Tips on proper use and care of sealed lead acid batteries

12 Volt sealed lead acid batteries are different than other types of batteries & require proper care. The following tips should help you get maximum life from your battery.

GETTING LONG LIFE FROM YOUR BATTERY: A sealed glass matte lead acid battery does not have a "memory" problem like nicads. Unfortunately, unlike nicads, lead acid batteries are easily damaged if they are left in a deep discharge condition, or if they are overcharged, so it is important to charge them up immediately after use & to use a quality approved charger designed for small lead acid batteries that tapers the current charge to zero, or cuts off at the correct Voltage & then pulse charges. The life expectancy of a sealed glass matte lead acid battery is a combination of how deeply it has been discharged, how long it stayed discharged before charging it back up, how many times it has been discharged, & whether a quality intelligent charger was used. It's best not to completely drain the power from a sealed glass matte lead acid battery. You will get more life from your battery if you only drain it to the half way point & charge it up immediately. After use of a lead acid battery, always charge it immediately afterwards to maximize battery life (i.e. do not leave lead acid batteries in a discharged condition).

CHARGE/DISCHARGE RATE: A glass matte sealed lead acid battery accepts a discharge/charge rate up to 40% or higher of it's Amp/hour rating until it gets to about the 80% charge level, then charges more slowly from 80-100% (i.e. takes a minimum of 2.5 - 3.12 hours to fully charge a fully discharged glass matte battery using an intelligent charger). For example, a 14.4 Amp/hour battery should not be expected to drive a Wattage of much greater than 69 Watts continuously (14.4 X .4 = 5.76 Amps X 12 Volts = 69.1 Watts). A 20 Amp/hour battery should not be expect to drive a load of much greater than about 100 Watts continuously (20 X .4 = 8 Amps X 12 Volts = 96 Watts). The Amp/hour rating is based on 20 hours, so the lower your Wattage load, the better will be your battery efficiency factor. For example if you discharged a 20 Amp/hour battery at 2 Amps (24 Watts) you would get 16.8 Amp/hours or 8.4 hours of use (84% of rated capacity). Discharged at 4 Amps (48 Watts) you would only get 14 Amp/hours or 3.5 hours of use (70% of rated capacity). Discharged at 10 Amps (120 Watts) you would only get 10.8 Amp/hours or about 1 hour of use (54% of rated capacity) before the battery was fully discharged or reached it's minimally acceptable level of 10.5 Volts. A slightly warm battery during heavy discharge or charging is ok, but a really hot glass matte battery indicates that damage is being done to the battery. The maximum safe temperature for the battery is 125 degree F (52 degrees C), though this temperature can cause a 3rd degree skin burn in 1 minute.

CABLING: The lower the Voltage, the thicker the wires have to be. A 12 Volt system powering a 55 Watt load, can easily drop 3/4 of a Volt over 12 feet when using 18 gauge wiring (lamp wiring). That's why our batteries typically use much thicker 11 or 12 gauge wire that is 6 feet long. Make sure that you don't extend the length with extension cords or use thin wire to attach to the device being driven by the battery, because this can cause the low Voltage circuit in your device (camera, VCR, inverter, etc.) to cut off before the battery has delivered all it's power & it can waste valuable battery power heating the cable. If a cable or connection is very warm or hot, that is an indication that the wire is too thin for the load, or there is a defective connection. >> Click here for more information on Voltage dropping problems if cheap components are used .

FUSING: Your battery belt has a fuse built in. Often the fuse is over rated for the same as the Amp/hour rating. For example, a 20 Amp/hour 12 Volt battery would use a 20 Amp fuse, even though you would never normally power a 240 Watt device with it. A lower rating fuse can be used if you are using a lower Wattage load than the ideal maximum, which is 96 Watts (8 Amps) for a 20 Amp/hour battery, or 69 Watts (5.6 Amps) for a 14.4 Amp/hour battery, but never install a fuse rated higher than 20 Amps. A spare fuse is provided in the inside mesh pocket, please replace it if the first fuse blows, so you always have a spare. Fuses are primarily intended for over heating protection should a dead short occur & to prevent discharge/charge rates higher than 100% of Amp/hour capacity.

SAFETY BELT: The large belt that the battery pouches are sewn to has a quick snap clip which normally shouldn't come apart without intentional pressure, but just in case it ever did, please use the safety belt provided in the side pouch, to clip on the rings of the pouches & run over your shoulder.

CHARGER: If you have purchased any of our approved automatic chargers with 4 pin male XLR connector, please follow any instructions & warnings on it. The switch on the Schumacher charger has been glued to the automatic position so that you can't overcharge your battery belts, so please do not remove the glue. Use these chargers only on lead acid battery types of the appropriate size. A female XLR 4 pin adapter with alligator clips has been provided with the Schumacher charger so that you can adapt this charger to other lead acid batteries that don't have a 4 pin XLR connector (like a car battery). The bottom of the Schumacher charger gets hot, so small feet have been provided for ventilation. The Soneil chargers can get hot too when left charging for a long time in a hot room (i.e. a large discharged battery). Please ensure the charger is not set on a surface that could be damaged by heat & that it gets adequate ventilation. Keep the charger away from video tapes & other magnetic media that could be erased by the magnetism of the transformer inside (this isn't as important with switch mode type chargers). Although batteries will typically fully charge in about 3 hours or less using an appropriately sized charger, they may safely be left on the charger for several days while it pulse charges the battery to keep it topped up. These chargers are quick & the green (charge complete) light may come on after only about an hour, but the battery is not quite fully charged just yet, it has gone into the pulse charge mode where it tops up the battery each time it drops below a threshold Voltage (safely charges the last 10-15%). For a fully charged battery, please leave the charger hooked to the battery for 2-3 hours after the green light comes on, or until the green lights stays on for several minutes at a time. If more than a month has gone by since you fully charged your battery, you may want to top it up with the charger before using the battery, so that you will get maximum time from your battery. After use of a lead acid battery, always charge it immediately afterwards to maximize battery life (i.e. do not leave lead acid batteries in a discharged condition).

CHARGER TEMPERATURES: Some chargers get hot if charging for a long time, or in a hot room, or with limited ventilation. Please make sure the charger is suitable for the application. For example, in applications where small children, impaired persons, or the elderly might come in contact with a hot charger, you need to use an appropriately rated cooler charger with a fan built in. Some of our chargers can be derated (turned down in Amperage) so they will run cooler, if heat is a problem for your application. Please see the following chart for temperature vs. time exposure to cause 3rd degree skin burns (severe) & understand that the time is less for 1st degree burns (less severe top layer skin burns).
Approximate temperature & time exposure required for a third degree burn of adult skin.

For more information call (519) 657-4505 or e-mail Doug Hembruff.