Corrosion and premature capacity loss of standby telecommunications batteries - The way forward for service providers

There are two failure mechanism associated with batteries on float charge in telecommunications installations. The first is corrosion of the positive plate and the second is capacity loss. Periodic maintenance, monitoring and proper battery selection during procurement will prevent any loss of lifetime or performance from grid corrosion and capacity loss. The paper will examine the causes of these two battery failure modes in telecommunication installations and outline various recommendations to be adapted during procurement and maintenance to ensure that the battery installation is efficient, reliable and long lasting.