What is a Gel Cell Battery?
A gel battery design is typically a modification of the standard lead acid automotive or marine battery. A gelling agent is added to the electrolyte to reduce movement inside the battery case. Many gel batteries also use one way valves in place of open vents, this helps the normal internal gasses to recombine back into water in the battery, reducing gassing. "Gel Cell" batteries are non-spill able even if they are broken. Gel cells must be charged at a lower voltage (C/20) than flooded or AGM to prevent excess gas from damaging the cells. Fast charging them on a conventional automotive charger may be permanently damage a Gel Battery.
Do batteries self-discharger when not in use?
All batteries, regardless of their chemistry self-discharger. The rate of self-discharger depends both on the type of battery and the storage temperature the batteries are exposed to. However, for a good estimate, Trojan batteries self-discharger approximately 4% per week at 80°F.
New laptop batteries are hard for the device to charger; they have never been fully charged and are therefore "unformed". Sometimes the device's charger will stop charging a new battery before it is fully charged. If this happens, remove the battery from the device and then reinsert it. The charger cycle should begin again. This may happen several times during the first battery charger. Don't worry; it's perfectly normal.
Is it Possible to Upgrade the Device's Battery to a Newer Chemistry?
Ni-Cd, Ni-MH and Li-ion are all fundamentally different technologies and cannot be substituted for one another unless the device has been pre-configured from the factory to accept more than one type of rechargeable battery. The difference between them stems from the fact that each technology requires a different charging pattern to be properly recharged. Therefore, the portable device's charger must be properly configured to handle a given type of rechargeable battery. Refer to your owner's manual to find out which rechargeable battery types the particular device supports or use our Quick Find search engine to find the device in our database. The database will automatically list all of the battery types supported by the machine
