Lead acid batteries are broadly applied in various fields nowadays, such as electrical vehicles, photography devices, industrial machines and so on. Its frequent appearance in our work and life drives us to look for more knowledge of it. Questions like “ how to charge lead acid battery”, “Safety charge method”, “how to store lead acid battery” would be fully discussed in the text. And we hope it will be helpful in your future business, work and life.
How to Charge Lead Acid Battery
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If you find that the electric quantity of battery falls down to 30%, it is time to think about charging. The first step of charging is ensuring a dry and ventilated site. Put your battery there and plug in. Don’t cover it by any plastic bag no matter whether you are intentional or occasional. Because this may result in serious fire disasters due to airtight conditions. Use quick charge mode as little as possible only if you really need it. After finishing charging, plug off it as soon as possible.
Is It Safe to Leave the Lead Acid Battery Charging Overnight?
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With the development of lead acid battery, overcharge protection is capable of stopping charging when it is full, so as to reduce accidents caused by overcharging. However, leaving acid battery charging overnight is not a safe choice.
Hidden Danger for Us
First, overcharge protection is likely to be malfunction, especially when it is in bad repair. In this way, it is very dangerous for lead acid battery to be charged for the whole night.
Furthermore, from the perspective of chemical reaction, hydrogen would be produced if overcharging. However, hydrogen is one of inflammable and combustible gases, thus hidden danger of fire accident occurs.
Last, a battery with full power can output current anytime as long as circuit is formed. Leaving it overnight without any care improved the risk of fire disaster and electricity leakage.
Damage to Battery
In addition to the risk of a fire accident, damages to itself should be reckoned. Overcharging may inflate the battery body and result in deformation of shell, which is difficult to recover and repair. And, the active material of the plate may decrease because of hardening . Moreover, the life span of the batteries would greatly shrink than before.
Should I Store the Battery Full or Empty?
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Inevitable Discharge in Leisure Battery
To answer this question, we first need to know what is going on when we leave the battery unused. First, local current would be produced between the impurities and plate in an unavoidable way. Though the local current is not too high, discharge would happen accordingly on a small scale. Second, circuit short out may happen no matter whether you use the battery or not. Active substances drop to the bottom of battery and form link between two plates. Thus, shorting out occurs due to the link and discharge happens.
Action and Benefits
Therefore, lead acid battery should be stored in full state due to the above inevitable discharge. This can cut down the risk of overdischarge if you forget to check your battery with unceasing regularity.
How to Store Lead Acid Battery
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Basically, keep it away from any sunshine, heat, inflammable and explosive articles. Moreover, dry air, good ventilation, proper temperatures (5 ℃ ~40 ℃) are friendly conditions for lead acid battery. Any throwing, rolling, heavy pressing is not beneficial for battery life span.
How Often Should I Add Water?
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Water Evaporation Principal
The working principal of lead acid battery is about reversible chemical transform between lead oxide, lead, dilute sulphuric acid and lead sulfate, water. In the process of charging, where lead oxide, lead and dilute sulphuric acid become lead sulfate and water, there is dispensable evaporation of water under high temperature caused by chemical reaction. In this way, the gradual consumption of water, as the raw materials of charging, would finally affect energy input to the lead acid battery.
Suggestion on Water Supplement
As usual, fifteen days is a period where the water evaporation is too much to influence lead acid battery operation, so we need to make some water supplement. Exceptionally, summer in the equatorial region is so hot, which greatly accelerates the evaporation speed, thus we need to add water more frequently. From person to person, the charging and discharging frequency of lead acid battery is different. Accordingly, higher charging and discharging frequency requires higher water supplement frequency due to frequent happening of reversible chemical transform.
But then, we don’t think the more frequently you add water to lead acid battery, the more good it is for it. It is necessary to pay attention to the liquid level scale line inside, and read the handbook before the water supplement.
Lead Acid Battery Watering Tips
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Supplement Water Type
Not all types of water are proper to add into lead acid battery unless they are deionized. Otherwise, mineral substance and salt substance may gradually attach on battery board, which has a bad influence on its life span and operating time. More and more, deionization water reduces corrosion on battery, saving maintenance cost in the long run.
Personal Protective Equipment
We advise putting on gloves in case that vitriolic acid, one of corrosive chemicals, spatters when adding water into the battery. Auxiliary tools like water injectors should be prepared for convenient water supplements.
Solution About Adding Excess Water
Although warning level line is marked on the battery inside, accidents like adding excess water may happen occasionally. In this case, needle tubing is very helpful to extract the extra water. After adjusting water level to proper standard, it should take about three to six hours for cooling until the liquid is below thirty-five degrees.
Why Does Lead Acid Battery Drain So Fast?
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Reasons
The reasons could be complex. The commonest one is shell broken and the water drain from seam directly. Or, charging current is so high that battery liquid drains fast. Last, plate sulfuration or short cut should not be ignored as one of possible factors.
Inspection Method and Remedial Measures
Check whether there is any crevice on the shell. If yes, batter jar should be replaced by a new one. Handling a high charge current is not so easy and we suggest asking for help from professional maintainers. They always check the charge current with specific tools. If the current is higher in deed, voltage regulator should be changed. Last, check the appearance of plate and sediment at the bottom inside the battery. If the situation is serious, we suggest changing the battery entirely.
The Usual Life Span of Lead Acid Battery
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In general, the life span of lead acid battery can reach about one year to three years, depending on using habit.
Applying in electric vehicle, due to icon consumption, three-year-lifetime is almost the longest span for a common lead acid battery though you have maintained it well. In the reversible chemical reaction which relates to reversible charge and discharge processes, the icons move in electrolyte. Inevitably, icons would react with batter liquid and be consumed, which greatly reduces battery capacity.
How to Make Lead Acid Battery Last Longer?
As what we have mentioned above, life of lead acid battery, in some degree, depends on using habits. The following using habits can protect battery well and improve its lifetime.
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Suitable Charger Selection
According to battery parameter, the charger should fit it perfectly. For example, 48V batteries are recommended to match with 59V-output charger, and 60V batteries are better with 73.5V charger.
What should not be ignored is that quality certification are supposed to be possessed. Also, it would be better to equip with overcharge protection function.
Overcharging Avoidance
Overcharge would increase water consumption of the battery and accelerate plate corrosion. Besides, active material would soften and become ineffective. Also, shell deformation of battery would happen. These are harmful to its life span.
To prevent overcharging, the following measure can be taken. First, a professional charger with overcharge protection and proper parameters is very important in the long term. Second, it is not advisable to use quick charge mode with high current, though it can save your time and handle emergency situations where full battery is required urgently.
Quick Discharging Avoidance
Overdischarging avoidance is another good way to ensure a long life span of battery. Slowing down discharging is one of the common ways to prevent overdischarging. Take vehicle lead acid battery for an example, people get used to running their car fast to catch up morning clock-in. However, this behavior results in quick discharge of the battery, leading to decline of battery lifetime. Thus, next time you should think twice before speeding up your electric vehicle.
Conclusion
Maintenance of lead acid battery really deserves your thinking daily, not only to keep its long life span, but also to avoid fire disasters. We hope this text will help you a lot and we are so pleased to share with you any battery knowledge.
