Belt Valley times. [volume] (Armington, Mont.) 1894-1977, 1923-01-11

HOW THE STORAGE
BATTERY OPERATES
Operator Must Guard Against an
Excessive Rate of Charge
or Discharge.

NA0 tAtANAE ~
lead plates In a 20 per cent solution
OF sulphuric acid and continuously go
Ing through the charging and dis
charging process However, this is a
long and tedious process TO get oxide
Of lead on the positive plates by means
of numerous charging and discharging
cycles. The oxide, which is the active
materials is manufactured chemically
aad applied to the plates.
The body OF manufactured plates is
cast from lead In such a manner as
to leave the surface honeycombed. In
this boneycombed surface of the
plates is forced a paste, formed by
mixing litharge-lead-oxide with sui
phuric acid. After the plates are as
sembled with separators between they
are placed In containers In an electro
lyte consisting Of a 20 per cent so
luton Of suIphuric acid. The lead
bod, of a storage battery plate simply
acts as a holder or container for the
active material. The active materials
in a lead storage battery are the lead
peroxide on the positive plate, the
sponge lead of the negative plate and
TIN asexta1yt
When a storage battery is dlscharg-
Ing. that is, while a current ts being
drawn from II. a chemical action takes
place in the bastery. The lead per
oxide of the positive plate and the
sulphuric acid of the electrolyte react
to form lead sulphate and water. Acid
is more dense than water, so that
when fully charged the electrolyte has
a density of 1875 to 1900 which
means that the electrolyte is 1878 to
1.3 times as heavy as an equal volume
Of water. AS the battery is discharged
and water is formed by the chemical
action, the el~ectrolyte becomes less
dense. Finally. when the density
drops to 100 Il 1.150, the battery
reaches n point when charging Is nee
essary. Thus the density Of the cleo
trolyte 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
an open circuit voltage OF % volts
per cell.
The voltage per cell should not be
allowed TO drop below 1l8 before re-
charging.
When a storage battery is put on
charge, a direct current Is forced
through the battery The @cbemical
reaction that takes place during the
charging process is just the reverse
Of that which takes place during the
process Of discharglng. That is TO say,
the lead sulphate and water formed
during the discharge are converted
back into lead peroxide and sulphuric
acid. The formation of sulphuric
acid during the charging process
rauses the density of the e~lectrolyte
increase. The density of the cleo
of a fully charged battery Is
1.275 and 1890. while the
,pen circuit voltage per cell is about
%.
OF course, n storage battery Is not
90 per cent efficient, which means
hat the total ampere hours delivered
o the battery during the charging pc !
Tod will always exceed the total am !
'ere hours drawn from tho battery Z
the discharge period. The !
per cell and the specific gray. y
~ of the electrolyte are the criterion y
I the degrees OF charge In the battery. !
However, due TO the fact that some OF .
he lead sulphate is not readily con- d
into lead peroxide and sui
huric acid, II Is necessary al times
give the battery an over
That is. the charging cur v
should be allowed TO fiow after a
ne battery has reached the charged Il
ondition, until after several hours. of e
instant charging. there is no In e.
In the voltage per cell or the II
of the electrolyte. p
The value OF the charging current "
determined by the manufacturers az
I'd should not be exceeded An ex- 81
high charging current VIII VI
use an increase In the rate OF de-
rioration of the plates. Every time O
tntttt} ~ tNui ktu Ole
rtaIn amount OF active material on
e plates cryfnbIes and drops TO the
tom Of the CELL
Assuming the same operating con I
lions. the life OF a storage battery Is
number of charges and dis
An excessive rate OF charge
discharge will cause the battery 10
at, buckle the plates. and result In
abnormal amount OF crumbling OF
active material. In he extreme !.
se OF q short circuit. the plates OF O.
battery might be buckled TO such
extent that an internal short cir
{ is formed In the battery. To
ard against short circuits 1t is well rit'
en- using a lead plate storage bat be-
TO install a fuse In both battery ISL
Dis right near the terminals Of the cat
terry. Don't under any condition Sw
rk the battery By placing q pair wa
q screw driver across the am
This win eventually ruin Ma
battery.
lie water win %evaDorate out ~ The
.frofgfa ~ a hafferw and ellUuId he Il