, the DPS Engineering Department that designed your product is right down the hall. No matter how tough or technical your question is, you ll always have the support you need from DPS Telecom - even outside of standard business hours. At no extra cost to you, DPS offers 24/7 emergency technical support. Just because you have a network emergency at 3 in the morning doesn t mean you shouldn t get the assistance you need. For free tech support from DPS Tech Support Engineers. Call [email protected] 4. Continuous Inductance Measurements 6

7 Battery System Monitoring DPS Telecom 4955 East Yale Avenue, Fresno, CA (800) Fax (559) High-Powered RTUs for Network Monitoring Tackle your tough monitoring challenges with these RTUs Even if you don t have any batteries at a remote site doesn t mean there aren t any other critical conditions you should be monitoring. The NetGuardian RTU family scales to fit your monitoring needs By measuring inductance, the BSM is able to monitor internal resistance of the battery cell, which increases as the battery loses capability to provide power. Other systems may support conductance. This is pretty much the same result, as conductance is the inverse of inductance. Full-Featured NetGuardian 832A: 32 discretes, 32 pings, 8 analogs, and 8 controls D-Wire sensor network Dial-up backup Web browser interface Mid-Size NetGuardian discretes, 4-6 analogs, and 4 control relays D-Wire sensor network Dial-up backup Web browser interface Economical NetGuardian discretes, 2-8 analogs, 2 controls 1 terminal server serial port Single or dual -48VDC or 110 VAC 2 compact form factors for rack or wall mount For a complete list of your RTU options, visit: The sensors send messages to the Sentinel, which are translated and sent to the NetGuardian 480. There they are processed and a notification is sent out to the appropriate person. But beware of systems that don t support either of these approaches for monitoring internal resistance. 5. Historical Trending A battery monitor with an analog logging feature will allow you to graph historical trends of your battery monitoring data from the web page. With graphical data, you ll be able to analyze your battery performance information and observe degradation patterns with your batteries. If you ever need to reference past data about your battery parameters, you ll have the historical information at your disposal. This may not work for all applications, but with a quick call to DPS, the engineers can design a custom-fit solution for you. 6. Accurate Voltage Measurement If your battery voltage monitor can t accurately measure voltage and temperature, then you might as well have no monitoring at all. An effective battery monitor will be able to provide you with accurate readings within 1% of the actual value. With an accurate battery monitor, you can be assured that you truly know the status of your batteries. 7. Web Interface A device with a web interface will present you with powerful network management tools. Instead of driving 7

8 Battery Voltage Monitoring DPS Telecom 4955 East Yale Avenue, Fresno, CA (800) Fax (559) all the way out to your site to configure or manage your device, you can do it right from your desk. This can save you on fuel costs and expensive man-hours. You may be a large company with an enterprise-grade SNMP manager, but a web interface lets you drill down when you need to. An intuitive and easy-to-use web interface is head-and-shoulders above any other method to manage your battery monitoring. 8. Flexible Battery Support You want your battery monitor to have the ability to work with different battery types and voltages. All batteries are not the same. They have different orientations, connectors, and different voltage ranges - for instance, you might have a standard string of batteries or a string with four 12V cells and proprietary connectors. You need a battery monitoring system that is physically adaptable to your requirements. 9. Local Voltage Isolation You need sensors that isolate voltage locally at the battery. That is why sensors at each cell report data digitally rather than via analog. This allows for more accurate battery readings and creates a much safer environment. Keeping the voltage reading local reduces the risk of inadvertently shorting an analog connection line and thus shorting the battery. This means you don t have to deal with the hazards of transporting battery voltage over any span of considerable distance. 10. Battery Lifespan Tracking Unfortunately, battery jars typically have a lifespan of about five years, depending on the battery and manufacturer. It s not uncommon for an expiring cell to be forgotten about, only to create a liability in your power supplies. This is a serious problem if you re using batteries as your primary power supply, and even more severe if your batteries are your backup. Through the use of inductance tests, the BSM will warn you that a cell needs to be replaced. The inductance measurement is an indication of the ability of a battery to produce more electrical current. As a battery grows older, the plate surfaces can begin to degrade, which adversely affects its performance. inductance can be used to find defects, shorts, and open circuits which can cause a battery to fail. 8 Alarm Master Choice: T/Mon LNX T/Mon LNX has many features to make your alarms more meaningful, including: 1. Remotely monitor battery cells to protect your power supplies. 2. Immediate notification of COS alarms, including new alarms and alarms that have cleared. 3. Standing alarm list is continuously updated. 4. Text message windows displaying specific instructions for the appropriate action for an alarm. 5. Nuisance alarm filtering, allowing your staff to focus its attention on serious threats. 6. Pager and notifications sent directly to maintenance personnel, even if they re away from the NOC. 7. Derived alarms and controls that combine and correlate data from multiple alarm inputs and automatically control remote site equipment to correct complex threats. For more information, check out T/Mon on the Web at tmon_lnx/

