Batteries

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Batteries Battery Charging
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Welcome

• In this presentation we try to give you
• An overview of lead acid batteries and how they
  work.
• An overview of Hawkins battery chargers and how
  they work together with some charging curves.
• Some common battery charger problems.

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All Devices Using Lead Acid Batteries Need a
Battery Charger

• Regular supplementary charging with a battery
  charger extends battery life substantially.
• This results in an economic benefit to the end
  user for which he will pay.

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Our Battery Charger Range Covers

• Domestic Recreational Chargers
• Professional Chargers used commercially in all
  the Automotive and Agricultural sectors
• Fully Automatic Chargers used for standby and
  sealed batteries

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Battery Types

• We deal with rechargeable Lead-Acid batteries
  only.
• 2 Fundamental Types
• Engine Starting Quick bursts of high current
  for a few seconds.
• Deep Cycle Prolonged discharges of low current

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Battery Construction

• 2 Basic Types depending on plate construction
• Flooded Cell - Usually allows water addition
• Low Maintenance (Lead-Antimony)
• Maintenance Free (Lead-Calcium)
• Valve Regulated (VRLA) - Always Sealed
• Gel Cell
• Absorbed Glass Mat (AGM)

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Amp Hours - A Useful Battery Term

• Ah Amp Hours
• This indicates the battery capacity. If a battery
  is rated at 100 amp hours, it should deliver 5
  amps for 20 hours or 20 amps for 5 hours, etc.
  This is useful for deep cycle batteries.
• An old rule of thumb is to choose a battery
  charger capable of delivering in amps, one tenth
  of the battery capacity in amp hours. eg For a
  battery with 100 amp hours capacity, choose a
  charger capable of delivering 10 amps. Some
  modern batteries may use C/5 even C/3 high
  tech batteries ask for 3 x C.

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How Lead-Acid Batteries work
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Battery Life

• In general, only 30 of lead acid batteries sold
  attain a 4 year life.
• 80 of all battery failure is due to stale
  sulphation of the plates.

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Stale Sulphation the Silent Killer

• Stale Sulphation is caused by
• Storage without some energy input
• Deep discharging an engine start type battery
• Undercharging a battery
• Heat - increases internal discharge
• Low electrolyte level. The exposed portion of the
  plates will sulphate
• Incorrect charging levels cheap chargers cause
  problems
• Parasitic drain the load put on the battery in
  a standby mode see below

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Parasitic Drain

• Parasitic drain is a load put on a battery that
  has been switched off
• Most vehicles today have clocks, alarm systems,
  engine management computers etc all of which may
  be operating without the engine running or when
  it is idling. This is parasitic drain.
• The constantly low or flat battery caused by
  excessive parasitic drain will have a
  dramatically shortened battery life.

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Battery Charging

• If you dont put the energy used back into the
  battery soon after use, it will commence to
  sulphate which affects life and performance.
• The vehicles alternator is a battery charger. It
  works well if the battery is not deeply
  discharged.
• The alternator will usually maintain the
  batterys state of charge at somewhere around 80
  - see the following diagrams charts.
• Full state of charge is best achieved by using a
  separate battery charger when the vehicle is at
  rest.

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Battery State of Charge vs Regulator Settings
Typical Regulator Setting
/- 73 of capacity
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Driving PatternsAlternator Current Delivery ex
Bosch SA
Engine idling battery discharging
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Driving PatternsEngine Speed Idling as of
Driving Time
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What is a Battery Charger ?

• In simple terms, a battery charger is a device
  that applies a d.c. voltage across the battery
  terminals.
• If the applied voltage is higher than the battery
  voltage, energy flows into the battery.
• This continues until the two voltages are
  approximately equal. At this point the battery
  has been charged up to the capability of the
  charger.

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Battery Charger Construction

• Good quality battery chargers should have the
  following fundamental components
• Some type of transformer to reduce the supply
  voltage down to the nominal battery voltage
• Some type of rectifier to turn the a.c. into d.c.
• Some type of control over the output of energy to
  the battery
• Some type of device that will fail safe limit
  or prevent damage to the battery or the charger

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Battery Charger Types

• Battery Chargers are divided into three broad
  types
• Non-adjustable
• Adjustable
• Automatic.

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How to Select a Battery Charger - 1

• Establish the batterys capacity in Amp Hours Ah.
• Look at the output current data on the back of
  the range of chargers (use the lowest current
  rating.)
• Choose a charger capable of delivering a MINIMUM
  current in Amps equal to 10 of the battery
  Capacity. Eg for a 50Ah battery, choose a charger
  that can deliver at least 5 Amps

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How to Select a Battery Charger - 2

• Is the battery sealed or refillable?
• If it is sealed, you MUST use an automatic
  charger.
• If it is refillable, you can use an automatic, a
  manually adjustable charger or a non-adjustable
  charger.
• A non-adjustable (trickle) charger cannot be left
  on a battery permanently.

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How to Select a Battery Charger - 3

• A non-adjustable (trickle) charger will continue
  to trickle current into the battery as long as
  the battery voltage will allow this.
• Over time, this trickle is quite capable of
  taking the battery in to the gassing stage where
  it will lose water and may suffer permanent
  damage.
• All battery chargers except the automatics have
  to be monitored to prevent overcharging.

