BATTERY TREATMENT

Radio Record, Volume I, Issue 25, 6 January 1928, Page 2

BATTERY TREATMENT

CORRECT CHARGING RATE. With the increasing popularity of’ trickle chargers for charging "radio Storage A-batteries has come the question: What wonld happen to the battery if, for instance, the receiver is not used for several days and the trickle charger is left operating at the usual half ampere rate? } _ No harm will be done to the battery under such conditions, A storage battery (or ‘wet’? battery) of not less than thirty ampere hour capacity can be charged continuously at a half ampere rate without damage to the battery even if the charge is kept up for long periods after the battery has attained a state of full charge. The extra current slowly decomposes the water in the battery solution.

OVERCHARGING HARMFUL. In fact, the actual harm that can be done to any battery by excessive charging is to heat it up and dislodge the active material from the plates through excessive gassing, Ilowe¥er, these deleterious effects are produced only when the charging rate is relativety high; a prolunged charge at a five to ten ampere rate sent throngh an ¢ighty ampere honr hattery would cventually eanse tronhle. On the other hand, thonsands of tadio batteries suffer from premature old age because they are not charged often enough and loug enough, AD Storage batteries end up in the scrap pile at the end of five or six years at the most, but constant undercharging will turn them into junk in a year or two. The safest policy, therefore, is to keep your battery filled to half an inch ebove the plates with distilled water at all times and give it more charging than it actually needs,