9 Battery Voltage Monitoring DPS Telecom 4955 East Yale Avenue, Fresno, CA (800) Fax (559) Wireless-Ready GSM/CDMA RTUs Receive alarms wirelessly with these RTUs Even if your site is located out in the middle of nowhere, you can still receive monitoring coverage from your BSM. These wireless RTUs allow you to provide a primary reporting path at sites without LAN or give you a reliable backup reporting path to sites with a primary data transport link. NetGuardian 216 SMS: 16 discretes, 2-8 analogs, and 2 controls Right-size capacity for smaller sites Web browser interface Wireless NetGuardian 832A G5: 32 discretes, 32 ping targets, 8 analogs, 8 controls 1 reach-through serial port Wireless connection option SMS Interface Box: Accessory for Wireless NetGuardians Report alarms from SMS-ready RTUs to your T/Mon master station Provides critical alarm coverage via your cellular network (without punching a hole in your firewall or adding costly data plans) For a complete list of your wireless RTU options, visit: Streamlined Network Monitoring When it comes to maintenance, most technicians are responsible for a wide variety of systems and networks. In order to promote efficiency, prevent missed alarms, and reduce downtime, the ability to monitor your power supplies in the same manner as your environmental sensors can be a valuable asset. The BSM combines multiple features to streamline your system. For example, Auto-calibration eliminates the need to calibrate the acceptable battery level range. Over the course of 30 days, the Sentinel collects data and uses it to auto-calibrate your system s unique range of acceptable averages. Not only do you no longer have to calibrate the equipment yourself, but it is also specific to your equipment. The custom calibration makes the range more acurate. 12. Internal Resistance Testing Colloquially known as Strap Testing, this process allows for the measurement of health of individual cells in your network of batteries. By comparing Open-Circuit Voltage, Voltage On-Load, and Load Current, the BSM is able to determine the need to replace individual cells. This testing is a necessity for any well-designed battery monitor. By measuring the resistance in the wire, or strap connecting the individual cells, the device is able to detect any open or loose connections. Having connection points that are not secure can reduce the current capacity and cause excess heat within your battery network. 13. Company Expertise When you re choosing a vendor, don t take chances. Be skeptical. Ask the hard questions. Above all, look for experience. Don t just take a sales rep s word. Ask how many systems they ve worked with, how many protocols they can integrate, and check for client testimonials. Any system you buy should be from a reputable company with years of experience in the field. They should offer support and expertise, and a money-back guarantee. 9

