Battery Abbreviations can be Confusing?

This post was also published on the http://www.batteriesontheweb.co.uk/blog/

I must confess that although I have been in the new car battery business for at least 35 years

 There are still many things that I do not know or understand about the different batteries that are on the market, in today’s ever changing world.

I would also like to admit that at the same time I also know a lot about batteries, (confused). It only hit home to me when I promoted one of my female staff to be my depot manager. Debby is a very bright and competent member of my staff and has worked for me for many years in a part time capacity. Her children have now grown up now, so she asked if she could come back to work on a full time basis.

After weighing up one or two options, I offered Debby the job of depot manageress. All my previous

Typical AGM battery used for Start-Stop cars

managers have been male, so I thought it a good time to see what a woman could do. Debby now runs the garage and tyre part of my business, which is run separately from the battery business, which is run by myself and my wife Michelle. On a weekly basis the two sides of the business clash mainly because we offer cheap car batteries online, an these offers are taken up from the good people of Yorkshire, in other words we have customers calling in to buy our battery products, throughout the week.

This brings me to the point of the amount of knowledge that is needed when selling batteries and handling customer inquiries and problems. Both in house or on the telephone. We have also started to employ a couple of apprentices and they have the same problem. Like anything else it all takes time and if you are interested enough then the knowledge will slowly sink in.

New battery meanings, such as AGM and Gel come to mind.

I can actually remember when we diversified from just selling cheap car batteries online and started to diversify to other products such as the Lucas LX31MF battery and other cheap leisure batteries, we had a whole new phrase book to learn. What I am getting at is the fact that if we are finding out about different products and things are getting little more complicated?so how about the public, when they have to choose  a battery?

Terms that spring to mind are, AGM or VRLA? What does this stand for? Many different batteries, for many types of installation will have these letters showing somewhere on the battery and it will be important that you buy the correct one. Another common type of battery is one known as GEL, but these are becoming less common in favour of the AGM battery.

AGM battery will probably be seen as one of the commonest types of battery and comes in all sorts of shapes and sizes and power ratings. These batteries are made to supply electrical power to many different applications such as golf trolleys, solar energy storage, bait feeders for anglers, batteries that power stair lifts for the disabled, back-up power systems (also known as UPS batteries, just to confuse things even further), the list goes on and on.

The AGM battery can also be known as the VRLA battery, this stands for “valve regulated lead acid battery” and the two types are virtually the same battery. The AGM battery is sealed unit and will not spill out any acid, even if the battery is fitted on its side, the acid will not leak. This is because the acid is not free flowing, but is filled with a type of glass matting, hence the term AGM “absorbed glass matting”. By adding this glass fibre, then the batteries increased surface area gives them more power when compared with a standard 12 volt battery that we use on many of our cars.

These batteries are sealed and maintenance free and does not require any topping up, and will not give off any gasses. The battery also, has deeper cycles that the standard car battery and holds the charge for longer, making it suitable for multiple applications. These batteries are also fitted with an internal safety valve, which will operate in extremely hot temperature; this is the valve regulated part of the battery VRLA.

AGM batteries are generally more expensive than regular car batteries, but because they last longer, are more cost effective. Many car manufacturers are now using AGM batteries to power the new Start-Stop battery technology that is used to reduce emissions in today’s modern cars. They are also used in ships and boats, because they are sealed, they will not spill and mix with sea water. The mixture  of battery acid and sea water gives off a very poisonous gas, which is very dangerous to humans.

AGM sealed ODYSSEY battery

Solar energy storage is the next big thing for the AGM battery. As we build up a system of solar panels and wind turbines, then there is more need to store the energy from the sun and then release the electricity at night when the sun goes down. A bank of AGM batteries is perfectly suited for this job. This includes large banks of batteries in our towns and cities, to help reduce surges in power especially on sunny days.