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How to Select a Battery Charger - 4

• If the battery is not used very often eg
  leisure application, boating, biking etc leave
  it connected to an automatic charger permanently.
• The automatic charger will keep the battery at
  optimum voltage for years if need be, ready to go
  at a moments notice.

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Hawkins Non-Adjustable Chargers

• These chargers include the Power 4, the Power 6,
  the Power 8 and the Power 10.
• These chargers all have similar charging
  profiles.
• They are taper chargers which rely on the rising
  voltage in the battery to reduce the current into
  the battery.
• They use fuses /or thermal cut-outs for
  protection.
• The charging operation must be monitored from
  time to time to check on the batterys state of
  charge.

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Power 4 Non-adjustable Taper Charger
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Power 4 charging 50Ah Raylite BatteryThis taper
charger must be monitored
Eelectrolyte gassing but voltage still rising
Current tapering off but still delivering over
1a after 45 hrs
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Power 10 Non-adjustable Taper Charger
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Power 10 charging 12V Exide 628 50 Ah
BatteryThis taper charger must be monitored
Voltage well into electrolyte gassing stage
stable at /- 15V
Current tapered down and still delivering /-
1,3A
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Hawkins Adjustable Chargers

• These chargers include the Pro 15, Pro 30, Pro
  615, the Pro 224, Pro 324 Pro 524.
• All these chargers have operator controlled
  switches for both voltage current. These allow
  the operator to charge multiple batteries if
  desired and vary the charging current to obtain
  the best charging profile.
• They use fuses /or thermal cut-outs /or circuit
  breakers for protection.
• They use toroidal transformers a very efficient
  design
• The last 3 are combination engine
  starters/battery chargers and are able to boost
  start a vehicle with a flat battery.

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Hawkins Pro 15 Operator Adjustable Taper Charger
Current Selector
Overload c/b
Voltage Selector
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Pro 15 Charging 50 Ah Exide BatteryThis charger
has manually operated switches to control the
output current
Posn 3 on current selector Voltage rising,
current tapering down
Current low.. Posn 4 selected Current increases
voltage rises
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Hawkins Regulated Chargers

• These chargers include the Classic 6, the Smart
  6, the Smart 15, the Auto Pro 5, Auto Pro 10,
  Auto Pro 20 Auto Pro 50.
• They subdivide into 2 types, voltage regulated
  and fully regulated.
• The Smart chargers are voltage regulated only
• The Auto Pro chargers are fully regulated and
  conform to a precise charging profile. They self
  adjust their performance with ambient temperature
  change.
• They all use fuses /or thermal cut-outs for
  protection

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Hawkins Smart 6 Voltage Regulated Automatic
Battery Charger
3 indicator lights Red Power on Yellow
Charging Green - Charged
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Smart 6 charging Exide 628 50 Ah BatteryThis
automatic charger is voltage regulated only
Voltage reaches top limit charger switches
off. Current falls
Voltage decays to bottom limit charger
switches on. Current voltage rise to top
limit and cycle repeats.
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Hawkins Smart 15 12-24V Fully automatic 3 -
Stage Charger
3 indicator lights Red Power on Yellow
Charging Green - Charged
12/24V Selector Switch
Min/Boost Selector
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Smart 15 12/24V fully automatic 3 Stage charger
charging 1 x 12v 105 Ah Battery
Bulk Charge
Absorption Charge 1/3 Bulk Charge
Float Charge
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Sealed, Maintenance Free Batteries

• There is an accelerating trend to sealed,
  maintenance free batteries particularly in
  hard-to-service applications.
• Such batteries demand an automatic charger.
• The more intelligent the charger, the better the
  result.
• Time constraints for charging dictate the rating
  of the charger and thus the turn round time of
  the battery.

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Common Battery Charger Problems

• A damaged or sulphated battery will result in
  little or no current flow. The customer then
  complains that the charger does not work. Check
  this by connecting the charger to a known good
  battery.
• An automatic charger needs a minimum voltage in
  the battery of about 10v before it will switch
  on. An extremely flat battery may not allow this
  to occur.
• Customers short out the clamps to see if the
  charger is working. This will result in blown
  cable fuses or rectifiers.
• Badly corroded clamps mean a poor connection
  between charger and battery. Poor maintenance of
  clamps can mean no current flow and/or heating
  at the point of contact i.e. the battery
  terminal.
•  

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Typical Battery Charger Applications

• Home Use Unsophisticated customer generally
  topping up batteries suggest Smart 6, Smart 15.
• Leisure/Recreation Biking, Boating, Fishing,
  Golfing, Caravanning. Wants battery always ready
  to go. Suggest Smart 15, Auto Pro 10,Auto Pro 20.

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Hawkins Manufacturing (Pty) Ltd

• Thank you for watching this Presentation.
• If you have any queries or comments please
  contact us
• via our website www.hawkins.co.za or email
  info_at_hawkins.co.za
• or telephone/fax [phone] (Tel)
• 031 579 4642 (Fax)