January 2004
Batteries and battery chargers help keep ground
support equipment running but to do this they must be maintained. With the help
of Ed Price, Manager of Training and Technical Support of Motor Power Operations
at EnerSys Inc., Reading, PA, GSM has assembled a list of tips to keep yourself
safe and your batteries and chargers in top condition.
1. Before charging the battery check for loose connections, damaged cables,
corrosion, cracked cases, and loose terminal posts. "Quarterly or biannually
would be a good time to go through and look at the entire fleet," says
Price.
2. If you see any corrosion on the cables or terminals, remove and clean immediately
before further damage occurs. If corrosion has developed on the posts, remove
the cable clamps and then clean them with a wire brush. Rust and dirt can be
cleaned with a cloth that has been moistened with ammonia.
3. If the battery is not a sealed, maintenance-free battery, check the electrolyte
(battery acid) level in all cells. If the water is low, refill with distilled
or de-ionized water. Be careful not to overfill any cell. This can cause the
excess electrolyte to be forced from the cell by normal gassing. "A typical
user who charges about once a day has to water the battery once a week. Over
watering and under watering can lead to a shortened life," Price says.
4. Make sure the battery is not loose because this can increase the damaging
effects of vibration, which can do more than just crack the cells; it can also
force active materials on the battery plates to shake loose and drop to the
bottom of the battery acid, which could eventually short out the battery.
5. Remove the battery from the truck before it is charged. "If it has to
stay in the truck than try opening the battery compartment as much as possible,
if that means lifting a seat, opening side panels, or blowing a fan onto it,"
Price advises.
6. The more cycles the battery is subjected to and the greater the depth of
the discharge in each cycle, the more the battery plates are stressed and the
faster they wear out. "[The life of a battery] varies from manufacturer
to manufacturer, but the typical life is about three to five years," Price
says.
7. Do not let the battery be repeatedly discharged from full charge to fully
discharged. This will also cut down the number of cycles a battery will last.
8. It is best to charge a battery as soon as possible after it has been used.
9. Try to leave the battery on the charger for as long and as often as possible.
10. Do not let a battery go below a 20 percent state of charge or an 80 percent
depth of discharge. "If you discharge your battery too deeply and you don't
bring it back to a full charge, you don't get the full gassing or the full mixing
so you still have a high concentration of acids at the bottom of the cell,"
Price says.
11. Keep the battery from getting too cold. "It affects the charge acceptance
so it is harder to recharge a battery in the cold, but there are things we can
do to the charger to compensate for that," Price says.
a. Increase state of charge by allowing it to charge past the normal point.
b. Let the battery warm up before charging. An ideal cycle would be eight hours use, eight hours warm, and eight hours charge.
12. Always use Personal Protective Equipment when
dealing with batteries and battery maintenance.
13. Never smoke by the battery and charger.
Battery Chargers are also in need of proper instructions to help them work correctly.
Price calls them "very reliable and self-sufficient" but recommends
a few things to keep them in top shape ).
Battery Chargers
1. When connecting a battery to a charger make sure that you are not connecting
it to the truck. "Some people will plug a truck into the charger
and the truck electronics will have a voltage in them and it will fool
the charger into coming on. If that happens you can burn up your charger
and burn up the truck's components. It is very easy to do because the
connectors look the same," Price says.
2. Never yank the charger cord, unplug it by the connector.
3. Make sure the charger is off when you unplug it. This could lead to
a lot of problems, including electrical arching at the contact tips, backward
voltage that could fry the electronics, or burning up the contacts to
name a few.
4. Blow pressurized air in the cabinet to help remove dust as this could
lead to a heat build-up if it accumulates. This only needs to be done
annually.