GEL batteries are very similar to the AGM ones that I have explained about. The GEL battery has had gel added to the electrolyte instead of glass matting and so has different charging cycle. This is the main complication for people; we very often have golfers calling into us asking for a Gel battery when it is an AGM that they really want. The GEL was thought to be much stronger than the AGM batteries, but over time the AGM was proved to be a more resilient battery.

The two types of batteries also require different chargers, if you have a GEL battery fitted to your appliance, then you will have a different charging system and you must stick to the GEL battery, they will not intermix.

To finalise I feel that the AGM battery has still got a future, but the Lithium-Ion battery may be the one to finally replace it, only time will tell, the AGM battery has been around a long time now, and has been proved and tested and can be almost completely recycled. The Lithium-Ion battery has still yet to prove itself and the recycling position is still not known, so only time will tell.

 Disclaimer

Please note these are the words and opinion of the author (Eric Roberts) only. Neither the author nor the website can be held responsible for any errors or omissions. You should seek professional assistance if in doubt about your choice of battery. The article may contain a link to Batteriesontheweb where you can buy battery products online.

Batteries for Ariel Lifts and Industrial Pick and Carry Cranes (Cherry Pickers)

Batteries for Ariel Lifts and  (Cherry Pickers)

I decided to do an article about this type of industrial equipment, because (A) I know nothing about them apart from you see them working on building sites, lifting men and equipment up and down. (B) I am a Trojan battery dealer for Yorkshire UK and therefore should know about these machines.

Another reason that I am interested in, is the growing change over to Lithium-Ion battery technology and the

Cherry Picker in action

affect that it will have on the years old lead acid battery industry, including the field of lifting equipment. I discovered that this was going to be a good time to do this because some manufacturers of this equipment were in fact starting to use Lithium-ion battery systems onto their new equipment. At the same time as Trojan and US Batteries were also improving their own deep cycle battery products.

Ariel lifts and pick and carry cranes also operate on semi-traction and full-traction batteries, which are of course the same lead acid batteries that we have been using for almost 100 years. This I one of the reasons that I wanted to delve into the technology aspect of this industry, because there has been huge advances in battery development in other industries, mainly as I have stated the Lithium-Ion (li-On) battery technology that has come on in leaps and bounds over the past five years.

The introduction on the Li-On battery will have a major impact on the 150,000 scissor lifts across Europe, never mind the companies such as Trojan batteries, who will probably have to make radical changes, although I cannot believe that manufacturing the new technologies will not be on their minds. The market is also seen a rise in the use of improved GEL battery products as well as LI-On batteries.

The change in battery types is not expected to change radically over the next fifteen years, mainly because things have improved with the introduction of new motor controls and electric circuitry that help to prolong the batteries life span. A big leap forward the machine development over the past two years has been the introduction of the direct electric AC drive motors. These are now used by most of the manufacturing companies such as Snorkel, Skyjack and Upright, using this technology that helps extend the life of the batteries.

Lithium-Ion batteries not yet cost effective

As I have previously stated the machine manufacturers are reluctant to try out new batteries such as Li-On batteries because of the extra cost that would be involved in an upgrade. However a machine manufacturer has started to use Li-on batteries, these are Hinowa – Goldlift tracked machine.

Hinowa were started in 1987 and started to build machines for the building industry. The company set out making tracked vehicles for different industries including construction and agriculture. Hinowa sell primarily to the European market, with 80% of their sales being in this market. The company has its base in the province of Verona in Italy and it was from here that they designed and made a tracked lift that was battery operated.

Trojan battery

The problem that was associated with tracked vehicles was that the tracks created a drag and the machines were only a narrow size and so it was difficult to build a suitable battery pack that would work. However enter the Li-On battery? These type of batteries suit this type of machine very, without me going into technical jargon you should read the follow description from the Hinowa web site… http://www.hinowa.com/scheda.asp?idprod=527&idpadrerif=18&selflang=en

I think that it will be closer than some experts think before Li-On batteries are used in more applications, including these “Cherry picker” machines.

