Charging ahead

George Mayer examines what you need to know about battery charging and what quality standards are really about.

For secondary batteries like lead-acid the battery needs to be charged (1) after a discharge, (2) after an open circuit stand, and (3) when being produced. Charging is, like pasting and curing, another of the 'black art' areas. The charger folks don't know much about battery chemistry (but maybe a little about battery physics) and the battery folks know even less about electronics such as chargers.

The BEST audience is probably mostly the latter, and so . . .