New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-09-23
Watch Your
Battery, for
Many Reasons
Otherwise Your Expe-
rience May Be
Annoying
By William Fl. Stewart, Jr.

If you value peace of mind while
driving an automobile keep in close
touch with your storage battery. All
goes we'll so long as the battery is
working properly. But some fault
creeps in and your battery fails. Re-
suit, no lights, no starter and, worst
of all, no ignition. This does not hold
true for those cars that use a magnetic
for ignition, but for the vast majority
of modern cars that draw on the bat
terry for all three kinds of service-ig-
milton, starting and lighting.
By keeping in close touch do not
mean testing it every day, as that is not
necessary; but there are many indi-
cations a battery gives before it is ex-
hausted. The driver who is alert to
watch for these anticipates trouble and
so has his battery at all times in the
best of condition.
The proper care of a storage battery
is the same, whether the battery Is
used for all three duties or only for
lighting. The same chemicals are used
in the plates and the electrolyte is the
same, the only difference being in the
thickness of the plates and their num-
ber.. A battery used for starting must
give'a sudden rush OF heavy current.
A large number of plates is needed for
this, as it is the extent of surface
which is required. Hence the plates
are more numerous, bu, are made thin
ner so as to be less bulky.
OF course, such a battery must be
larger. II must be able to give from
so to 100 ampere hours, depending on
the system, whereas an ignition bat
terry need only give 40 to so ampere
hours. A 40-ampere- battery is
one which will deliver one ampere per
hour for forty hours, two amperes per
hour for twenty hours, and so on.
Naturally a l20-ampere- hour battery
would be much larger than 4O-ampere-
hour battery. 1t need not have any
more cells, for both may be three-cell
batteries, but must be larger because
its capacity is larger.
Test it once a week with hydrome-
ter. 1t should read between 1875 and
1900. If it reads above 1900 it needs
some water Nothing but distilled
water should ever De used. Well water
and spring water frequently contain
mineral salts, which will damage the
lead plates. Rain water from wooden
roof may be used, or melted snow, but
distilled water can be obtained at every
drug store. 1t rarely costs more than
10 cents a gallon, so there is no excuse
for not having some on hand all the
time.
More water should be added every
two weeks as a matter OF routine, but
it is well to add it more frequently in
hot weather 1t is broken up into hy-
drogen and oxygen, which escape, and
some of 1t evaporates through the
holes in the vent plugs. The sulphuric
acid remains and is never lost except
by spilling. The best advice for the
inexperienced driver is never 10 put
acid into his battery. II some has been
lost by spilling it should be replaced
by an experienced battery man. who
knows when to add 1t and just how
much to use.
II stands TO reason that the hydrome-
ter test should be made before the
water is added, as it does not mix with
the acid Immediately, and so a test
would show almost pure water. After
the battery has been charged a short
while bubbles begin to arise from the
plates, and these cause the electrolyte
to circulate, mixing it thoroughly.
II the electrolyte tests below 1875
consider what you may have done to
keep il from receiving its full charge.
All systems are adjusted so that the
battery receives slight charge when
the load is all on it-that is, when the
lights are all turned on and the engine
is drawing current for ignition. The