Technical Paper
Commercial Vehicle SLI-Battery Life Enhancement through On-Board Dual-Pulsed Charging
2022-03-29
2022-01-0710
An optimally functioning SLI (Starting Lighting and Ignition) battery is a primordial element in the unimpaired operation of an ICE vehicle. Designed to deliver the highest current momentarily during ignition, and not intended for deep discharge, these batteries have been observed to suffer from premature degradation, attributed to misuse and lack of maintenance. Focused on the cell chemistry, a wet-cell lead-acid battery’s degradation is initiated by the reduction of active electrode area through sulfation in each charge-discharge cycle. While the formation and dissolution of sulfate crystals is a normal phenomenon, in scenarios of deep discharge the formation and agglomeration of larger insoluble sulfate crystals reduce the cell capacity leading to overall poor reserve capacity and cold cranking ability of the battery.