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The benefits of front terminal batteries

Watch product expert, Erick Soares, to learn how to choose the best battery for your needs. Learn the benefits of C&D’s True Front Terminal Batteries and how to properly size your system.  

Batteries come in many different shapes and sizes, so how do you pick which one is best? I today’s training we will be talking about front terminal batteries. We will cover what makes them unique, what are their benefits, and some misconceptions to watch out for.

The most popular batteries in the market are top terminal and they all follow an industry standard size determined by BCI. Meaning that, a group 99 from C&D, can easily be a drop in replacement for a group 99 of another manufacturer. However, given their standard size and broad availability, they do have limitations in terms of how much power they can provide. The solution to that dilemma, is to move to front terminal batteries as they can handle a lot more power without taking up that much more space.

Besides the fact that they are much bigger in size, you will notice that the terminals are now facing forward. This is purposely done to make them easier to install, and safer to maintain. With front terminals, it becomes easier for technicians to interact with these batteries once they are in a cabinet. One of the benefits of the increased size a higher power density, meaning you need less batteries to achieve the same runtime. Let’s look at a common example using a top terminal 540, front terminal 700, and front terminal 1000 watt batteries to illustrates that.

For a 1MW system, providing 5 minutes of backup at end of life, you would normally need 6 strings of a 545 size battery, vs 5 strings of the 705, and 4 strings of the 1005. Once you take into account the size of the cabinets, the 545 option could take up to around 240 inches, the 705 would take up 232 inches, and the 1005 224 inches. It might seem counterintuitive, but going to a bigger battery can save you space, and reduce your cost as well.
The first example had a total of 240 batteries in the system, the second 200, and the third 160. Once you factor in the costs associated with installation, maintenance, and replacement of every single battery, it starts to make a lot of sense. In some examples, we have seen customers saving as much as 28% in footprint and up to 40% less batteries by going to the bigger 1005.

Front terminal batteries are clearly great for large systems, but what if I told you that not every front terminal battery, is really a front terminal battery? Let me show you what I mean. 
An important design distinction is how the terminals as actually built. Most of the common design designs in the market are really top terminal batteries with the option of having a bracket that brings the connection points to the front. Even though you are connecting the cables in the front, they are not front terminal batteries, but so what? Why should you care? With these designs, you run into two potential issues, you need either a higher shelf height to accommodate the cables or a deeper cabinet to stagger the batteries. By adding brackets, you now have 4 contact points per battery and they often have different torque values. If any of these 4 connections is loose, it can cause your system to fail, hot spots, and the pressure put on the part could also lead to post seal leaks.

We solved those problems by developing what we call True Front Access. All of the welding is done internally leaving only 2 connections per batteries. This makes it safer to install and much easier to maintain. Speaking of maintenance, see this little extended area? We call it the Ohmic Ring. In other designs, we have seen as much as a 40% variation on readings which could lead to batteries being replaced without the need for. Our Ohmic ring design guarantees that technicians will get the same exact reading anywhere they put the probe.

If you would like to know how our Front Terminal batteries can be a great addition to your backup system, please reach out, we look forward to working with you.


Watch product expert Erick Soares explain in this 3.5-minute video how to choose the best battery for your application. You'll learn about the benefits of C&D’s True Front Terminal Batteries and how to properly size your system.  