Do You Know How Does Your Car Battery Work?

Author: Lets Compare

Car battery is undeniably one of the major components of a car. Just like your mobile phone or laptop, your car needs a car battery to function. When it stops functioning, you won’t be able to start your vehicle. Every car owner understands the importance of a car battery but, do you know how it works? How does the car battery power your engine? How it gives electric supply to the lights, music system and power windows? How it gets charge and how can you extend its life? This article will cover all the topics that you need to know about your car battery.

A car battery is nothing different than common batteries. It works on the same principle i.e. conversion of chemical energy into electricity. A car battery is composed of cells which contain chemical energy. The stored chemical energy is then converted into electricity. Most car batteries rely on lead-acid chemical reaction. The car batteries basically falls into SLI category i.e. starting, lighting, and ignition. The car battery provides short bursts of energy in order to power your engine, lights and accessories.

A common SLI battery has six cells, each with two plates. One made of lead and other lead oxide. Each cell produce about two volts of energy thus, giving 12 volt supply. The plates are dipped into sulphuric acid that triggers chemical reaction between the plates. The chemical reaction produces electrons which race around the plates and generates electricity. Then the electricity flows out the terminals to start car engine. One interesting thing to know about your car battery is, the chemical reaction is entirely reversible. That means you can jumpstart your battery and continue to charge it throughout the duration of its life.

A car battery usually has life span of about 4-5 years. But, with proper care and maintenance you can easily increase its efficiency as well as life. Some common tips to increase your car battery life are -

    • Cleaning rust/corrosion from the car battery terminals.
    • Checking fluid level in a month or two. It should be between min and maximum.
    • Switch off electronics accessories when not in use.
    • Check the charging rates as over charging or under charging largely impact your car battery performance.
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