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The most common causes of battery performance failure relate to the process of charging. Overcharging, undercharging, mismatching, charger failure, improper sizing, and misapplication all contribute to charger-related failures. With newer mobility devices that take smaller batteries and chargers, it is helpful to periodically review these common causes of battery failure.

In this post, we will address the issues of Sulfation and Undercharging:

Sulfation:

A fully charged lead acid battery consists of lead dioxide on the positive plate, lead on the negative plate and diluted sulfuric acid. While the battery is discharging, sulfate from the electrolyte builds up on both the positive and negative plates as lead sulfate. Charging the battery will reverse this process and return the sulfate to the electrolyte.

Sulfation occurs when a battery is continually undercharged or is left in a discharged state for too long. The lead sulfate on the plates begin to crystallize and crust over. Once this occurs, the crystallized sulfate cannot reverse the process and return to the electrolyte. The capacity on that portion of the plate is then lost.

Undercharging:

Why does sulfation occur during charging?  If the batteries are chronically undercharged, then lead sulfate is being left on the plates. Undercharging occurs when inadequate time is allowed to recharge the batteries, the charger output is too low for the batteries they are charging, or the batteries are so low at the start of charging that the recharge time is extended.

How do you diagnose batteries that have been undercharged?  Similar voltages between batteries and weak performance are good indicators. A couple of discharge cycles can confirm this.

The solution?  Work with the customer to assure they are charging long enough, use a higher output charger, and check for other potential power drains which may be inhibiting full charging such as bad connections and wires.