Whether you&#;re a vehicle owner or a shop owner, a car battery is something you&#;re familiar with. Most people know that it has a positive and a negative post and it&#;s 12-volt, but the composition is often misunderstood. For sealed lead acid batteries, or SLA batteries, that&#;s especially true. They&#;re confused for their cousin, the flooded lead acid battery and erroneously dissociated with absorbent glass mat (AGM) batteries.
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Drivers, mechanics, and shop owners alike can benefit from understanding 12-volt SLA battery technology. Not only will it help with today&#;s vehicle servicing, but many EVs also use this type of lead-acid battery. These are the features and benefits you can see with SLA vs flooded lead acid batteries.
Sealed lead acid batteries are very similar to other lead acid varieties but with some small yet important differences. Their construction includes:
The term &#;sealed&#; is an important one for this type of battery. Rather than vent the gases from inside the battery during use, SLA batteries use a recombination process that hitches the oxygen and hydrogen molecules back together, returning them to a liquid state. The top of the battery case is sealed to prevent the electrolyte from spilling or venting out. However, there is a vent that releases pressure should it be too great.
Like any product, different types of batteries have characteristics that are unique to that type. The more advanced usually has advantages in performance, and you&#;ll find that to be the case for SLA batteries over flooded varieties.
An SLA battery is touted as maintenance free since the risk of spills is essentially nil. Flooded car batteries can&#;t claim the same thing since the gases that vent release into the atmosphere and can&#;t be recovered, meaning that the electrolyte will eventually need to be topped up or the battery won&#;t be any good anymore.
AGM batteries also fall into this category. The electrolyte is suspended in a fiberglass mat between the lead plates so it won&#;t spill. They&#;re even more durable and can be oriented on their side where flooded cell batteries must always be positioned with the vents on top.
SLA batteries are a step up in price from basic flooded lead acid batteries, but not so much that it&#;s unaffordable for most people. And while lithium-ion batteries that are respected as more powerful, lighter, and safer, stepping up to li-ion increases the cost several times, not just by a few dollars. And for almost all applications, SLA batteries will far exceed the demand that the user puts on it.
For example, a $150 SLA battery can be found in many EV models to power electronics. If a li-ion battery were used in its place, the performance difference would be indistinguishable but the cost could be $800 or more.
The average flooded battery lasts between three and five years for most automotive applications before it needs to be replaced. Depending on the manufacturer, SLA batteries can range as high as 12 years in service, though the average is closer to five years. That&#;s with normal use, and any SLA battery that&#;s allowed to fully discharge will suffer loss of capacity as a result, just like flooded ones.
AGM batteries and li-ion options have a longer life expectancy of six years or higher, but that comes at a cost. For the average commuter who owns a vehicle for an average of six years or so, the benefit to installing an AGM or li-ion battery in their vehicle won&#;t pay off.
Since an SLA battery doesn&#;t always have to be installed vertically, it&#;s even more important that it can withstand harsh conditions. Almost all automotive batteries are assembled inside a rugged polypropylene resin case that is resistant to impact, vibration, heat, and corrosive materials, but the fact that SLA batteries are sealed and can be used in equipment and vehicles that experience these conditions frequently makes that aspect even more crucial.
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For instance, a pickup truck running people up and down a logging road can&#;t chance the electrolyte spillage that&#;s possible with flooded lead acid batteries. But an SLA battery, particularly an AGM battery, can take the abuse without any effect at all.
For vehicle owners and fleet managers, it&#;s easy to choose a replacement battery based on cost alone, especially when the expense isn&#;t expected. However, the battery you choose can affect how you can use your vehicle, the maintenance it needs, and when it&#;ll need to be replaced again. If you aren&#;t aware that a flooded battery needs the electrolyte level checked and topped up, the battery could die prematurely and adding another unexpected cost, not to mention the frustration it comes with. That can mean costly downtime for a fleet vehicle, for instance.
And for shop owners and mechanics, understanding the workings and benefits of an SLA battery versus lower options (flooded) and higher choices (AGM and li-ion) can help boost your sales rate when a battery is needed. By explaining the benefits that come with SLA batteries, you can install a better battery for a customer without scaring them away with the exorbitant cost of the high-end options.
Understanding battery types and chemistries can be confusing for those new to solar energy. It&#;s important to understand the basics of how they are different so you can choose the right battery type for your solar power application. Today we will address the difference in a flooded lead-acid battery and a sealed lead-acid battery.
A flooded battery with lead-acid chemistry is the most common in the industry compared to a sealed lead-acid battery, which are sometimes referred to as a valve regulated battery, an AGM battery (Absorbed Glass Mat) or a gel battery. On paper, there are many similarities between the two battery types. Most of that has to do with their performance, their depth of discharge abilities, their warranty and their cycle life.
The largest difference between the two battery types is the issue of battery maintenance. With a flooded lead acid battery, water needs to be added every so often, periodic equalization needs to be performed and the specific gravity of the electrolyte needs to be measured on occasion with a hydrometer. Another distinguishing factor with a flooded battery is that they can off-gas hydrogen in certain battery charging conditions, resulting in the battery needing to be vented to release the fumes. In stark contrast to the flooded battery, a sealed lead-acid battery requires no maintenance and do not require venting which is a large selling point for those that do not want to deal with battery maintenance. One potential drawback of a sealed lead-acid battery is that due to the inability to maintain the battery, it may not perform at optimum levels as its flooded counterpart.
Aside from the maintenance aspect, the two types of batteries are similar in size, weight, performance and efficiency. There are some minor pros and cons between the two, but the maintenance factor is the largest and most noticeable difference when customers decide on which battery type to purchase.
If you need help deciding on which battery is right for your solar application, please contact our solar sales engineers by clicking the button below the video or calling (800) 383-.
For a more detailed explanation, watch the video below. Be sure to subscribe to the NAZ Solar Electric YouTube Channel to be notified of more videos when we post them.
Contact us to discuss your requirements of 2v 100ah lead acid battery. Our experienced sales team can help you identify the options that best suit your needs.