Battery Care, Anyone?

I do get calls occasionally asking for help to jump-start or replace one's car battery from time to time.

Sometimes I ask myself, why does this happen to so many people? Therefore, someone came up to me with the idea about battery care and I did some reading.

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A car's battery has never been given proper care by 98% of drivers, especially female drivers and dies off unexpectedly. Over time, a car's battery internal resistance increases, therefore not being able to hold charge for long after being charge by the vehicle's alternator, or even with a conventional charger.

Quoted from batterytutorials.com :

A battery is like a piggy bank. If you keep taking out and putting nothing back you soon will have nothing. Present day chassis battery power requirements are huge. Consider today’s vehicle and all the electrical devices that must be supplied. All these electronics require a source of reliable power, and poor battery condition can cause expensive electronic component failure. Did you know that the average auto has 11 pounds of wire in the electrical system? Look at RVs and boats with all the electrical gadgets that require power. It was not long ago when trailers or motor homes had only a single 12-volt house battery. Today it is standard to have two or more house batteries powering inverters up to 4000 watts.

Average battery life has become shorter as energy requirements have increased. Life span depends on usage; 6 months to 48 months, yet only 30% of all batteries actually reach the 48-month mark.

The Lead Acid battery is made up of plates, lead, and lead oxide (various other elements are used to change density, hardness, porosity, etc.) 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 resting on the battery plates and when you recharge the battery, the sulfur returns to the electrolyte.

Battery Maintenance is an important issue. The battery should be cleaned using a baking soda and water solution; a couple of table spoons to a pint of water. Cable connections need to be cleaned and tightened as battery problems are often caused by dirty and loose connections. A serviceable battery needs to have the fluid level checked. Use only mineral free water, Distilled is best as all impurities have been removed, and there is nothing left that could contaminate your cells. Don't overfill battery cells especially in warmer weather because the natural fluid expansion in hot weather can push excess electrolytes from the battery. To prevent corrosion of cables on top post batteries use a small bead of silicon sealer at the base of the post and place a felt battery washer over it. Coat the washer with high temperature grease or petroleum jelly (Vaseline), then place cable on the post and tighten. Coat the exposed cable end with the grease. Most folks don't know that just the gases from the battery condensing on metal parts cause most corrosion.

6. Battery Testing can be done in more than one way. The most accurate method is measurement of specific gravity and battery voltage. To measure specific gravity buy a temperature compensating hydrometer, to measure voltage use a digital D.C. Voltmeter. A quality load tester may be a good purchase if you need to test sealed batteries.

For any of these methods, you must first fully charge the battery and then remove the surface charge. If the battery has been sitting at least several hours (I prefer at least 12 hours) you may begin testing. To remove surface charge the battery must be discharged for several minutes. Using a headlight (high beam) will do the trick. After turning off the light you are ready to test the battery.

*Sulfation of Batteries starts when specific gravity falls below 1.225 or voltage measures less than 12.4 for a 12v battery, or 6.2 for a 6 volt battery. Sulfation hardens on the battery plates reducing and eventually destroying the ability of the battery to generate Volts and Amps.

Load testing is yet another way of testing a battery. Load test removes amps from a battery much like starting an engine would. A load tester can be purchased at most auto parts stores. Some battery companies label their battery with the amp load for testing. This number is usually 1/2 of the CCA rating. For instance, a 500CCA battery would load test at 250 amps for 15 seconds. A load test can only be performed if the battery is near or at full charge.

The results of your testing should be as follows:

Hydrometer readings should not vary more than .05 differences between cells.

Digital Voltmeters should read as the voltage is shown below. The sealed AGM and Gel-Cell battery voltage (full charged) will be slightly higher in the 12.8 to 12.9 ranges. If you have voltage readings in the 10.5 volts range on a charged battery, that typically indicates a shorted cell.

If you have a maintenance free wet cell, the only ways to test are voltmeter and load test. Any of the maintenance free type batteries that have a built in hydrometer(black/green window) will tell you the condition of 1 cell of 6. You may get a good reading from 1 cell but have a problem with other cells in the battery.



To make things simple for us Malaysians with a simple multimeter or Apexi Timer with a volt-meter :

100% State of charge(SOC) - 12.7V and above
*75% SOC - 12.4V and below (read sulfation paragraph above)
50% SOC - 12.2V and below
25% SOC - 12.0V and below (bye bye battery)


Well, just another way of prolonging the life of the battery by at least double its lifespan and improving battery performance would be PULSE CHARGING. This can be performed with a smart charger which can be purchased aftermarket.

A smart charger will first desulfate your badly sulfated battery, analyze the battery, give it a bulk charge till its 80% full charge, slow charge the battery up till 95-100% charge, etc.
However, this charger doesn't come cheap. Will suggest a product in the next post.

