Battery Trays

A car battery is a type of electric battery that supplies electric energy to the starter motor and the ignition system of a vehicle’s engine. The term is also used for the main power source of an electric vehicle. more...

They are usually lead-acid batteries that provide a 12-volt potential difference. As other batteries of its type, it is made up of plates of lead and lead oxide. These plates are submerged into a 35% sulfuric acid and 65% water solution called electrolyte. This process causes a chemical reaction that releases electrons, allowing them to flow through conductors thus producing electricity. As a lead acid battery discharges, the lead plate gets thinner. When the battery is recharged, the lead is redeposited on the plates allowing the process to be repeated.

Car batteries have different uses and various other elements are used to change density, hardness, or porosity. One can however divide them into two subcategories:

• The starting (or cranking) type is designed to deliver quick bursts of energy, usually to start an engine. They usually have a greater plate count in order to have a larger surface area that provides high amperage for short period of time. Once the engine is started, they are being continuously recharged.

• The deep cycle type is designed to continuously provide power for long periods of time (for example in a golf cart). They can also be used to store energy from a photovoltaic array or a small wind turbine. They usually have thicker plates in order to have a greater capacity and survive a higher number of charge/discharge cycles.

In the vast majority of automobiles, the grounding is provided by connecting the body of the car to the negative electrode of the battery. Thus, to avoid electric shock when changing a battery, one should always disconnect the negative cable first and reconnect it last.

Freshness

Because of "sulfatation" (see Lead-acid_battery), one should never buy a battery that is more than six-month old. In the United States, the manufacturing date is printed on a sticker. The date can be written in plain text or using an alphanumerical code. The first character is a letter that specifies the month (A for January, B for February) with I being skipped. The second character is a single digit that indicates the year of manufacturing (for example, 5 for 2005).

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