Battery Vehicle Society

A friend of mine is trying to convince me that his lead-acids have a "memory" and need to be periodically discharged completely. Any thoughts?
tommyt

Hi Tom,

Seems a bit quiet on the forums, so I will jump in.

I have heard similar things about lead acid batteries, that they need the occasional deep discharge. I can't say if it is true, but as long as you don't over discharge any cell in the pack it is a good opportunity to check the capacity of your pack.

Must admit its a new one on me, I've never found Lead Acids having any such issue and I wouldnt ever like to take a Lead Acid down below about 1.8v-1.7v per cell

ChrisB

Yes they do! If I run my G-Wiz for several weeks, doing 3-4 mile runs the overall distance I can travel, should I need a longer run is greatly reduced.

once a week I exercise my batteries by taking a longer run to flatten them off before charging & this aids overall distance.

Lee

I wonder if its more the case the charger isnt carrying out a long enough equalisation charge if you just do a few shorter runs, also the chances are if the batteries are charged longer then they will heat up slightly more and thus deliver a bit more power.

I suspect if you warmed the batteries up by an external force then they would do the extra miles similar to giving them a longer discharge followed by a longer charge, Lead acids just cannot suffer from "memory effect " I'm pretty sure their chemical make up wont allow it.

ChrisB