Hello Gang,
Wow! What a post!
These are all good questions. I can see why you are bewildered.
Batteries are unique temporary power storage devices and are
made in many configurations for various needs. Did you ever see
a golfer use only one club?
Many of your statements are true if you are talking about a certain
type of battery, and false when describing a different kind.
Not all statements about batteries in general are true for
all types of batteries.
The common term "Battery," as it is used today is quite different
from what it actually means. A group of cells arranged in a battery,
forms a power source for a specific purpose. Now a days the term can
mean what powers the bunny across your computer screen to what
starts your car to what powers my hearing aid.
Each one that I mentioned is made differently and has different
parameters for use, active life and rechargability. I am a ham radio
operator, and worked for Ma Bell for 30 years so I do know a little
bit about batteries. And I do mean just a little, there is more to know
about them than I care to know, but I can help answer your questions.
<<1. Never let a battery become fully discharged, or you'll wreck it.>>
This depends on what type you have. Assuming you are talking about
a rechargeable battery, then that statement is :
True for gel-cells, wet cells.
False for Ni-cads.
<<2. Always discharge a battery completely before recharging it, or it will remember what it was drained down to last time before recharging and will only drain down that far the next time then sit there waiting for you to recharge it even though it's not fully discharged.>>
True for Ni-cad batteries, for maximum battery life charge it fully
then drain it dry 5 times. It is now conditioned to perform its best.
Do this once every couple of months. ( No one does this, well maybe
crazy ham radio operators will do it, but certainly no one else! )
<<3. Never half charge a battery or it will remember being half charged and will remain half chargeable ever after.>>
True for ni-cad, not for gel-cell or wet cell.
<<4. Never fully charge a battery or you might over charge it.>>
Not true for any type of battery. This kind of stuff is perpetrated
by feed store electricians who call electricity "Juice," Run away
from anyone using this term.
Modern "Smart Chargers," will not over charge a battery, you get what
you pay for.
<<5. Never set a battery on soil or it will suck the life blood out of it.>>
Not true. I live in New Hampshier where the winter temps get to 20 below
zero. My truck still starts. This has some basis in fact, but just a little.
If the battery is properly charged it will work within its design limits.
That includes its ambient temperature design parameters. Too hot is worse
than too cold. You must keep in mind what condition that battery was
in when Goober the feed store electrician placed it on a cold concrete floor,
or soil. Why did he place it there anyway, Was it dead? Was it at the end
of its useful life? Was it allowed to freeze? (An uncharged battery
has water in it, not sulfuric acid.)
<<6. Never set one on concrete, it's worse than soil.>>
See # 5.
<<7. Always use distilled water when topping up the fluid in your battery.>>
True, this will extend the life of wet cell batteries. Nicad, gel-cell,and
others can not have anything added, they are sealed.
<<8. Rain water is not distilled water.>>
True. Impurities in the water will hurt the chemical exchange of electrons.
<<9. Rain water is distilled water.>>
Only when it falls in da still, ( itn at rat paw? ) {spoken in dialect}
<<10. If you need to check a battery's fluid level at night do not use a lighter for illumination.>>
True. Wet cells produce hydrogen gas, especially when being charged.
This is the same stuff the Hindenberg was filled with.
<<11. If you do use a lighter for illumination, when the battery explodes don't use the handy can of coke in your other hand, to wash the acid out of your eyes. (like batteries, eyes like distilled water)>>
At all cost, save the eyes. Use the cleanest water you have.
I am no doctor. But if it were I who had just gotten sulfuric acid
in my eyes and you were standing next to me, I am here to tell ya buddy,
you have my permission to use coke, pond water, jell o, yogurt, coffee,
tea, or any other reasonable substitute to dilute the acid. I will thank
you and worry about how I look later, rather than if I can look at all.
Five years is a very generous useful life for any battery. If your batteries
last this long you have done very well indeed.
I appologise for being long here, as I said, we have just scratched the
surface. There is a lot more, but I can cover the do's and Don't s in
another post. There is information available on batteries from the
ARRL, American Radio Relay League. They have an excellent web site.
You can order books from them and look up other sources on the site.
www.arrl.org
Ernie Gregoire "Beekeeper," definition= partially brave,
partially excentric
Grist Mill Apiary
Canaan, New Hampshire, USA
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04/11/99 16:03:08
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