The energy storage technologies are primordial for the working of several applications at high power density and low power density. Particularly, for intermediate and big electric applications and grid administration and support, which need high power density such as auxiliary power units, the vanadium redox flow batteries are an interesting option for the energy storage because of their low cost compared with more complex systems, durability, independence between energy density and power, large discharge time and their relatively simplicity in components considering their material constituents and well behaved - chemical internal processes [1-2].

In this work, a simple laboratory prototype of a vanadium redox flow battery with spectroscopy carbon electrodes is utilized to test two classic electrochemical perturbations, a potentiostatic perturbation and a galvanostatic perturbation in the charge of electrolytes process and in the operation of the battery, also using three different volume schemes, aiming to establish the best way to transfer charge in the preliminary electrolyte charge process and in the operation of the battery.

As main results, it is found that the battery has a better electrolyte charge process and a better operation process with the potentiostatic perturbation with a volume ratio of 2:1 between the anodic compartment and cathodic compartment. Also a comparison of the state of charge of this battery and the charge/discharge curves with others in literature is achieved, showing a good behavior of the tested conditions [3-7].

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2. X. Wu, H. Xu, Y. Shen, P. Xu, L. Lu, J. Fu, and H. Zhao, “Treatment of graphite felt by modified Hummers method for the positive electrode of vanadium redox flow battery,” Electrochim. Acta, vol. 138, pp. 264–269, Aug. 2014.

3. M. R. Mohamed, H. Ahmad, M. N. A. Seman, S. Razali, and M. S. Najib, “Electrical circuit model of a vanadium redox flow battery using extended Kalman filter,” J. Power Sources, vol. 239, pp. 284–293, 2013.

4. A. Z. Weber, M. M. Mench, J. P. Meyers, P. N. Ross, J. T. Gostick, and Q. Liu, “Redox flow batteries: a review,” J. Appl. Electrochem., vol. 41, no. 10, pp. 1137–1164, Oct. 2011.

5. M. Skyllas-Kazacos and F. Grossmith, “Efficient Vanadium Redox Flow Cell,” J. Electrochem. Soc., vol. 134, no. 12, p. 2950, 1987.

6. M. Skyllas-Kazacos, G. Kazacos, G. Poon, and H. Verseema, “Recent advances with UNSW vanadium-based redox flow batteries,” Int. J. Energy Res., vol. 34, no. 2, pp. 182–189, Feb. 2010.

7. G. Colt, “Evaluación de una celda redox de vanadio,” no. 1, pp. 183–188, 2010.