How Do Car Batteries Work?

Video Transcript

"OK, we're going to talk a little bit about how batteries work. And this is an automotive storage battery, this is your typical lead-acid battery. And basically, what's inside of this, are a number of cells, in each cell there's actually six of these cells in a twelve volt battery, and they're separated by separators. Each cell has a potential of producing from 1.5 to 2.2 volts, and these cells consist of a series of plates. One set of plates are called positive plates, and they have a coating of lead peroxide paste, that's actually adheres to a lead grid, and the other plates are the negative plates, and they're just made out of sponge lead. These plates or cells are submerged in acid, which is called electrolyte, and when you have two dis-similar metals in the presence of an acid, and you have a complete circuit, the battery will start to produce current. You might notice I said automotive storage battery. Basically the battery, as it sits here, is doing nothing but storing the essential elements necessary to produce electricity when you complete a circuit. On top of the battery, we have a positive post and a negative post. The positive post is slightly larger, that's labeled plus, that has to be connected to the cars electrical system using the positive battery cable. And the negative post is ground, that has to be connected to a metal part of the car, on the frame, or on the engine. So, it has to be connected correctly. If you hook a battery up backwards in a car, you're going to wipe out all your computers, you're going to do a lot of expensive damage instantly, and that's something you don't want to do. So if you don't know anything about connecting up a battery, don't even try to do it. I want to talk to you about a different type of battery. This is an Optima battery, and this battery uses spiral cell technology. If you actually look at the sides of the case, it looks like a little six pack, it's got a number of different circle on it, and the cells, instead of being flat plates, are actually wound in a circle with a separator. It is still, you know, two dis-similar metals in the presence of an acid, but this is a sealed battery. The nice thing about these batteries, there's several big advantages to these batteries. The one thing is, nothing spills out of them. I can turn this battery on its side, I can turn it upside down, I can turn it sideways, and none of the acid is going to spill out of this battery. In fact, I've seen some demonstrations by Optima where they've actually, you know, taken this battery and shot it with a gun, and still have it start a car and not leak a lot of material out of it, because the electrolyte is actually absorbed by the, by the plates, so it doesn't, it's not free-floating inside the battery. The other unique thing about this battery is the cold cranking amps. Batteries are rated by cold cranking amps and by amp power capacity, and this has almost twice as many cold cranking amps as a regular lead acid battery that we showed you earlier. In fact, the CCA's on this are seven hundred and fifty cold cranking amps, at zero degrees is where that's measured, and that's quite a bit, most are, you know, much less than that. Sometimes there's about a hundred and twenty-five cold cranking amps. And the reserve capacity on this battery is also much greater, and again, the, you know, this battery has more cranking amps. One of the disadvantages, to the Optima battery is the price. They're very expensive, the cost about two to two and a half times more than a regular battery, but they do last longer, so it's not uncommon for these batteries to last six or seven years, if you keep them charged. As with any battery, if you let it discharge, it's, it's going to start to sulphate, and you won't be able to charge it back up again. So always keep your battery charged. In fact on this car, which is a hobby car, a couple things that I have, this is a battery cut off switch right here, so when this vehicle is parked, all I do is I unscrew this switch like this. These are very inexpensive, you can buy them for about ten or twelve dollars, and all the electrical power is cut off in the car, so I don't have to worry about something shorting out, or something happening when I'm not around, and the battery's not going to drain as rapidly. But obviously, on some of the newer cars, you want to be concerned about your presets. So on this car, I don't have to worry about the losing the presets on the radio because they're mechanical, the only thing I'm losing is the time on the clock, I'd have to re-set the clock, and the clock does work in this vehicle. So that's the only major disadvantage of that. On some of the newer cars you can still use these battery cut off switches, and they have a little by-pass that goes around, so you can actually connect here, then go to the cable, and keep all of you're presets, and your keep alive memory in your computer going, and you don't have to worry about losing any of that. But, I like these batteries because they don't leave a mess, they're much easier to maintain, they work well in extreme heat, and they work well in extreme cold, and I'd say the only big disadvantage is what they cost. This is a Yellow Top, which is a deep cycle battery for most automotive use. You can use the Red Top, they also have a Blue Top, which is a Marine type battery. You can find these in some of the discount stores and chain automotive parts retailers now, so they're being more widely distributed than what they used to be. But I like those batteries, that's why it's, I have one in my car, and I have several others in my other vehicles, too."