One company that is still relying on the older technology Trojan batteries have indeed brought out a new GEL battery. This new GEL battery is heavy duty deep cell battery giving 210 amps per hour. The new battery contains a new GEL electrolyte sulphuric acid, silica and uses pure de-mineralised water, de-ionised water and phosphoric acid which Trojan say gives the battery a more consistent performance and also gives the battery a longer life.

For more information about this battery please see…http://www.trojanbattery.com/products/deep-cycle-gel/ 

Eric Roberts

Hi I would like to introduce myself. I have worked in the Garage and tyre and I am MD for online battery company www.batteriesontheweb.co.uk. I have worked for a couple for national tyre companies in my younger days, before starting my first business. I now own a garage and MOT testing centre, here in the UK called Pellon Tyre and Auto-centre, and I am a keen blogger about anything to do with cars and their related products that will help my business. We are members of Point-S and Motor-Codes and are also a Unipart Car Care Centre and of course Tyre-safe.

  

 

To the Public-All Car batteries Look the Same

All Car batteries may Look the Same but there not

It never stops surprising me, the number of our customers who think that they can fit any battery to their car. A typical question is will an 063 car battery fit my Ford Mondeo1, 9 turbo diesel. This is because the 063 cost in the region of £35 to £45 depending on the make of the battery. I suppose that most car batteries do look pretty similar and indeed some are.

Most of the black coloured boxes are in fact recycled and whatever the battery make they do in fact all look the same apart from the fact that they do come in different lengths. In fact most batteries that fit European cars are the same height and width, but they increase in capacity with their length. From a 063 battery being the smallest to the 019 battery being almost the largest. There are larger batteries, but the 019 is probably the commonest of the larger sized batteries and fits many Mercedes and BMW models.

The other colour of box is the white or opaque and is used to make the top quality batteries such as Varta batteries made by Johnson controls, but not to confuse matters; Johnson controls also make other quality battery brand names such as Lucas batteries. Lucas batteries are of excellent qualities and can be bought online at www.batteriesontheweb.co.uk at discount prices with a next working day delivery.

 One of the key things to look out for when buying your new battery is the number of amps that the battery states on the label. For instance an 063 battery can have anything between 35amps and 50 amps, the 50amps battery will be the strongest battery, so this is well worth looking out for. Most standard car batteries are known as wet cell lead acid batteries and are designed for starting and supplying the electricity to your car. One thing to watch out for is the advent of the AGM batteries that are now being fitted to some models of cars.

The AGM (absorbed glass matting) have an electrolyte-laden mat made of boron-silicate glass between the plates and therefore can be totally sealed as the battery acid does not evaporate, these batteries can also be used as deep cycle batteries, and are used for mobility scooters and golf carts. In the case of cars the batteries are used in the stop/start systems used by Volvo, BMW and other makes of cars. This is where the motorist has to be careful it is important to fit the correct battery and if you are not sure which type of battery that you have on your car, you must check with your local battery store or better still contact your car makers garage, but don’t buy one off them because you will be paying twice the price as you would online.

Most car batteries that are sold online

 will come with a three or four year warranty and to be truthful many of the companies will stick to warranty agreement, like buying any other products you take a certain amount of risk when buying anything online. Check the trustworthiness of the company, a good way is to email them with a question or better still telephone them with a question, you will soon know if they sound genuine or not. If they do not have a contact phone number on the web-site then do not buy a battery off them, there plenty of come and go companies, you are looking for trust and understanding, when you buy a new battery, so that if something should go wrong then it will be sorted out for you.

And finally most car batteries these days will be advertised as maintenance free and come with carrying handles, these handles sure help when it comes to lifting your new battery into the engine compartment.

Eric Roberts

Hi I would like to introduce myself. I have worked in the Garage and tyre and Battery business now for 40 years. I have worked for a couple for national tyre companies in my younger days, before starting my first business. I now own a company here in the UK called Pellon Tyre and Auto-centre, and I am a keen blogger about anything to do with cars and their related products that will help my business. We are members of Point-S and Motor-Codes and are also a Unipart Car Care Centre and of course Tyre-safe.

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