10 Battery Voltage Monitoring DPS Telecom 4955 East Yale Avenue, Fresno, CA (800) Fax (559) Battery System Monitor (BSM) Benefits of the BSM Easily keep track of your power levels with this wireless battery-monitoring equipment. Measures battery inductance, voltage, temperature, and intercell connection integrity (resistance). NetGuardian RTU connects to Sentinel, providing both general and battery monitoring from one device. Battery threshold alarms may be reported as SNMP traps, s, text messages, forwarded to a T/Mon master station, or displayed in the web interface Compatible with 2V-12V batteries Passive test signal does not discharge battery Simple wiring. Specifications: m-senzor Overview The Battery System Monitor (BSM) integrates wireless battery sensing with your NetGuardian RTU (many NetGuardian models are supported). This creates a single logical device that s monitoring your equipment alarms, environmental alarms, and battery strings. Whether you have 2V or 12V cells (or something in between), the BSM gives you complete visibility over battery conductance, voltage, temperature, and intercell connection integrity (resistance). Simple wiring harnesses minimize the installation time for attaching the sensor modules to your batteries. Live analog values and threshold alarms can be accessed via SNMP, a T/Mon master station, the NetGuardian s built-in web interface, or SMS/ alerts. The BSM is an excellent solution for battery string monitoring in both industrial telco and IT environments. Nominal Voltage Ni-Cad 2V 6V 12V Voltage Measurement Range 0.8V-1.9V 1.6V-2.6V 4.8V-7.8V 9.6V-15.6V Accuracy ±0.3% ±0.3% ±0.2% ±0.2% Resolution 0.001V 0.001V 0.005V 0.005V Impendance Measurement Range mΩ mΩ mΩ mΩ Accuracy ±2.5% ±15uΩ ±2.5% ±15uΩ ±2.5% ±25uΩ ±2.5% ±25uΩ Resolution 1uΩ 1uΩ 1uΩ 1uΩ Temperature Measurement Range Measurement cation Lo- -4 C to 70 C/24.8F to 158F Negative post of battery (Variable Pilot to 1 per battery by demand) Maximum Input Voltage ±5V ±6V ±25V ±65V Power Supply Current 50mA 30mA 18mA 18mA Isolation Power Supply Interface 750V DC PowerShield BBUS II (maximum 150m/492ft per BBUS port) 10

11 Battery Voltage Monitoring DPS Telecom 4955 East Yale Avenue, Fresno, CA (800) Fax (559) See What DPS Clients Have to Say... DPS support didn t end with the sale. Your technical support personnel continue to answer our numerous questions and have been an invaluable asset as we implement new features and modify the system. P. Shew - PNM Electric Services The equipment and software appear to be bulletproof - I tortured the thing to see if I could confuse them...i couldn t! J. Griffith - MOBILCOMM Considering the very strict AT&T OS systems compatibility requirements we placed on you and the short project timelines we both faced on this project, we are very pleased with the remarkable end results. DPS Telecom has done a fantastic job, and your entire team has far exceeded our very high expectations. W. Dziama - AT&T You have always taken the time to ask for the application and determine what product would be best for me and provide the Right solution. V. Whitten - CenterPoint Energy We protect your network like your business depends on it 11

12 SCADA Tutorial DPS Telecom 4955 East Yale Avenue, Fresno, CA (800) Fax (559) The DPS Promise from Marshall DenHartog, President You shouldn t have to take any risks to get the monitoring and control capabilities you need. If you decide to work with me, I won t let you fail. If my solution doesn t solve your problems 100%, I don t want you to have it. I have three goals: I want to sell my product, I want you to use my product, and I want you to be completely satisfied with my product. If my product doesn t fulfill those goals, I will fix it, improve it, or give you your money back. If my stuff doesn t wow you, I don t want your business. So here s my guarantee to you: if you buy a DPS Telecom solution, you can test at your site, under real-world conditions, for 30 days. If you re dissatisfied with it, for any reason, just send it back and you ll get a full refund, no questions asked. Marshall DenHartog President DPS Telecom So please if you re interested in any of our products, do yourself a favor and call us today at Your network s needs can t wait. I promise you we ll deliver a solution to your problems, at no risk to you. Sincerely, Marshall DenHartog, President About the Author Mark Carberry is the Engineering Director and Senior Vice President of DPS Telecom, a leading developer of integrated alarm monitoring and control solutions. Mark s engineering skill and dedication to solving his clients realworld problems has helped grow DPS from a small consulting firm to an Inc. 500 company. 12