Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1923-01-17
HOW THE STORAGE
BATTERY OPERATES
Operator Must Guard Against an
Excessive Rate of Charge
or Discharge.

q lead storage battery Dy lullAei SINS
Iaad mates in a 20 per cent solution
Of sulphurlc acid and continuously go
inc through the charging and DIS
| cborains, process. However, this Is
long and tedious process TO get oxide
of lead on the positive plates BY means
of numerous charging and dlscharslhs
cycles. The oxide, which is the active
material. is manufactured chemically
and applied TO the plates.
The body of manufactured plates Is
cast from lead In such a manner as
70 leave the surface hOneycomOed. IN
this boneycombed surface OF the
plates is forced a paste. formed Oy
mixing IItharge-lead-OXide with SUI
nburic acid. After the plates are as
sembled with separatOrs between they
are placed in containers in an electro
Ivte consisting of a 20 per cent so
luton of sulphuric acid. The lead
body of a storage battery plate Simply
acts as a holder or cOntainer for the
active material. The active materials
IN n lead storage battery are the LEAD
neroxide on the positive plate, the
sponge lead Of the negative plate and
the suIphuric acid electrOlyte.
When a storage battery is discharg-
ing. that is. while a current Is being
I drawn from Il, a chemical action takes
Mace I'm the battery. The lead per-
oxide of the positive plate and the
/ sulphuric acid Of the electrolyte react
70 form lead sulphate and water. ACID
/ Is more dense than water, 50 that
/ when fully charged the electrolyte mas
/ a density OF 1875 TO 100, when
means that the electrolyte is ITO 10
/ IL times as heavy as an equal volume
\ of water AS the battery is discharged
and water is formed by the chemical
\ action. the electrOlyte becomes less
dense. Finally, when the density
drops TO 100 TO 1.1JO, the battery
reaches a point when charging IS nee
essary. Thus the density Of the cleo
I trolvte Is a measure Of how much en-
ergy, or how fully charged the bat
terry IS.
The voltage Of a battery is also
an Indication OF the degree Of charge
A fully charged battery should have
on open circuit voltage OF - volts
per cell.
The voltage per cell should not be
allowed to drop below is before re
charging.
When n storage battery is put on
charge, a direct current Is forced
through the battery. The chemical
reaction that takes place during the
charging process is just the reverse
of that which takes place during the
process Of discharging. That IS TO say,
/ the lead sulphate and water fogmed
during the discharge are converted
back into lead peroxide and sulphunc
| acid. The formation Of sulphtric
/ acid during the charging process
| causes the density of the electrOiyJe
to increase. The density of the cleo
trolyte OF a fully charged battery is
between 1875 and 1900, while the
open circuit voltage per cell is about
| %.
OF course, a storage battery IL not
100 per cent efficient, which means
that the total ampere hours delivered
20 the battery during the charging Pc
riod will always exceed the total am
pere hours drawn from the battery
/ during the discharge period. The
voltage per cell and the specific gray
ity of the electrolyte are the criterion
Of the degrees Of charge in the battery.
However, due TO the fact that some OF
the lead sulphate is not readily con-
verted into lead peroxide and sui
phuric acid, II Is necessary nj times
TO give the battery an over
charge. That Is, the charging cur
rent should be allowed 10 flow after
the battery has reached the charged
condition, until after several hours OF
constant charging. there is no In
crease IN the voltage per cell or the
density OF the electrolyte.
The value OF the charging current
is determined by the manufacturers
and should not be exceeded. an ex-
cesSively high charging current wiz
cause an increase in the rate Of de-
terioration Of the plates. Every time
a battery is charged or discharged a
certain amount Of active material on
the plates Crumbles and drops 10 the
bottom Of the CELL
Assuming the same operating con-
ditions, the life of a storage battery is
certain number OF charges and dis
charges. An excessive rate OF charge
or discharge will cause the battery 10
heat, buckle the plates. and result in
an abnormal amount OF cTumbling Of
the active material. In the extreme
case Of a short circuit. the plates OF
the battery might be buckled TO such
an extent that an internal short cir
cult Is formed in the battery. To
guard against short circuits it is well
! when using a lead plate storage bat
I'll a----- E---..-----