How Does a Battery Work?
A battery provides power to a car’s engine, and absorbs voltage spikes. But, before explaining the battery’s workings, I’d like to take a moment to define three electrical terms you’ve heard many times, but may not know the full meaning of.
They are: volt, current, and watt.
For simplification, where I can, I will compare electricity flowing through a wire to the example of water running through a pipe.
- Volt: a force creating movement or flow, like water pressure forcing the flow of water through a pipe. The force of electricity flowing through a battery wire is measured by volts.
- Current: the amount or volume of electrical flow measured in amps, thus making an amp a unit of current. In simpler light, compare an electrical current to a particular measurement of water flowing from a faucet in a particular measured time, for example: a gallon of water per minute.
- Watt: one volt combined with one amp equals one watt. A watt is the measure of power available, as a result of the amount of electricity and at what speed it is traveling through a wire.
The Battery Process
At the point you turn your ignition key, a battery must provide a considerably high current for a short time, for example, lasting as much as 300 amps for only 15 seconds.
This process was designed to start a motor only once. The battery does not keep a car running, it’s the alternator that does that, generating the electricity required to keep the engine going and enabling other operating devices.
The starter ’s job is finished once the car starts, and is dormant until the car needs starting again. The battery, after providing the current needed to start the car, is also needed to absorb sudden drops or surges in voltage. These are called voltage spikes. A minus 200 volt spike can occur once the car is started, then at other times large positive and negative spikes can occur. This fluctuation of electricity must go somewhere, so the battery acts as a buffer and soaks it up, basically shielding the car’s electrical system from damage.
The Battery Life Saver electronic device
Unfortunately, batteries die over time. But you’d be surprised to know there’s a fix for this.
First, however, let’s look at the most clear causes of battery death: a defective alternator, loose alternator belts, leaving your lights on, overcharging, corrosion--and there are more.
But sometimes we can’t figure out why a battery has died. You check everything and everything is working fine, you didn’t leave the lights on, and the alternator is good. What could it be? Well, you never really find out, so you do like everyone else, you discard what you think is a dead battery and buy a new one, unfortunately paying a high price at the most inconvenient time, of course. Something you didn’t know: most dead batteries are perfectly good.
Your battery may seem dead because of a build up of lead sulfate; crystals that form on the battery’s lead plates. This is the result of the chemical reaction that produces the electricity. These crystals disrupt the flow of electricity in and out. Up until now there hasn’t been a way to remove sulfate crystal. Imagine the millions of good batteries that have been and are still being thrown away senselessly.
The solution: The Battery Life Saver electronic device