Battery definitions of Capacity, cell Charge Acceptance Circuit

Capacity: The capacity of a Sealed Maintenance Free Battery is specified as the number of amp-hrs that the Maintenance Free Lead Acid Battery will deliver at a specific discharge rate and temperature. The capacity of a Maintenance Free Battery is not a constant value and is seen to decrease with increasing discharge rate. The capacity of a battery is affected by a number of factors such as active material weight, density of the active material, adhesion of the active material to the grid, number, design and dimensions of plates, plate spacing, design of separators, specific gravity and quantity of available electrolyte, grid alloys, final limiting voltage, discharge rate, temperature, internal and external resistance, age and life history of the battery.

Cell: The basic electrochemical current-producing unit in a battery, consisting of a set of positive plates, negative plates, electrolyte, separators and casing. In a Lead acid battery, the cell has an open-circuit voltage of approximately 2 volts. There are six cells in a 12-volt lead-acid battery.

Charge Acceptance: The quantity of current in ampere-hours which a battery in a defined charge state can accept at a specified temperature and charge voltage within a defined period.

Circuit: An electrical circuit is the path followed by a flow of electrons. A closed circuit is a complete path. An open circuit has a broken, or disconnected, path.

Circuit (Parallel): A circuit that provides more than one path for the flow of current. A parallel arrangement of batteries (usually of like voltages and capacities) has all positive terminals connected to a conductor and all negative terminals connected to another conductor. If two 12-volt batteries of 50 ampere-hour capacity each are connected in parallel, the circuit voltage is 12 volts, and the ampere-hour capacity of the combination is 100 ampere-hours.

Circuit (Series): A circuit that has only one path for the flow of current. Batteries arranged in series are connected with negative of the first to positive of the second, negative of the second to positive of the third, etc. If two 12-volt batteries of 50 ampere-hours capacity each are connected in series, the circuit voltage is equal to the sum of the two battery voltages, or 24 volts, and the ampere-hour capacity of the combination is 50 ampere-hours.