Written By Marina Dawson

Battery chargers have come a long way in recent years. With lead batteries being a little finicky in how they like to be recharged, intelligent battery chargers have been developed that use three, or sometimes even four, stages to properly perform the recharge. With proper recharging comes an extended battery life, so it is certainly important to invest in the charger for your battery. The average user does not have the ability to manually adjust the voltage being used to recharge the battery. For most, investing in a battery charger that will perform all the steps for you is the easiest solution.

To recharge a battery, electricity is sent via the charger through the water portion of the battery’s electrolyte solution. The electricity separates the water into hydrogen and oxygen gasses which then remix the electrolyte solution. This also helps to break down the sulphation that builds up during the use of the battery. Sulphation is actually lead sulphate, and as the battery is recharged it is broken down into lead and sulfuric acid, the makeup of the electrolyte mixture in a battery cell. It is this constant back and forth process that constitutes the discharge/recharge cycles. It also explains why it is so important for users to recharge their batteries as quickly as possible – the longer the lead sulphate is allowed to harden, the harder it will be to convert it back into its liquid state.

When you first hook your battery up to the charger, it will undergo the bulk charging stage. This is where the majority of the battery’s capacity is recharged. Bulk charging requires a constant high rate of charge, usually upwards of 13.6 to 14.4 volts. Leaving your battery at this rate of charge for too long can cause it to emit gasses and suffer water loss. This is why an intelligent charger is helpful – it will assess when the battery has been charged to about 80% and will then slowly reduce the voltage until the battery is charged to about 98%. This reduction in voltage, called absorption, is considered the second stage of a three or four stage battery charger.

Once the battery has been almost fully recharged the third step, a float charge, takes place. In this step a low voltage, usually about 13.2 volts, is conducted through the battery. This keeps the battery charged, but it also doesn’t cause water loss and corrosion from being charged at too high a voltage. Additionally, this type of charge prevents battery stratification which occurs in the electrolyte mixture when the water and acid separate. Stratification is the main reason why stored batteries do not hold their charge. There is a fourth step available on some battery charges, called an equalization stage. Chargers with this function will perform a cleaning cycle. This drastically reduces sulphation and will extend the life of your battery.

Investing in a battery charger that can competently complete a full charging cycle will undoubtedly extend the life of your battery. These chargers are an excellent investment for anyone who will be regularly recharging batteries.

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