Again, quoted from Bettery Tutorials :

Battery life and performance - Average battery life has become shorter as energy requirements have increased. Two phrases I hear most often are "my battery won't take a charge, and my battery won't hold a charge". Only 30% of batteries sold today reach the 48-month mark. In fact 80% of all battery failure is related to sulfation build-up. This build up occurs when the sulfur molecules in the electrolyte (battery acid) become so deeply discharged that they begin to coat the battery's lead plates. Before long the plates become so coated that the battery dies. The causes of sulfation are numerous. Let me list some for you.

* Batteries sit too long between charges. As little as 24 hours in hot weather and several days in cooler weather.
* Battery is stored without some type of energy input.
* "Deep cycling" an engine starting battery. Remember these batteries can't stand deep discharge.
* Undercharging of a battery to only 90% of capacity will allow sulfation of the battery using the 10% of battery chemistry not reactivated by the incompleted charging cycle.
* Heat of 100 plus F., increases internal discharge. As temperatures increase so does internal discharge. A new fully charged battery left sitting 24 hours a day at 110 degrees F for 30 days would most likely not start an engine.
* Low electrolyte level - battery plates exposed to air will immediately sulfate.
* Incorrect charging levels and settings. Most cheap battery chargers can do more harm than good. See the section on battery charging.
* Cold weather is also hard on the battery. The chemistry does not make the same amount of energy as a warm battery. A deeply discharged battery can freeze solid in sub zero weather.
* Parasitic drain is a load put on a battery with the key off. More info on parasitic drain will follow in this document.


There are ways to greatly increase battery life and performance. All the products we sell are targeted to improve performance and battery life.

An example: Let's say you have "toys"; an ATV, classic car, antique car, boat, Harley, etc. You most likely don't use these toys 365 days a year as you do your car. Many of these toys are seasonal so they are stored. What happens to the batteries? Most batteries that supply energy to power our toys only last 2 seasons. You must keep these batteries from sulfating or buy new ones. We sell products to prevent and reverse sulfation. The PulseTech products are patented electronic devices that reverse and prevent sulfation. Also Battery Equaliser, a chemical battery additive, has proven itself very effective in improving battery life and performance. Other devices such as Solar Trickle Chargers are a great option for battery maintenance.

Parasitic drain is a load put on a battery with the key off. Most vehicles have clocks, engine management computers, alarm systems, etc. In the case of a boat you may have an automatic bilge pump, radio, GPS, etc. These devices may all be operating without the engine running. You may have parasitic loads caused by a short in the electrical system. If you are always having dead battery problems most likely the parasitic drain is excessive. The constant low or dead battery caused by excessive parasitic energy drain will dramatically shorten battery life. If this is a problem you are having, check out the Priority Start and Marine Priority Start to prevent dead batteries before they happen. This special computer switch will turn off your engine start battery before all the starting energy is drained. This technology will prevent you from deep cycling your starting battery.

Battery Charging - Remember you must put back the energy you use immediately. If you don't the battery sulfates and that affects performance and longevity. The alternator is a battery charger. It works well if the battery is not deeply discharged. The alternator tends to overcharge batteries that are very low and the overcharge can damage batteries. In fact an engine starting battery on average has only about 10 deep cycles available when recharged by an alternator. Batteries like to be charged in a certain way, especially when they have been deeply discharged. This type of charging is called 3 step regulated charging. Please note that only special SMART CHARGERS using computer technology can perform 3 step charging techniques. You don't find these types of chargers in parts stores and Wal-Marts. The first step is bulk charging where up to 80% of the battery energy capacity is replaced by the charger at the maximum voltage and current amp rating of the charger. When the battery voltage reaches 14.4 volts this begins the absorption charge step. This is where the voltage is held at a constant 14.4 volts and the current (amps) declines until the battery is 98% charged. Next comes the Float Step. This is a regulated voltage of not more than 13.4 volts and usually less than 1 amp of current. This in time will bring the battery to 100% charged or close to it. The float charge will not boil or heat batteries but will maintain the batteries at 100% readiness and prevent cycling during long term inactivity. Some Gel Cell and AGM batteries may require special settings or chargers.

Battery Do's

* Think Safety First.
* Do read entire tutorial
* Do regular inspection and maintenance especially in hot weather.
* Do recharge batteries immediately after discharge.
* Do buy the highest RC reserve capacity or AH amp hour battery that will fit your configuration.


Battery Don'ts

* Don't forget safety first.
* Don't add new electrolyte (acid).
* Don't use unregulated high output battery chargers to charge batteries.
* Don't place your equipment and toys into storage without some type of device to keep the battery charged.
* Don't disconnect battery cables while the engine is running (your battery acts as a filter).
* Don't put off recharging batteries.
* Don't add tap water as it may contain minerals that will contaminate the electrolyte.
* Don't discharge a battery any deeper than you possibly have to.
* Don't let a battery get hot to the touch and boil violently when charging.
* Don't mix size and types of batteries.




Most of the articles above are sourced from http://www.batterystuff.com/tutorial_battery.html