We started things off by learning the basic visual inspection of the battery.
On the battery we had to find the Make of the battery, Battery number, CCA (cold cranking amps) and what types the battery was e.g. Gel cell, conventional, maintenance free, etc.
Next we learnt whether the batteries we had were able to have thier eletrolytes checked easily...this was done by removing the screw caps on top of the battery but if thier were no screw caps the battery was probably maintenance free and had no easy access screw caps.
Afterwards we were taught the basics of a visual battery inspection...
Checking for and common faults e.g. Corrosion on the Terminals, Battery case swelling caused by over-charging, etc.
Now this is where the safety glasses came in to play...Checking the eletrolyte levels of the battery required us to take off those screw caps on top of the battery exposing the cells aswell as the Sulphuric acid inside.
The eletrolytes were observed...the acid inside seemed to be at the right level, and if not, needs to be topped to the right level with distilled water.
The next task was doing a Battery open circuit voltage (OCV) test.
Before really starting this test we needed to make sure the batterys "surface voltage" was dissipated if it was present...Surface voltage occurs when the battery is overcharged and the overcharge is the given reading of voltage on a multi meter, this is not the true voltage reading and must be dissipated to show the true reading.
The range of the multi meter must be set to (DCV) Direct current volts. The result of my battery was a reading of 12.8V, a well charged battery...the state of charge for my battery was recorded down as 100% charged.
Batteries must be over 50% charge or above before any other testing on todays lesson can be conducted.
thankfully my battery was AWESOME compared to some others in the room, Hehe.
The next thing to do after comfirming my battery was good enough to continue was Testing the eletrolyte specific gravity. once again the safety glasses made a return but that wasnt so bad, it would've ruined my morning to get acid in my eyes...anyways back to topic, A Hydrometer (a turkey baster-like thing witha measurement bulb inside) is used to conduct this test. The rubber bulb is squeezed to suck in the acid of one of the batteries cells to test, if among the green part of the measurment bulb, its a good cell..if red, then its not so good.
last but not the least of my lessons learning of battery testing is the Load tester.
This one gave me the S**ts as i thoguht i broke something, but later found out it was normal and because the terminals weren't connected firmly enough...anywho, the load tester was to see the batteries ablity to supply cranking voltage. (provided the battery was at least 50% charged)
The load i applied to the battery was 205Amps, the voltage it should hold is 12.4V and is going to be tested for 15seconds... after the test and the slight fright of a smoking, sparking piece of equipment, the readings i recorded are as follows...
The voltage held when load was applied was 10V = A pass for the battery
The current load held was 205Amps = A pass for the battery
in conclusion my battery was awesome and passed all the days tests, and i learned a few new things myself which i found enjoyable.
Excuse me if my work is a little shotty after this point, i wrote out more battery info and the 12Q&A's then the blogger didnt save my work and now i gotta wirte it all again and really cant be bothered, so here goes.
Heres the construction of the Car battery if your curious.
There was 2 paragraphs of writing but at the moment im a little "edged" to write it out.
Battery Q&A's
1. Powers lights and radio when car is off.
turns on starter motor.
powers car alarm
2. A charged battery has "charged" acid and when the battery becomes Dicharged the acid neutralizes until recharged.
3. Checking the batteries electrolites or Taking a hydrometer test.
4. Removing the engines coil wire and starting the engine for 10secs or turning your cars headlights on to a few minutes.
5. 100% State of Charge = 12.60 – 12.7 v
75% State of Charge = 12.45 – 12.5 v
50% State of Charge = 12.30 – 12.4 v
25% State of Charge = 12.15 – 12.2 v
6. Take the batteries CCA and take half of that to get the required load and turn that on the dial of the load meter, after the load meter has been connected to the battery quickly take the reading, you have 15secs before the load meter stars to beep, remove the cables when it does, taking negative off the battery first.
7. 100% State of Charge = 1.240 – 1.260
50% State of Charge = 1.180 – 1.210
8. Take a multimeter and set it to 30 to 50mA (miliAmps) connect the negative to the (-) on the battery and the positive to the negative cable on the car while leaving the the positive cable still connected to the battery. take the reading in the multimeter.
Picture sourced from "batteries" powerpoint.
9. The terminals of the battery should be cleaned with hot water mixed with baking soda whe the terminals of the battery are corroded or generally dirty.
10. When the battery is charging it can produce Hydrogen inside. if becareful that a naked flame or spark does not set it off as it can cause a fatal explosion.
11. Take your jumper leads and connect red on (+) and black on (-) on the Doner battery, now on the opposite end of the leads connect red on (+) and black on a piece of the engine or engine bay and start the car with the dead battery, Connecting this way will help prevent reseting or surging the cars computer if any present.
12. put a small power source that is specially designed to be connected through the cars cigarette lighter...this will give enough power to keep the cars eletronic memory working until the cars actual battery is changed or recharged.
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