(ET) Fw: [WT] Trickle Chargers

["RJ Kanary" <rjkanary nauticom net>]

 I thought the group  might benefit from this gentleman's wisdom. Enjoy !
----- Original Message -----
From: "Phil Christensen" <pacvis pacbell net>
To: <WillysTech yahoogroups com>
Sent: Monday, May 21, 2001 00:04
Subject: Re: [WT] Trickle Chargers


> At 02:09 AM 5/21/01 +0000, you wrote:
> >I was in Northern Hydraulics the other day and saw several new
> >trickle chargers that did everything from monitor the voltage and
> >shut themselves off when fully charged to sending pulses through the
> >battery to reduce crystals?  Prices ranged from $20 to $50.  Any
> >merit to these things?
> >
> >I have not had any good luck with the cheapies.  Haven't found any
> >other good no brainer for keeping batteries up.
> >
> >Steve
> >Ames, IA
> As a former submarine electrician I know a thing or two about batteries
and
> can give you some background that may help.
>
> For the most part, batteries are very simple creatures.  Pure Lead plates
> and Lead Oxide (PbO2) in a solution of Sulphuric acid.  As you draw
current
> both plates combine with the sulphuric acid to create Lead Sulfate.  The
> Lead plate also needs some extra O to form the sulfate which it gets by
> ripping apart the water molecules and scavenging them, this process 
> yields
> extra Hydrogen left over which is why batteries bubble Hydorgen and you
see
> all those "explosion hazard" stickers on batteries.
>
> Anyway, the normal discharge of a battery end up slowly coating all the
> plates inside with Lead Sulfate.  Just think of it like the thin rust 
> that
> slowly forms on your willys.  The harder you work your battery the 
> thicker
> that "rust" forms.  Well, when you recharge the battery this forces the
> chemical reaction to reverse itself and the Lead Sulfate slowly goes back
> into the acid solution and Lead/Lead Sulfate actually re-plates itself
back
> onto the plates.
>
> This whole process is very basic to every Lead Acid battery and hasn't
> changed for a 100+ years, about all they've been able to do in modern
times
> is mess around with the plates a little to try and make them thinner, 
> more
> porous, spongy etc. to maximize the surface area and other things to
> withstand the associated heat buildup of these chemical reactions like
> forming the plates into a spiral which makes them expand and contract 
> more
> evenly.
>
> Since nature isn't perfect, no battery can just sit fully charged up
> forever.  Slowly that rust will form whether you like it or not.  Having
> any wires whatsoever hooked up to a battery or even letting one sit on a
> concrete floor (never do this) only helps accelerate this inevitable
> process.  Letting a battery slowly self discharge like this, is just like
> that real hard slow rust on your undercarriage.  It actually forms so
> uniformly that it gets real stubborn to try and remove (when you go to
> recharge your battery after letting it sit for a year).  So what you end
up
> doing when you recharge a battery in this condition is plate Lead/Lead
> Oxide ON TOP of the tough stubborn layer of Lead Sulphate instead of 
> fully
> driving it back into solution.  This, by the way is exactly what happens
to
> a lot of batteries when they devleop a "memory".  Batteries don't think,
> they aren't smart, they just have a stubborn layer of "rust" with a thin
> layer of Lead coated on top, so once you discharge that lead, you are 
> left
> with only that stubborn layer of "rust" preventing the acid from getting
> down to the solid lead/lead oxide plates underneath.  Deep cycles, then
> full recharge repeated over and over can often work their way through 
> that
> layer, but not always.
>
> Trickle chargers help to prevent this by keeping a tiny charge current
> flowing in the battery to counteract it's own natural tendency to self
> discharge, but unless the trickle charger is really set up for your exact
> battery (which they never are, just a general guesstimate of the average)
> this will only help just so much.  The newer pulse chargers seem to work
> better because they let the battery rest between pulses, so it kind of
goes
> through a more natural cycle of charge-discharge-charge-discharge but on 
> a
> smaller scale than starting an engine and recharge on an alternator.
>
> The crystals you may hear about are big huge chunks of Lead Sulphate that
> are almost impossible to drive back into solution, they grow over long
> periods of time, normal engine start/recharge/start/recharge keeps these
> guys from forming because the Lead is too busy going back and forth from
> the plates, to LeadSulphate, back to the plates, etc. it never has time 
> to
> form those big crystals.  Also crystals always seem to form around
> contaminates.  You always put nothing but spotless distilled water in a
> battery, right?
>
> When all is said and done, the best thing you can possibly do to a 
> battery
> is use it as it was intended.  Normal engine starts, then recharges keep
> all the guts working, the sulphate/Lead and Oxides all doing their little
> thing and there really is no perfect substitute for this.  The best thing
> for a battery is to use it, see if you can rotate your garaged cars
battery
> with your everyday commuter vehicle.
>
> One last thing, my girlfriend does which always bugs me but I just can't
> get her to stop.  When you drive at night and get home, do you turn your
> Lights off first, then the motor?  Or do you just shut down the engine
then
> casually after a few seconds turn off your headlights?  That extra few
> seconds of running all your lights/headlights on battery instead of the
> alternator will leave your battery spending the evening in a state of
> partial discharge and will cost you at least a couple years of battery
life
> in the long run.
>
> Keep your battery top clean (just wipe it off, pouring baking soda
solution
> over it can actually end up hurting you as it inevitably works it's way
> inside and neutralizes the acid inside), coat the terminals with plain
> vaseline to keep them nice and shiny and no air/moisture to the terminals
> and your battery should last at least 10 years+.  If you must store it,
> store it 100% charged, completely disconnect it, remove it (steel battery
> trays conduct electricity even better than concrete) and put in on a 
> block
> of wood.  If you want to hit it with a charger every few weeks for a half
> hour (max, not overnight) then that's better, just to keep it topped off,
> that will keep her in good shape, but it's still not going to substitute
> for normal everyday use.
>
> There ya go, everything you ever wanted to know about batteries, and
> probably a lot more than you asked for.  I could go on, but this emails
> gotten long enough already :)
>
> Happy wheeling
>
>
> Flip
>
> - 54 CJ3B-225-she's a goer, not a show-er
> - 58 CJ6 Partsmobile
> - 93 Explorer WRV (cuzin of Rics Willy's Recovery Vehicle)
>
>
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