Battery Terms W hile there are various choices for a rechargeable system, lead-acid batteries are still the workhorses. Lead-acid batteries are usually more economical and have a high tolerance for abuse. Lead-acid batteries also provide motive power for everything from forklifts to submarines. Lead-acid batteries are also mainstays of the backup systems that provide power when the electrical grid fails. Now, development of the sealed-lead battery has allowed lead technology to be used in applications such as electronics that need a clean power source.
All lead batteries work on the same set of reactions and use the same active materials.
The electrolyte is a dilute mixture of sulfuric acid that provides the sulfate ion for the discharge reactions. It has become an accepted high-performance power source for clean applications including computer power and power backup, telecommunications, emergency lighting, security alarms, and consumer products. It is also becoming popular in cordless tools and appliances, electric vehicles, and other applications which require frequent discharges. The sealed lead cell, shown in Figure 5, consists of positive and negative electrodes and their accompanying separators that are wound in a spiral pattern. The electrodes consist of pure lead grids pasted with mixtures of lead oxides.