If you’ve recently had your fire panel serviced and noticed a non critical defect or non-conformance relating to the batteries, you’re not alone. Many property owners are now seeing their fire panel batteries identified as undersized during the annual inspection. Here’s why this is happening and what it means for you.
Battery Load Testing
It is a requirement of AS1851 that fire panel batteries must undergo a load test at the annual inspection each year. AS1851 is the Australian Standard for fire safety maintenance and will be legislated as of February 2026. See here for more information. This test checks whether the batteries can maintain the required voltage and support the fire panel during a simulated power outage.
Prior to the implementation of AS1851, batteries were only being checked for age (must not be older than 2 years) and for visible signs of wear and tear. Now, a detailed check must be completed to ensure the batteries are the right size for the panel. A common issue is that previously installed batteries were smaller than the panel requires. Undersized batteries can:
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Fail to provide enough backup power during an outage
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Discharge too quickly under load
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Fail to pass the required load testing
AS1851 says that at an annual test, fire contractors must:
When additional works are required
When batteries are defected as being undersized, batteries with a larger Ampere-hour (Ah) are required. These batteries are also usually physically larger than the existing ones, so they may not fit in the FIP cabinet. In this instance a separate battery box will be required. There is no “one-size-fits-all” for fire panel battery boxes, each brand of panel requires a different box. We try to match the battery box as closely as possible to the existing fire panel enclosure. The larger the batteries required, the larger the cabinet and the higher the cost. For batteries over 40Ah in size, a custom battery box may be required.
Sometimes, the software of the panel itself doesn’t have the capabilities required to support the larger batteries. This is usually due to the age of the panel. In this case, a new charger card, power supply unit (PSU) or a whole new panel will be required. These will be quoted separately. Â
When is it a defect?
Fire panel batteries must be replaced every 2 years. If undersized batteries are still within this period, you’ll receive a non-conformance (not required for the AFSS). Once the batteries reach 2 years old and require replacement, we’ll also upgrade them to the correct size and install a battery box if needed. This will appear as a non-critical defect (required for the AFSS).
