Let’s take a look at the anatomy of a car battery:

• Battery Case: The case is polypropylene resin, which holds the battery plates, cast-on straps and electrolyte. It’s designed to minimize vibration impact and extend battery life.
• Battery Plates: The element consists of stacked alternating positive and negative plates. The plates are connected at the top by a cast-on strap that is welded to the plates. The elements fit into the individual cells of each battery.
• Battery Paste: The paste is a lead oxide mixture that creates both lead dioxide and sponge lead. It adheres to the positive and negative battery grids.
• Battery Terminal/Bushing: The terminals are connected to the positive strap and the negative strap of the end cells, and are the interfacing point between the battery and the vehicle’s electrical system.
• Battery Acid: The acid is a high-purity solution of sulfuric acid and water.
• Cast-on Strap for Batteries: The cast-on straps are welded to the top of each element to provide an electrical connection to the terminals.
• Battery Negative Plate: The negative plate contains a metal grid with spongy lead active material.
• Battery Separator: The separator is a polyethylene material that separates the positive plates from the negative plates to provide an efficient flow of electrical current.
• Positive Battery Plate: The positive plate contains a metal grid with lead dioxide active material.
• Lid on Battery: The lid is made of polypropylene resin and sealed to the battery case.

But how exactly does a car battery work?

The car battery provides the jolt of electricity necessary to power all the electrical components in your vehicle. Talk about a pretty huge responsibility. Without battery power, your car, as you’ve probably noticed, won’t start.

Most car batteries rely on a lead-acid chemical reaction to get things moving and grooving. These batteries fall into the “SLI” category. SLI stands for “starting, lighting, and ignition.” This type of battery provides short bursts of energy in order to power your lights, accessories, and engine. Once the battery jolts the engine to life, power for the car is supplied by the alternator. Most vehicles come with a generic SLI battery from the factory.

A typical SLI battery has six cells. Each cell has two plates, or grids: one is made of lead, the other of lead dioxide. Each cell is able to produce about 2-volts of energy. In most car batteries you have six cells, and therefore a 12-volt battery.

The plates are submerged in sulphuric acid that triggers a reaction between the two plates. In scientific terms, the acid acts as a catalyst.

This acid will trigger a reaction on the lead dioxide plate, causing the plate to produce two things: ions and lead sulphate.

The ions produced by the lead dioxide plate react to the adjacent plate to produce hydrogen and lead sulphate.

The result is a chemical reaction that produces electrons. The electrons race around the plates and generate electricity. The electricity flows out of the battery terminals to start your engine, turn on your headlights, and play the radio.

This chemical reaction is entirely reversible, which is why you can jumpstart your battery and continue to charge it throughout the duration of its life. By applying current to the battery at just the right voltage, lead and lead dioxide will form on the plates and you can reuse your battery, over and over again!

Ready to find the best battery replacement for your needs? Check out RECOR line of vehicle batteries and the different features each option offers. It doesn’t matter if your priority is power, dependability, or value – we’ve got a battery for you.

More specifically, we continue this year the already fruitful cooperation with ART group and, as an official Bronze Sponsor for the new racing season 2016-2017, we cover the material needs of the group by providing them the car batteries!

Since the team, in recent years, counts lots of successful participation in international student competitions Formula, and have been awarded several prizes, by this sponsorship we support the development of the students’ analytical scientific and innovative thinking, as well as the practical implementation of their theoretical knowledge.

The effects of cold weather on car batteries

In extremely cold conditions the chemical reaction in a battery slows down. This provides less energy which makes starting the engine more difficult. The cold can reduce a battery’s capacity by up to a third. It also reduces the battery’s ability to accept charge, so it won’t recharge as quickly when you are driving.

On top of this, during the winter we are more likely to use a whole host of our cars electrical items, putting more loads on the battery. With shorter periods of daylight we use our headlights more frequently, along with heaters to defrost the car as well as keeping us warm. All this puts strain on a battery that already has a reduced capacity. When a battery is unstable, vehicles with stop start technology can suffer too. The stop start function may cease operating which will have a negative impact on the vehicles fuel consumption and will increase your fuel costs.

Battery problems can be avoided

Storage and winter care

The first step towards helping your battery to perform in cold weather is to keep it warm. Park it in your garage if possible, a heated garage is even better. This will prevent the battery experiencing the extreme cold so it will behave as normal.

If you are planning to store your car for a longer period of time over the winter or you mostly do short journeys, use a battery conditioner/intelligent charger. This can be left connected to the battery indefinitely and can prolong its life without overcharging it. It will charge the battery periodically, something that usually happens when driving.

Maintenance

Before the cold weather sets in, it is a good idea to have the battery and electrical system checked. It is also wise to check battery cables, posts and security, looking out for anything loose or corroded. Check the cables are firmly secured. If the battery has shown any signs of struggling before, or is over five years old, replacing it at your convenience could save you the trouble of battery failure in the depths of winter.

You can also use a battery charger/optimiser to maintain charge levels. This keeps the battery in good condition. A fully charged battery has less chance of freezing than a discharged battery, so keeping up the charge will help to protect against the cold refer to the vehicle hand book to make sure you connect the charger in the correct way.

When you finish your journey and park up, be sure to switch off any electrical equipment in the car before you switch off the engine – even an interior light, boot light, or radio left on overnight can kill a battery when it’s cold.

If you don’t, the battery will try to power these too as you start the car, adding an extra drain that could make starting the vehicle more difficult. It’s best to disconnect sat navs, ipods, phone chargers and DVD players too, as they could drain the battery if left plugged in. Take extra care not to leave any electrical items on when you leave the car.

Tips and tricks for starting your car

If you do experience battery problems due to the cold, you may struggle to start your car. Here are some tips to get you going and to give the battery a chance.

Switch off all electrical items when starting the car, dip the clutch to reduce the load on the battery when attempting to start the car and wait between attempts to start the car. This gives the battery time to recover, and it may have warmed a little.

Refer to the owner’s manual for any instructions on cold starting.

If none of the above works, you could try to jump-start the battery. This should be done with care, check your owner’s manual and read our jump starting instructions for further advice.

If your battery will not start, you may need it replacing. Likewise, if the battery is more than five years old and there’s any sign of it struggling to start the car, get it replaced. Some will struggle on for a bit but many won’t. It’s much better done at your convenience than as a roadside emergency.

Recor Batteries offers you quality car batteries fitted by trusted technicians, so do not hesitate to contact us as soon as you need your car battery replaced!

Source: http://www.racshop.co.uk/, www.theaa.com