Comparison GREENPOWER MAX 6CT-62L vs Forse Original 6CT-65L

— Serviced. Serviceable are only classic lead-acid batteries (see "Type"): they are easy to distinguish even externally — by the presence of removable plugs that give access to internal containers with electrolyte. The latter is a mixture of sulfuric acid and water, and with each charge, some of this water "boils away" (decomposes into oxygen and hydrogen and volatilizes). This is especially intense when overcharging or charging at high voltage. Battery maintenance consists in periodically replenishing the water in the electrolyte — without this, lowering its level leads to damage to the plates due to contact with air, which irreparably degrades battery performance. On average, maintenance should be carried out 1-2 times a year (15-20K kilometers for a passenger car) and these terms usually coincide with the terms of scheduled maintenance. However, this value may vary depending on the features of both the battery itself and its operation; more detailed information is usually contained in the instructions for specific models. "Refilling" should be done exclusively with distilled water, because. even a relatively small amount of foreign matter can damage the wafers.

— Unattended. As the name suggests, these batteries do not require the maintenance described above; this is achieved in a number of ways, in particular by filling the electrolyte with a margin for the entire service life or using a gel (se...e "Type"). With clear advantages due to ease of use, maintenance-free batteries at the same time have one drawback: they are much more sensitive to deep discharge (capacity decreases), and, accordingly, they tolerate cold and long periods of inactivity worse.

The location of the terminals on the battery may vary depending on its purpose (see above) and some other features. Today there are such options:

— Standard. The standard is the arrangement of the terminals on the top panel of the battery, which is usually a rectangle, along the long side of this rectangle. It is used in all types of batteries (“See “Purpose”), and in batteries for passenger cars it is almost a standard option.

— Lateral. In this version, the terminals are usually located on the top cover along the short side of the battery, on the side, if you look at it from the front side — hence the name. Almost all models with a similar arrangement are designed for trucks and buses (see "Purpose").

— Diagonal. The terminals are located diagonally on the top cover, i.e. at opposite corners of the rectangle. Such a scheme is very rare today, most often in batteries for heavy equipment (see "Purpose").

— Central. As with the standard arrangement described above, the terminals in this case are placed along the long side of the battery top cover. However, they are not located at the edge of the lid, but are shifted to the centre — hence the name. Such models do not have fundamental differences from batteries with standard terminals, however, for a number of reasons they are relatively rare.

— Fr...om the butt. In this case, we mean the installation of terminals on the front wall of the battery, which is typical for the American form factor (see above). Such terminals can be combined with standard ones, on the cover, however, even such combined models are still considered to be "end".

The electrical capacity of a battery, in other words, the amount of energy stored by a battery when fully charged. The capacity value is expressed in amp-hours and indicates the number of hours during which a fully charged battery will be discharged to the minimum allowable charge, delivering a current of 1 ampere to the load. For example, a capacity of 40 Ah means that the battery is capable of delivering a current of 1 A for 40 hours, or 2 A for 20 hours, etc. In fact, a more capacious battery gives more attempts to start the engine, and is also able to work longer at a low load (for example, when powering a car audio system).

The capacity requirements for different transport types differ markedly. So, in motorcycle batteries, it rarely exceeds 20 Ah, the average value for passenger cars is 40-80 Ah (but there are options for 100 Ah or more), and for heavy equipment like buses, an acceptable capacity starts somewhere from 100 Ah. The optimal value of the battery capacity is often indicated by the manufacturer in the characteristics of the vehicle, and when choosing a model by capacity, you should focus primarily on these figures.

Battery starting power measured according to EN standard. According to this standard, the starting power is the maximum power that a battery at an electrolyte temperature of -18 °C can produce for 30 s without the voltage dropping below a certain level (for standard 12 V batteries - not lower than 7.2 V). The term “starting” appeared because this mode of operation is similar to starting an engine, when the battery has to supply high power power to the starter for a short time.

The recommended starting power value is generally related to the weight category of the machine: the heavier it is, the more powerful the power is usually needed to start. And many manufacturers directly indicate recommended values in the characteristics of a particular vehicle model. If the battery is purchased as a replacement, then the general rule is this: its starting power should be no less than that of its predecessor.

Note that in practice there may be designations for starting power according to 3 more standards: SAE (USA), DIN (Germany) and TU (GOST 959-91). The first is almost identical to EN, and DIN and TU are quite easy to convert to EN and vice versa: they are similar to each other, and each of them gives a number approximately 1.7 times smaller than NE. That is, for example, to replace a 200 A battery according to the specifications, you should look for a model with a power of at least 340 A (200 * 1.7) according to EN.