[Milsurplus] Lead Acid Batteries

[Greg Werstiuk]

Actually, I didn't. You missed my point.  George totally threw out the use
of lead-acid batteries in electronic equipment by the overly broad
statement:

"the comment about a bad idea which went downhill from there about lead acid
batteries in electronic equipment is well justified.  Way too many variables
to be practical."

As you point out, sealed lead-acid batteries are but one among many viable
battery technologies used in electronic equipment these days.  That's the
good news.  Not so many years ago, our choices for rechargeable moderate
sized battery packs were limited to NiCad and sealed lead-acid. Any of them
must be used correctly and in appropriate applications.

It's nice to be able to carry around a cell-phone or shirt pocket size VHF
transceiver although not as much fun as using my R-390A or trying to fire up
an ART-13 and BC-348 or ARC-5 gear.

- Greg





-----Original Message-----
From: milsurplus-bounces at mailman.qth.net
[mailto:milsurplus-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Peter Gottlieb
Sent: Monday, February 07, 2005 9:05 PM
To: Milsurplus at mailman.qth.net
Subject: Re: [Milsurplus] Lead Acid Batteries

You missed the point.  The whole art of engineering is applying the most
appropriate technology for the intended application.  In this case the point
is not that lead acid batteries are no good, but rather that the choice of
that technology in the military turned out to be a poor one.

Sitting under your desk in a controlled environment in float standby service
in a mass-market UPS, they are fantastic and clearly the number one choice.

Rough environmental extremes, uncontrolled charge/discharge regimes, long
storage in random states of charge, and requiring frequent transport?
Entirely different story!

In the short list you mention, for every application lead acid batteries
have characteristics that make them either the best choice or amongst the
good choices.  However, they are one of many viable battery technologies and
in a lot of other applications they will not perform as well as other
technologies.

Peter


Greg Werstiuk wrote:
> I guess nobody ever told the manufacturers of the batteries nor the 
> manufacturers of the many thousands of models of equipment using 
> sealed lead-acid batteries (gel or otherwise), including those who 
> make defibrillators, lawn mowers, alarm systems, UPS systems, etc......
> 
> - Greg


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