Battery testing stops theatre failing regulations

Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team Jan 8, 2002

Faulty batteries on emergency lighting at Shakespeare's Globe theatre were detected in time, but it's a salutary lesson to all of us that you can't take the lifetime for granted

Shakespeare's Globe, located on Bankside, next to the Tate Modern, is one of London's most famous landmarks.

It was founded by Sam Wanamaker CBE and is dedicated to the experience and international understanding of Shakespeare in performance.

Apart from enjoying Shakespeare's plays in Elizabethan surroundings, the Globe has an exhibition displaying some of the fascinating clothes from this period, displays on special effects and a 17th century printing press.

In the exhibition emergency lighting was installed to help visitors exit the building in case of power failure.

As part of a routine maintenance survey at Shakespeare's Globe, the maintenance company Carter Planned Maintenance detected faulty batteries.

"Faulty batteries in the exhibition came as a complete surprise and we had to replace them because we would have failed Health and Safety Regulations.

We were obviously grateful that this survey indicated this problem", commented Mark Barker, Facilities Manager, Shakespeare's Globe.

This scenario is unfortunately all too common.

Prior to the 1980's lead acid standby batteries were maintained by topping up with water.

Today, this is not possible with the introduction of sealed batteries.

Organisations purchase their batteries, read the instructions that they have a certain "life", believe they are maintenance free and then forget about them.

How many facility managers know how to check a standby battery? Exide Network Power explains that a battery design life can vary from 5-20 years.

There is a huge difference between design and service life - the main contributing factor to this variance is temperature.

In the case of Shakespeare's Globe batteries, the temperature was around 30 degrees C.

"Now that we know that the temperature was reducing the life of our standby batteries, we will keep the room at a steady 20 degrees C, thus ensuring the full life of 10 years is easily achieved", explains Mark Barker, Facilities Manager, Shakespeare's Globe.

Without preventative maintenance, the only way you know that your battery has failed or not is when you need it most and often too late.

In the event of a power failure, or fire or explosion, if organisations have not kept up with regular checks, they could be a danger.

Exide have recently launched several battery-testing methods for VRLA (Valve Regulated Lead Acid) batteries.

They include conductance and impedance testing, but the most accurate of all, is the discharge test.

The discharge test involves the use of a separate load being connected to the battery, and with a stop watch, measures the time taken with a constant load.

The test should fall within the parameters of the manufacturers test specification, and will display the actual capacity available from the battery.

Industry standard requires batteries to be at least 80% of the battery capacity must be available.

"Regular maintenance does not necessarily prolong the life expectancy of batteries, but will give an accurate means of determining the future life expectancy.

This means that battery replacements can be made before they fail", explains Gary Allen, Marketing Manger, Exide Network Power.

If you have not checked your battery supply for a while and not sure how to go about checking their life expectancy, then contact Exide Network Power today for some free no obligation advice.