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Battery Technical Info

diyer2

By diyer2
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diyer2 Senior Enthusiast

diyer2

Posted
Posted

The following is info I copied from a search of the web, if you learn something and appreciate it my time has been well spent.

The lead acid battery is made up of plates, lead and lead oxide with a 35% sulfuric acid and 65% water solution. This solution is called electrolyte which causes a chemical reaction that produce electrons. When you test a battery with a hydrometer you are measuring the amount of sulfuric acid in the electrolyte. If your reading is low, that means the chemistry that makes electrons is lacking. So where did the sulfur go? It is stuck to the batteries positive plates and when you recharge the battery the sulfur returns to the electrolyte.

Cold Cranking Amps is a measurement of the number of amps a battery can deliver at 0°F for 30 seconds and not drop below 7.2 volts.

Reserve Capacity is a very important rating. This is the number of minutes a fully charged battery at 80°F will discharge 25 amps until the battery drops below 10.5 volts.

The optimum operating temperature for a flooded lead-acid battery is 25*C (77*F). Elevated temperature reduces longevity

State of charge

100% 12.7V

75% 12.4V

50% 12.2V

25% 12.0V

Discharged 11.90V

 

Flooded lead-acid batteries does not lend itself to fast charging. Typical charge time is 8 to 16 hours. Leaving the battery in a discharged condition causes sulfation and a recharge may not be possible.

Flooded lead-acid batteries do not like deep cycling. A full discharge causes extra strain and each cycle robs the battery of some service life.

So every time your battery fails to start your vehicle its life has been shortened.

The service life of a lead-acid battery can, in part, be measured by the thickness of the positive plates. The thicker the plates, the longer the life will be. During charging and discharging, the lead on the plates gets gradually eaten away and the sediment falls to the bottom.

The plates of an automotive battery are about 0.040" (1mm) thick, while the typical golf cart battery will have plates that are between 0.07-0.11" (1.8- 2.8mm) thick.

This is my approach to vehicle batteries that started 40 years ago when I was stranded by a dead battery, in winter in a remote area.

You will eventually have to replace your battery so why wait until it dies, leaves you stranded. I also believe the battery is going to lose its abilty to hold a charge and that leads to the charging system being over worked trying to charge a battery that can’t hold a proper charge.

I would put a new battery in a vehicle and write the date on it with a permanent marker and log it in my maintenance manual. About 4 years later I just replaced it.

This was especially important to me for the wife’s vehicle. Don’t want her having a dead battery or someone jumping the car wrong and causing a bigger problem.

 

 

Super 8 Enthusiast

Super 8

Posted
Posted

For what it's worth, I copied this from another site for you.

I teach automotive electrical system training and have just recently assisted in developing a bid spec for batteries to be used in our fleet of vehicles. So I have a little bit of experience in this area. One of the most important factors that is often over looked is the construction of the plates.

Lead-acid batteries have plates that are constructed from lead. Pure lead is not strong enough to withstand the vibration that an automotive battery is exposed to. Because of this lead must be combined with another material to make it stronger. Battery manufacturers for years have combined lead with antimony to give the plates strength. Antimony is the ingredient that causes lead acid batteries to gas.

Years ago Delco pioneered the use of batteries that had no antimony. The plates were reinforced with calcium. This virtually eliminated gassing. Because gassing was eliminated there was no water loss from charging. This eliminated the need to have filler caps to replace lost water. The maintenance free battery was born. Today most automobiles come with sealed maintenance free batteries as standard equipment.

Lead-calcium batteries are more resistant to charge than lead-antimony batteries. Because of this the charging system must charge at a higher voltage to keep them fully charged. The voltage levels that are used for lead-calcium batteries will overcharge a standard lead-antimony battery. If a standard maintenance type battery is installed in your truck you can expect to have excessive gassing and acid spewing.

The major drawback to maintenance free lead-calcium construction is that they are not very resistant to deep cycling. If you run your battery to a low state of charge, there is a good chance that it will cause damage to the battery and it’s life will be shortened.

I always recommend replacing a sealed maintenance free batteries with the same type to prevent overcharging. Recently, in speaking with a representative from Exide, he told me that their batteries were lead-calcium construction. They still have caps to fill them so I’m not completely convinced that this they won’t be a problem. But we have some in service that we are testing in GM vehicles to see if we experience excessive gassing.

In my personal vehicles (GM products), I always replace them with the original equipment Delco batteries and have had very good luck them. I seem to get very good life from them. Also, I don’t have problems with rust and corrosion because there is no acid present in the engine compartment.

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