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So you're standing in any
battery shop and the salesman's about to offer you two different
types of batteries for backup. You'll have to choose between: Flat
plate Vs tubular. A shopkeeper may try to sell you a "flat plate
battery, they're much cheaper and charge quickly." If you're
living in a hot humid summer and a severe electricity outage occurs
and the power's out for a full day, you're going to find yourself
spending money for naught on a flat plate battery. This, is a
scientific guide on how the two batteries handle power and heat, and
which is the best choice for your house.
1.
Flat plate batteries (The Sprinter):
In a flat plate
battery, you have flat grids which are covered with active lead
oxide. This is what makes a large portion of your plate being in
touch with acid, so that the battery is always quickly discharging
and thus, will always recharge equally fast. But because you can have
so much surface area to the acid, the battery will be brittle
mechanically and chemically. What this means is that when you heavily
discharge a flat plate battery, say for 4 hours on a ceiling fan and
television set, you're essentially causing lead paste to slide off
the grids, and stick to the bottom of the casing. The moment you make
your battery's paste peel off, you've permanently lost some of its
capacity. Therefore with heavy usage, especially in the summer time,
a flat plate battery will die within a maximum of 2 years.
2.
Tubular batteries (The Marathon runner):
You will want to
picture the tubular battery as built like a fort. The grids for a
tubular battery positive are not flat, they will have lead spines
that are covered with a polyester tube, which are then packed tightly
with active lead oxide. Since the active lead material is packed into
the polyester tubes, the lead paste is going to stay put forever
regardless of how much you discharge your battery. Even using it
every day for a period of up to 20 percent for a whole summer won't
damage the structure of your tubular battery.
3.
The effects of heat (The boiling Flat Plate Battery):
When
a battery gets heated up, all leads acid batteries increase their
grid corrosion, water loss, and have a higher rate of chemical
reaction. But since flat plate batteries are so small and packed
tightly within a casing, once the temperature on your hottest day of
the summer reaches 35C/95F and your battery's working overtime, the
heat within that casing will rapidly be amplified to very high
temperatures. All the factors stated above together create an
accelerated charge loss rate and reduced capacity. The tubular
batteries, conversely, are built with thin, hollow tubes containing a
lot more electrolyte. They'll dissipate the heat much more readily.
4.
The true price tag:
Even though the cost difference
between a standard flat plate battery and a standard tubular battery
could be up to 20-30%, a flat plate will only last for 2-3 years
under intensive usage while a heavy duty tubular battery can last for
5-7 years under the most extreme of usage circumstances. Considering
this factor, a tubular battery will have much less cost per year.
Conclusion: When you're
at the local hardware shop and are presented with a choice, don't
choose the cheap flat plate battery over the slightly more expensive
but far more efficient tubular battery. A flat plate battery, like a
sprinter, is meant for a short race, while a tubular battery is like
a marathon runner and will outlast and out perform your flat plate
under duress. If you live in a tropical summer and will be using a
heavy duty tubular battery at any point of the year for more than 2
hours of heavy usage a day, don't look any further. They're worth the
extra few quid, and the maintenance of topping it up every few
months.
