Atec bite-3 User Manual
BITE®3
Battery Impedance Test Equipment
■
Determines health of lead-acid cells up
to 2000 Ah
■
On-line testing with Pass/Warning/Fail
calculations
■
Measures impedance, interconnection
resistance and cell voltage
■
Windows CE operating system with
32 MB of memory
■
Measures float and ripple currents
■
Includes ProActiv™Database Management
Software
BITE
®
3
Battery Impedance Test Equipment
DESCRIPTION
The Megger BITE 3 Battery Impedance Test Equipment
determines the health of lead-acid cells up to 2000 Ah by
taking measurements of the most important battery
parameters. The BITE 3 measures cell impedance, an
internal ohmic test, cell voltage, intercell connection
resistance and ripple current. And, for the first time in a
battery instrument, the BITE 3 measures float current and
the harmonic content of the ripple current. There is even a
built-in spectrum analyzer to show the harmonic content
of the ripple current. It has firmware that can be upgraded
through the Internet and supports multiple languages.
The BITE 3 is one of the easiest instruments to use. Its
measurements, along with temperature, specific gravity and
other battery data, can provide the best basis for
evaluating the overall health of batteries from terminal
plate to terminal plate and to a lesser extent, the charger
(from ripple current and its harmonic content.) Megger
recommends that the BITE 3 be made part of a
comprehensive battery maintenance program with readings
taken and recorded semi-annually for flooded, lead-acid
cells and quarterly for VRLA.
Unlike load-cycle testing which is expensive, nonpredictive and time-consuming (but does provide actual
capacity data), the BITE 3 is quick, reliable and easy to
use. With a rapid test time, one person can easily, quickly
and precisely measure cell and string parameters without
taking the system off line. Furthermore, in as little as four
keystrokes, the instrument is ready to take battery
measurements (five, if the power button is included). The
processor of the BITE 3 uses a Windows
®
CE Operating
System and can store more than 1 million cells’ data in any
string configuration. It is menu-driven that is easy to
navigate. Its unique data analysis screens provide
immediate feedback on the status of cell impedance, (see
Figure 1, Battery Analysis Report). The first part of the
report is the numerical data. The second part is the
impedance deviation graph and the third part is the
impedance deviation graph but in ascending impedance
order. The ascending impedance graph groups the weakest
cells together for easier analysis. With the optional printer,
this report can be printed by the user and left at the site as
a record for future reference.
PROACTIV DATABASE MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE
The first of its kind, ProActiv is a powerful software
package that organizes and analyzes battery data in an MS
Access database. Used in conjunction with the BITE 3,
ProActiv manages the transferred test data from the BITE 3
by organizing it according to your needs and displaying it
in an extremely useful manner. Once the database is
configured to your liking and test data are transferred from
the BITE 3, it provides red, yellow and green bands that
coincide with user entered pass, warning and failure limits.
ProActiv allows the user to organize and manage battery
data such as voltages, impedance, intercell connection
resistance, ripple current, and specific gravity. ProActiv
even has a place for IR thermographs, diagrams and
graphics to store with the battery data. It is an allencompassing battery database management tool.
Having such a tool becomes even more important when
you consider the following: battery testing is crucial to
ensure a battery system provides standby and emergency
power to operate devices such as emergency lighting, UPS
Figure 1: Battery Analysis Report
BITE®3
Battery Impedance Test Equipment
systems, operating controls, switchgear components,
protective relays and continuous process systems. Failure
of a battery system within environments such as utilities,
hospitals and manufacturing plants can result in
operational failure of the devices connected to it. ProActiv
assists the user to avoid battery failures, budget for future
battery string and cell replacements, and plan battery
changeouts in an orderly manner.
The BITE 3 along with ProActiv software offer the most
comprehensive data analysis system to provide confident
and reliable evaluation of batteries in the dc network.
Together, they combine to make the most powerful battery
health analyzer available on the market today.
APPLICATIONS
It is known that impedance is correlated to battery
capacity and there has been a long-standing question as to
when a user should replace a cell. See Figure 2. Recent
studies by EPRI* and other organizations indicate that
when the impedance of a sealed battery increases by
about 50% from its baseline value, the cell has degraded to
less than about 70% capacity. BITE 3 and ProActiv allow
the user to trend data and to enter baseline values for
comparison purposes and to make decisions whether onsite or in the office. Both the BITE 3’s impedance
deviation graph and the trend graph in ProActiv clearly
show the status of a cell which helps users to decide what
action needs to be taken to ensure battery back up
reliability based on users’ criteria.
A battery’s internal impedance increases as its capacity
decreases due to various factors such as age, ambient
temperature, discharge history, etc. The BITE 3 measures
internal impedance and dc voltage for lead-acid cells up to
2000 Ah in capacity. It also measures intercell connection
resistance, float current and ripple current and the
harmonic content of the ripple current to provide a much
better evaluation than any other single instrument.
Impedance finds electrical path problems due to plate
sulphation, post-seal corrosion, dry-out (loss of
compression), poor intracell welds and intercell
connections and more. These data let the user determine
maintenance needs such as:
■
Cell replacement criteria based on impedance trends
■
Jumper out a cell or two
■
Clean and/or retighten intercell connectors
■
Shorten the maintenance interval, etc.,
■
Evaluate float current and ripple current effects
Typical installations that can be tested using the BITE 3
include:
■
Electrical power generation plants
■
Substations — utility, railroad, industrial
■
Telecommunications facilities — OSP, Wireless, POPs,
MTSOs, Fiber Regens
■
UPS systems — standard and cabinetized batteries
■
Railroad — Signals and Communications, CTC
■
Aircraft power supplies
■
Marine and military
*Stationary Battery Monitoring by Internal Ohmic Measurements
EPRI, Palo Alto, CA: 2002. 1002925
Loading...