Daily Kennebec journal., 1920-05-01
A SHORT TALK ON
STORAGE BATTERIES
(By Geo. r. Webber)

| IL lbs btSI "cll Sdlu t&ldl VIC w
not appreciate a doctors advice un-
/; til We are sick. it is equally true that
] the average car owner does dot read
his battery instruction book until his
battery will no longer function prop
erly. Possibly one reason that the
average person does not derive bene-
i fit from the battery instruction book
! Is on account Of the mass of techni-
, cal data and electrical and. technical
! terms that one finds there.
Unfortunately the storage battery
| is little understood by the average
owner and the result is that he is
! prone to condemn it as being unre-
/ liable or delicate, when it is really
i only through inattention or faulty
maintenance that it does not function
| properly.
We would justly ridicule the man
} who operated a steam boiler if he ex-
pected to continually draw upon his
| steam supply for power and did not
| replenish his fire or water, or expect
f: ed to operate a boiler designed for
| 100 horsepower on a 300 horsepower
load for long periods of time. or who
banked his fires and then expected to
! find a full head Of steam available at
/ the turn Of a valve. In the same
manner we cannot expect to con-
tinually withdraw from a battery
without replenishing the fuel supply.
which in this case, is the charging
| current.
Without going too far into theory
| it will be sufficient to state that when
we charge a storage battery what we
really do is to cause a chemical
change in the plates and battery
! liquid or electrolyte. The electrolyte
| is mixture Of water and acid. The
| acid is the heavier. During a charge
the acid disunites from the plates
| and enters into the electrolyte max
ing the electrolyte heavier and the
| plate lighter. During discharge ex-
actly the reverse happens. The acid
| is split up from the water and COM
| bines with the plates leaving be-
hind the water and making the
electrolyte lighter. All that we real
! ly do when we test battery with a
/ hydrometer is to weigh the electro
lyte. The average battery hydro
meter is usually marked high and
| low. For those not so marked We
| &ill say that 1.2S5 is the high point
and 1925 is the low point. At this
low point the electrolyte is but
| slightly different from water and will
freeze nearly as readily at the high
point. It contains sufficient acid to
make it practically freeze proof and
it will not freeze at 60 below zero, so
we can see that especially in the win
ter it is necessary that the battery be
kept fully charged.
| There are many factors to consider
| in battery care that at first may seem
unimportant to the average battery
owner. 1t is important that suf-
ficient water (pure distilled water)
should be added to compensate for
the loss due to evaporation and de-
composition and it is equally impor-
! tant that not too much water be
added. The result of insufficient
water is that the tops of the plates
and separators will come above the
water level and they will become
/ covered with an insolublo deposit
which will sometimes spread halfway
down on the plates, thereby reducing
| their capacity by more than 500.
Too much water will cause the bat
| terry to "slop" over onto the top of
| the cells causing a partial short cir
cult, rotted battery box and corroded
! terminals.
Probably one of the greatest
causes for battery failure and the
short life of many batteries Is the
lack Of balance between the battery
and the generator and the other de-
vices which are q part of the auto
electrical system. AS the generator
is directly connected to the gasoline
motor it of course changes speed
with the gas engine. This widely
varying speed change is compensat-
| ed for by means of different forms Of
voltage and current regulators and
| cut out relays, therefore, if car is
| driven at a high rate of speed on long
trips and the starter is infrequently
used and should the charging rate be
| adjusted too high the battery will be
| constantly over charged, resulting in
rapid evaporation of the water in the
| electrolyte, which unless replaced
| quickly will cause short life of the
| battery. Likewise if a car is stopped
and started frequently. driven on
short trips at slow speeds, lights of
extra high candle power are used
and left burning for long times, it
| can easily be seen that the charging
! rate must be increased so that a per-
feet balance is maintained or the
battery will frequently have to be de-
| tached from the car and given
charge from an outside source.