Lead Acid Battery Background
The lead acid battery is the original rechargeable battery. It was invented in 1859 in France and has seen widespread use for a wide range of applications up through the current time. One of the largest applications of lead acid batteries has to be in the automotive field, where they have been used for many years, but they are also used in RVs, marine applications, golf carts & scooters, and in many other ways.
With the extremely large number of lead acid batteries in use, many are discarded and taken out of use every day. Some of those discarded batteries still have a lot of useful life in them if they were tested and reconditioned using the methods we will be discussing here. First a little more background, then we’ll get into the testing, reconditioning, and how to take care of a lead acid battery.
Personal Safety: A lead acid battery has lead and acid in it, just as its name indicates. It has plates made of lead and the liquid in the battery is a weak sulfuric acid solution. The acid solution is called weak, because it is fairly low in sulfuric acid concentration, but don’t think of it as weak in terms of its possible effects on you. If spilled on your skin, it will burn you. If spilled on your clothes, it will burn a hole in them.
So… wear rubber gloves to protect your hands, wear a rubber apron to protect your clothes and BE CAREFUL. The safety glass requirement is a bit more stringent when working with lead acid batteries, as compared with NiCd,NiMH, etc. Your safety glasses should have front and side protecti on, or even better would be a full-face shield.
Also do not smoke around lead acid batteries and avoid sparks and flames, especially when charging a battery, as the gas produced when charging can explode if brought in contact with sparks or flames.
Also, along the same lines, whenever connecting or disconnecting cables from a lead acid battery (in a car or when charging for example) be sure to connect or disconnect the negative (ground) terminal first and then the positive (live) terminal. This helps to avoid a spark that could cause an explosion.
Environmental Safety: Besides concern about your personal safety due to the acid while working on and being around the batteries, there is an environmental concern. Lead is a toxic material and is classified as a hazardous waste, so it is important to dispose of useless lead acid batteries properly. If you do reconditioning of lead acid batteries and need to dispose of those that cannot be brought back to life, be sure that you follow all federal, state and local requirements for proper disposal.
What is Sulfation and How does it Affect a Battery?
If you do any reading about lead acid battery testing and reconditioning, you will find the terms sulfation or sulfating, so lets clear up what these terms mean. When the battery is discharging (sending current through your car headlights, etc.) the lead dioxide positive plate and lead negative plate react with the sulfate in the lectrolyte to create lead sulfate (which collects on the battery plates), water and electrical energy. Early in the discharge cycle, there will only be a little bit of soft lead sulfate on the plates.
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