1.1 Choose a suitable charging environment
Before charging your lead-acid battery, you need to choose a suitable charging environment for your lead-acid battery. First of all, you should place your lead-acid battery in a dry, ventilated and stable place (between 0℃-40℃), because a humid environment will lead to lead-acid battery leakage, a ventilated environment can ensure that the heat generated inside the lead-acid battery can be emitted in time, and the extreme environment will destroy the chemical balance inside the battery, leading to a decrease in its performance and service lifespan.
For the battery charging area, you should make sure that your lead-acid battery is far away from metal products (e.g. iron products, etc.), open flames (e.g. smoking next to the lead-acid battery), and spark-prone equipment (e.g. electronic equipment, etc.) when charging, and in order to minimize the probability of an accident occurring, you can install a suitable Battery Management System (BMS) for your lead-acid battery, which is something you need to know.
1.2 Choose the right battery charger
A suitable battery charger is essential for safely and efficiently charging a 12V lead-acid battery. The charging current provided by the charger should typically be between 10% and 30% of the battery's capacity. For example, a 12V 20Ah lead-acid battery should be charged with a current between 2A and 6A. Using a charging current that is too high can lead to thermal runaway, potentially damaging the battery. Conversely, a charging current that is too low significantly increases the charging time and may also negatively affect battery performance.
Secondly, you should choose a qualified battery charger, which will greatly improve the safety of lead-acid batteries when charging, you can choose a safety certified battery charger, such as UL, CE, etc., which will appear on the packaging of the battery charger. UL and CE are safety and compliance certifications for products. UL, used mainly in North America, is issued by Underwriters Laboratories. CE, required in Europe, shows that a product meets EU safety and environmental rules. Be sure to verify these certifications carefully before making a purchase.
1.3 Check the condition of your lead-acid battery
It is very important to check the condition of your lead-acid battery, because the probability of abnormalities (e.g. short-circuit, etc.) occurring when charging a lead-acid battery in good condition is extremely low. Every time before charging your lead-acid battery, you need to check whether the case of your lead-acid battery is swollen, leaking or cracked, etc. In addition, you need to make sure that the terminals of the lead-acid battery are clean and free of pollution, because the resistance of polluted terminals will be increased, which will prolong the charging time of lead-acid batteries, which is something you need to know.
1.4 Connect the battery charger correctly
Before connecting the battery charger, first disconnect the power supply. Then, attach the red positive cable of the charger to the positive terminal of the lead-acid battery and the black negative cable to the negative terminal. Ensure the cables are connected correctly, as reversing them can cause a short circuit and potentially lead to a fire. Once the charger is properly connected to the battery, you can reconnect the power supply.
1.5 End of Charging
After charging is completed, you should promptly disconnect the power supply from the battery charger, and then disconnect the battery charger from the lead-acid battery. If they are connected to power supply for a long period of time, it will lead to overcharging of the lead-acid battery, which will disrupt the balance of the chemical reaction inside the lead-acid battery, resulting in a decline in the performance and service lifespan of the battery, and at the same time, the overcharging will lead to the accumulation of excessive heat inside the lead-acid battery. Additionally, overcharging generates excessive heat, which can pose a fire hazard and risk to life and property.
Also Read: The Future Of Rechargeable Battery Technology
2. What should I be mindful of when charging lead-acid batteries?
2.1 Adopt float charging mode when the lead-acid battery is close to charging completion
Float charging mode provides a constant low current to the battery, ensuring it remains fully charged. This mode prevents overcharging, helping to extend the service life of lead-acid batteries. It is especially useful for batteries used in standby or backup systems, where maintaining readiness is essential. Additionally, float charging minimizes the risk of heat buildup, further enhancing battery safety and performance.
2.2 If the lead-acid battery shows abnormalities, disconnect it from the power supply immediately.
If lead-acid batteries in the charging process occurs too high temperature, excessive current, excessive voltage and other abnormalities, you need to immediately disconnect the power supply, rather than deal with the lead-acid batteries first, because disconnecting the power supply can stop the current input to the internal battery, which will reduce the probability of more serious accidents.
2.3 Adding distilled water to the lead-acid battery as needed
Lead-acid batteries in the process of use, the internal electrolyte will be due to high temperature and lead to the continuous reduction of water, so you need to check the level of the electrolyte inside the battery before charging your lead-acid batteries, if the level is too low, you need to add distilled water in time, of course, can not be supplemented with too much distilled water because too much distilled water will be overly dilute the electrolyte, which will reduce the performance of the battery, this is obviously not desirable! You can add distilled water correctly according to the instruction manual of lead-acid battery.
Summary
Lead-acid batteries are a kind of traditional batteries, which are widely used in our life. An in-depth understanding of the charging process of lead-acid batteries will help you charge your lead-acid batteries correctly, and of course, you need to know the precautions during the charging process of lead-acid batteries. However, if you want to have a battery with more excellent performance and safer and simpler charging, lithium iron phosphate battery will be a good choice.
