This brings us to another good point, Calcium is added to the plates in newer batteries as it reduces gassing while a battery is charging. What this so called recycling method does is that it prevents hydrolysis, which in turn prevents water being broken down in to H and O gas. Mostly used on the Sealed Lead Acid batteries as they are found on stand by equipment such as emergency lights or uninterrupted power supplies. These have a one way valve which opens when the battery needs to vent excess internal pressure. What I do like about these one way valves is that they prevent dirt from entering the battery, contaminated electrolyte will work less efficiently and cause premature failure in batteries. I have never figured out why such measures are not incorporated into regular battery design as dirt always finds its way past the vents right into the electrolyte.
Sealed lead acid batteries must be valve regulated by design otherwise if over-pressurized on the inside, they would explode due to the high internal pressure. The AGMs are a completely different beast, because instead of being flooded batteries (meaning that we flood or submerse the plates in liquid electrolyte) AGMs use a sponge that is sandwiched between the positive and negative electrodes, hence the reason why these batteries can be mounted in any position. This so called sponge which holds the electrolyte should according to what battery manufacturers say be better at retaining water upon battery discharge and eliminate hydrolysis (formation of H and O gasses during charging) which is the primary loss of water from any lead acid battery. The one way valves ensure that the battery in not over-pressurized, yet at the same time keep out all contaminants which should help the battery last a long time.
We’ll see how well they will hold up, my AGM battery is holding up for its 7th season, 2nd car, I will be mainly interested how well the one way valves holds up in keeping contaminants out, we’ll see once the battery will be ready to bite the dust, I’ll be cutting it open and further examining.
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It seemed to work well when that deep-cycle battery tipped on it's side. *Nothing* leaked out. I repeat, *NOTHING*.
All batteries have vent caps designed in such a way that if the battery tips, no electrolyte will be spilled out. Now over time, electrolyte may weep out, but for the immediate tip over there should be very minimal to none spillage. I’ve done this on old school batteries that use to have the one cap per cell, the idea is to make sure that the spilling liquid does not form an arch from one cell to the next as it is being spilled out otherwise the two cells become shorted and the battery is rendered useless. What we absolutely don’t want happening is for an arch to form from the positive to the negative terminal while the acid is being spilled, if this happens battery shorts, explodes and in worst case scenarios catches on fire.
But electrolyte mist is usually so small that even if these patented vents do recycle most back to the battery, a small amount always finds it’s way out of the battery. I have cut open old batteries that were suppose to use this technology, only to find out that the top surface of the plates was exposed to air and oxidized causing pre-mature failure.
